Global Peace on the Move I: Peace Language
1 - 13 February 2009
The Peace Revolution Project began in the summer of 2008 with a few people meeting to formulate the initial documents, plan the program, and design the website to be ready for online operation in October 2008. The Peace Revolution’s aim was to help people around the world have access to a self-development schedule to make their lives better; specifically in the areas of respect, discipline, and patience. This was all for the purpose of bringing World Peace through Inner Peace, which turned into the Peace Revolution motto's Peace In Peace Out (PIPO).
Also, the project wished to begin by having approximately twenty young men and women from around the globe and from many religions, come together at the Peace Revolution Conference in Bangkok, Thailand during the month of February 2009. Inherent to this project were two key concepts: (1) To help spread awareness about the benefits of Inner Peace, mainly obtained through a universal method of meditation, and (2) conduct workshops to help young people incorporate meditation into their every day lives, which were experienced through their month long self-development course.
The only expectation that was placed on these young adults was to give meditation a try. If they had a positive experience, the hope was to have them return home and share the experience with their friends, relatives, and community.
Over 100 people from around the world registered for the project, and from those, 16 people were chosen. These people came from Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, and the United States. They came from a variety of religious backgrounds, and ranged in age from 18 to 30.
The pilot program consisted of: a five day meditation retreat in Northeastern Thailand, participation in the Light of Peace celebration, and a four-day seminar/workshop conference:
The Meditation Retreat took place in northeast Thailand and focused on the participants learning how to obtain their own inner peace. With amazing Thai food, lots of Yoga and expert instruction, the participants experienced a real solidarity of focus.
The Light of Peace Day is an internationally recognized annual celebration and the participants were able to experience, first-hand, the commemoration (festivities) that the host, Dhammakaya Foundation, graciously organized for this day. The day was astounding because the participants could actually see and begin to appreciate Buddhist culture, and because there were over 100,000 people in attendance. Everyone who participated in this event knew that they had never experienced anything like it before – and would probably never experience anything like it again.
At the Conference, the participants were able to interact with one another about their own lives and work, share their experiences with inner peace and how it can be used in their learning/work environments, and listen to others discuss the aim of the Peace Revolution.
To those of us who participated in the first global peace on the move, the enthusiasm and vitality of the participants was astounding. The people who were joined together will forever be awesomely, overwhelmingly and prolifically changed. Because of that inspirational change and the surplus of constructive feedback, we had the tools and motivation to make the project better and more accessible. That is why we now have the new and improved Mission Log for the Peace Revolution site visitors to check out and try. You can meet some of us if you sign in to our website and join us in the Moonfest Meditation sessions held 4 times each month. Hope to see you online. Finally, we have several fellowship opportunities, which gives various opportunity to be with us in Thailand too. Hope to meet you there!