Ethiopia, Land of Origins, Hosted Interfaith Event for a Culture of Peace, Harmony and Human Dignity
By Mindahi Bastida
Let us be the change we want to see in the world by living according to the teaching of the Golden Rule as stated in different religious holy books, which says “Treat others the way you want to be treated”, was the call of the organizers of an Interfaith encounter for a Culture of Peace, Harmony and Human Dignity.
The event took place on February 2nd, 2018, as part of the World Interfaith Harmony Week of United Nations. It was organized by the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia, the United Religious Initiative-Africa, U-Day Festival, the African Ombudsman and Mediators Association and World Peace Prayer Society in partnership with the Africa Union Commission Department of Civil Society and Diaspora Directorate.
Guest of honor President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia gave the opening remarks while Honorable Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, offered a message of peace. Religious and spiritual leaders also spoke words of wisdom and hope, among which featured the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the President of Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council and international figures like Thai Buddhist Monk Venerable Phramaha Boonchuay Doojai as well as representatives of the Orthodox Jewish, the Bahai’ Faith and the Sikh Faith.
Indigenous spiritual leaders whose call for peace and unity has been heard beyond their local regions, were invited to share how they too remind their people of the covenants and laws of origin, that speak of how to treat Mother Earth and all her beings with kindness, respect and love.
Phil Lane Jr., Chairman of the Compassion Games, Sam Cook and Australian Indigenous representative and Mindahi Bastida, from the Otomi Peoples of Mexico and director of Original Caretakers initiative at the Center for Earth Ethics, each had the opportunity to expose their commitment to care for Earth and all beings to achieve Peace, Harmony and Dignity.
Mindahi Speech Feb 2 2018 African Union
Message at the African Union – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. February, 2018.
Mindahi Bastida
My name is Mindahi Bastida, of the Otomi-Toltec ancestral Peoples of Mexico. I am representing the Center for Earth Ethics and its Original Caretakers Program. It is a big honor to greet Ethiopia, Land of Origins. We pay respect to the original peoples and territories and also to the African Union.
We greet the original peoples of Ethiopia and all of Africa as an important continent that can give light to the world in times of Climate Change and concerning biocultural erosion.
According to our prophecies and ancestral knowledge, 5000 years B.C. ago some human beings began to go in another direction and began to take over Nature. Others remained as caretakers of what original peoples call Mother Earth, living in harmony and balance with divine creation. But in many places harmony was broken, and this situation prevails until today, deeply affecting the material and spiritual compounds of life.
Furthermore, the invasions and colonization of the world that biocultures were affected and many species and cultures disappeared provoking imbalance of the good living. In spite of the devastating effects of global colonialism, many Original Peoples, also known as Indigenous Peoples, have successfully kept their ancestral practices, cosmologies and philosophies. An ancient basis of wisdom is known collectively as the life originating principles, through which we continue to interact with the sacred-spiritual, nature-material and with other cultures.
This original counsel, based in the original instructions, brings together our ancestral wisdom, our current perception of the endangered world and our actions.
People, who have acted as allies of ancestral cultures and wisdom for the permanence of life and of original peoples, are aware of the mounting crisis that all beings face in many levels. The world is experiencing the end result of a different kind of knowledge whose implementation has been provoking a des-harmonious, fragmented and highly destructive way of interaction and relationship with nature, cultures and celestial bodies.
More and more, it becomes evident that the recovery of harmony, peace, unity and dignity lies in our return to the sacred origins of the ancestral wisdom, where human beings are an integral part of creation and not the peak of creation.
The recovery of harmony is not just tangible but also intangible, and collective consciousness is vital to address harmony in the spiritual and material worlds. This harmony and balance must be reflected among all beings, according to time and space order.
Then, peace can be achieved not just among human beings but also with Nature and Mother Earth. It is urgent to restrict the anthropocentric thought and return to the original principles. We need to make peace with Mother Earth and her sacred elements and nature.
Peace and Dignity are intertwined principles; we as human beings can achieve dignity if we go beyond the greed and commodification of “things” and respect life through reciprocal actions. We want to strengthen families, communities, biocultures, Mother Earth and our relationship with all beings working together and pulling together. We want an integrated world based on dialogue, reciprocity and complementarity that will carry all through far more than just seven generations.
For us unity is all about the Unification Process. This process is a mandate from indigenous spiritual leaders to respond to our planetary and civilizational crisis, emphasizing that all beings, including the celestial bodies are integral components of the life systems, must be taken into account to produce balance and harmonization in the world.
In achieving Harmony, Peace, Unity and Dignity we should:
Strengthen the work of those who, in continuity with their “originating principles/law of origin”, sustain to this date the ancient wisdom and spiritual traditional practices that preserve the sacred balance of Earth.
Remind those who were given their “original instructions”, and that may have drifted from them due to their own historical processes, to revive their biocultural identity as a way back to their ancient ways, which will give them once again a sense of belonging and meaning in the sacred web of life.
Bring awareness to those who have completely lost, or never had, the understanding that they too are an integral part of the natural world and as such need to learn they are here to contribute to sustaining it for themselves and for those who are yet to come.
Practice tolerance, intercultural dialogue and mutual cooperation for the sake of biocultural diversity. These are among the strongest warranties of peace and security at local and international levels.
In sum, we, together, in a Process of Unification, need to be engaged in restoring harmony and balance of Mother Earth for the sake of human life and all beings. We need to think and act at local and global levels and think beyond intergenerational equity: we must leave a legacy of good generations for Mother Earth.
Kjamadi – May love and blessings be with us, the land of origins and your families.