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Review by Will Arntz
I receive a fair amount of material and ideas from people making, or wanting to make films. There’s a lot of activity brewing in the “conscious media,” “spiritual film,” “the audience isn’t dumb” market. Along these lines I received a packet from 2 filmmakers with a book – the subject of this review – “Peace Pilgrim”. The cover is an elderly lady walking down a deserted highway, wearing a tunic with the words “Peace Pilgrim” embroidered on the front.
OK, I’m game – what’s this? I open the cover and am riveted by another picture of the lady. She is older, she is smiling, and she is glowing. And so the story unfolds.
Peace Pilgrim, as she was known in later years, started her mission in 1953 when she stepped out in front of the Rose Bowl parade, dressed as simply as she appears on the cover, and began her pilgrimage with the vow she held for 28 years: “I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until I am given shelter and fasting until I am given food”.
Think about that. Get up and walk out your front door, your only possessions from now until you depart this world: what you are carrying on your back. No money, no cell phone, no address, no plans, ever.
She ended up walking across the country many times, logging over 40,000 miles. As the pilgrimage progressed she did many interviews, talked to schools and citizens groups, and gave, gave, gave to everyone she could. And as she often remarked that because of that, she received, received, received.
Her approach to life was simple. There are laws of the universe, which when adhered to, bring joy and peace. What we do to another, we do to ourselves. The Golden Rule. What she did was apply these laws to her every thought and action. She did that over and over until she was so purified that she lived in a bubble of light, walking alone through the deserts, the ghettos, the cities with never a problem. Always offered (she never asked) food and shelter.
The simplicity and utter truthfulness of what she lived comes through in this book. The “Friends of Peace Pilgrim” compiled her writings and talks into this 196 page book.
As someone who’s been on some sort of spiritual journey for decades I was utterly spellbound and humbled by this book. Over and over I was struck by the thought, “If this being isn’t a Saint, I don’t know who is,” and “she just lived what we all know to be true, and look what happened.”
From the book: “This is the way of peace – overcome evil with good and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. There is nothing new about that except the practice of it. Please don’t say lightly these are just religious concepts and not practical. These are laws governing human conduct, which apply as rigidly as the laws of gravity. When we disregard these laws in any walk of life, chaos results. Through obedience to these laws this world of ours will enter a period of peace and richness of life beyond our fondest dreams.”
Our fondest dreams: Heaven on Earth and real peace inside.
It looks like it is time for this forgotten hero to re-emerge in the public’s eye. Those filmmakers are working on 2 movies – a re-enactment of her life (big theatrical movie) and a documentary of her life. (See positivepicturesgroup.com for more.)
And is it time?
“One little person giving all of her time for peace makes news. Many people giving some of their time can make history”.
