Soultrek

“We’re all just walking each other home.”

Ram Dass, spiritual teacher

“Dad, you don’t have to suffer and you don’t have to do this alone,” my daughter Bonnie insisted in a letter I opened on July 7, 2011, the first day of my epic walk with messages about treading more lightly and lovingly upon our beloved Earth.

Having given up most of my worldly possessions, my intention was to walk the equivalent of the circumference of the planet with messages that would hopefully help to raise consciousness.

“We will be thinking of you,” Bon reassured, “wishing you good health, a comfy place to sleep at night, interesting scenery and meetings along the way, strangers who help you, lots of loving thoughts and the knowledge that what you are doing brings love and light to a great cause, the beloved Earth.”

She and her sister Tammy surprised me by arriving in Scotland to see me off on a pilgrimage that has morphed into my greatest adventure through inner and outer landscapes. And it seemingly has no end.

“Good luck. We know you will be safe, watched over and succeed in helping others to make the world a better place. I have faith in you, your message and life.”

As always, my daughters had more clarity and wisdom than I did… Dad, you don’t have to suffer. In the beginning I walked up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, trashing my feet.

If I’m walking softly upon Mother Earth, why do my feet hurt so much, I pondered? Huge holes had appeared in my heels as I shed layer after layer of blistered skin? My back always hurt. Although mercifully my humour never deserted me. One blog, written while hunkering down in the rain in a derelict World War 2 bunker on a cold windswept beach, was entitled ‘Dark Night of the Soles.’

I was very aware that my suffering was self-inflicted and driven by the idea that we can all be the change we wish to see in the world. As sportsman and humanitarian Muhammad Ali, wisely noted: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”

With the benefit of hindsight, I’d add that while we all need to respond to those inner soul prompts, we’ll be more effective at whatever we do if we are joyful. If it’s not fun, it’s simply not sustainable.

Also, it is useful to look at what is driving us: Ego or soul? Having trekked the equivalent of more than half the circumference of the Earth, I finally gave up counting steps and tried to let go of ego-propelled goals. I didn’t need to be a hero, just a messenger.

Now I walk where and when it feels appropriate and recognise that arguably the most fun I’ve had in recent years was during Walking Water, a collaborative quest to heal our broken relationship with the waters and natural world.

The pilgrimage involved following Californian waterways, natural and man-made, from source to sea and was seen as both an action and a prayer. Staged in three parts over three years between 2015 and 2017 it was only undertaken after permissions had been obtained from indigenous people to traverse their ancestral lands. In time it created trust and a tradition of engaging with others with divergent opinions and motivations, in loving and non-judgemental ways.

We created a community of kindred spirits who embraced the natural world, slept under the stars and circled up every day for open-hearted sharings that attempted to ensure that all voices were heard and respected.

It ticked all my boxes. I was having an epic adventure, part of a loving community, immersed in nature and helping build long-term friendships and understandings with members of the indigenous Native American tribes, who are the original custodians of the land. It felt as if we were making a difference.

You might question what would possess anyone to brave heatstroke and choking dust storms to trek willingly through California’s punishing Mojave Desert at a time of crippling drought?

And why choose parts of a route unadorned by life-sustaining rivers or streams that passes perilously close to Death Valley and relentlessly shadows an ugly pipeline and series of soulless concrete channels? Why not a more scenically uplifting option like the iconic Pacific Crest Trail immortalised in the film Wild with Hollywood’s beloved Reese Witherspoon? 

You could argue that the route chose us. And following the waterways – natural and man-made – was the very point of the exercise when a motley international group answered the call of Walking Water. It’s their urgent response to the global need to create a new relationship with water and each other. Let’s face it – the way we’ve been using, abusing and polluting water isn’t smart! And yet it’s happening almost everywhere with devastating consequences.

So, our plan was simple enough; To walk from the source of the waters high in the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains to the place of end use – the Greater Los Angeles area that is home to some 18-million thirsty souls.

We’d walk and listen, talk and learn, gathering stories and withholding judgements while inviting all players to share their pieces of the puzzle. 

The walk was the inspiration of English-born Kate Bunney and her vision attracted peace activists, environmental campaigners, film makers, photographers, farmers, local entrepreneurs, musicians, artists and Native Americans who are the original protectors of the land and its waters.

“It’s not a march. It’s not a demonstration,” Kate repeatedly assured. “Rather Walking Water brings together roleplayers from all walks of life – including representatives from the indigenous tribes who are the first people of the land. Hopefully with ancient and modern knowledge we can co-create healthy ways of being in relationship to water and each other.

“Walking Water attempts to connect that sacred path of pilgrimage – our internal relationship to ourselves – with our relationship to our external environment.

“We walk towards a vision of a regenerated environment, revolving around a simple bottom line: for the enhanced protection of all life.”

Already I believe I’ve witnessed a wonderful healing taking place and the plan is to reconvene in September 2025, a decade after we started, for a three-week walking pilgrimage called Lake to Lake 2025.

Kate Bunney explains: “We created community together with all the inspiration and all the bumps, all the mistakes and wonderful moments as we walked with water through Kutzadika, Nüümü/Néwé, Tataviam, Gabrielino/Tongva/Kizh and Acjachemen/Juaneno territories… and now, 10 years on, we will walk again. To celebrate and bear witness to what has changed, what hasn’t changed and how we can support change to happen.”

As I write this I’m feeling that familiar buzz of excitement building within me that I know from other times when I’ve felt aligned with a higher purpose. And I suspect that Lake to Lake will live up to my definition of home as anywhere my heart is wide open.

www.walking-water.org