Photo Credit: Friends of Peace Pilgrim

This training was given at the Boundless Love Project’s weekly group meditation (now virtual due to the pandemic) on 3.17.2020. We make it available here in audio, video, or article format for your convenience. This talk is part of The Wisdom of Peace Pilgrim training series.

Audio Version

We invite you to listen to the Feel the Love Meditation that was presented before the talk.

Video Version

Fast forward the video to 8:00 minutes for the start of the virtual meeting.

Article Version: Who Was Peace Pilgrim?

If you have the book, Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Times in Her Own Words, please join us on page vii. (If you don’t have her book, please order a free copy of it here.):

YOU MAY SEE HER walking through your town or along the highway — a silver-haired woman dressed in navy blue slacks and shirt, and a short tunic with pockets all around the bottom in which she carries her only worldly possessions. It says “PEACE PILGRIM” in white letters on the front and “25,000 Miles On Food for Peace” on the back. She has walked the 25,000 miles. However, she continues to walk, for her vow is, “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.” She walks without a penny in her pockets and she is not affiliate with any organization. She walks as a prayer and as a chance to inspire others to pray and work with her for peace. She speaks to individuals along the way, the gatherings such as church groups or college groups, through newspapers, magazines, radio, television — relating interesting and meaningful experiences, discussing peace within and without. She feels we have learned that war is not the way to peace — the security does not lie in stockpiles of bombs. She points out that this is a crisis period in human history, and that we who live in the world today must choose between a nuclear war of annihilation and a golden age of peace. Although she does not ask to see results, thousands of letters testify that her journey has not been in vain — saying, in effect, “Since taking with you I’ve decided that I should be doing something for peace also.”

These words come from a short leaflet that Peace Pilgrim would give to people as a way to introduce herself to others.

Peace Pilgrim was an extraordinarily courageous and wise wisdom teacher. At the age of 44, she started a pilgrimage on foot that lasted for the remaining 28 years of her life. During this time, she carried no money and owned nothing but a few simple items which she carried with her: the clothes she wore, a comb, a folding toothbrush, a ballpoint pen, and copies of her message and current correspondence. When no lodging was offered, she slept under bridges, on beaches, on the side of the road, in bus stops, or truck stops.

She walked until given shelter, and fasted until given food. Even more amazing, she never asked for these things. People needed to voluntarily offer them. She did all this so she could share her message of peace with others, which she summarized like this: “This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.”

Learn From the Best

In the coming weeks, we will be reading and contemplating sections of her book for two primary reasons. First, she was most likely a fully enlightened person. What this means is that she was free of the greed (also known as lust, craving, clinging, etc.), fear (also known as judgment, aversion, hatred, etc.), and falsehoods that cause us the needless mental suffering we experience. The best people to teach us to walk the path of how to come out of our misery, are those who have successfully walked it and reached the final destination.

Now there are many reasons why we can deduce she was enlightened, and these will become clearer in the weeks ahead. But for now, I will point out a few of these reasons.

She always remained rooted in her inner love. People who knew her testified to the fact that she was “…full of humor, vitality, and the joy of living,” and was “…filled with a boundless energy that grew rather than diminished with age” (p. xi).

She related to all people with kindness, friendliness, and love. She actively sought to be a blessing to everyone she met. If someone harmed her, themselves, and/or others, she related to them with compassion, never judgment or fear. Her love for these people often healed them and helped them overcome their own fears, greeds, and falsehoods.

Completely Fearless

You may wonder how we could know that her love was consistent? Well, firstly, because she said so: “I fear nothing and expect good — so good comes” (p. 32). But more importantly is the evidence that backs it up: she was completely fearless. As she said, “If you have a loving and positive attitude toward your fellow human beings, you will not fear them. 'Perfect love casteth out all fear’” (p. 30).

Pause for a second and contemplate how it would feel for you if you were to only have a few possessions, no money, no food, and just started walking by yourself, trusting that life would provide for you? Now, in this thought experiment, we can assume there is no pandemic happening. But even still, could you conceive of doing that for even a week? What about for a day? How much love, courage, and faith would you need to do it for the 28 years that Peace Pilgrim did this for?

* * * Pause here to reflect * * *

She also had no fear of death. She described death as “the glorious transition to a freer life.” She continues:

Almost all fear is fear of the unknown. People fear death because what happens at death is unknown. However, I have experienced the beginning of the process called death—in a snowstorm one night when I began to freeze to death—and I do not fear it. The experience of the beginning of the change called death I went through that night was beautiful. I look forward to the change called death as life's last great adventure, and I rejoice with my loved ones as they make the glorious transition to a freer living. You overcome your fear of something by becoming acquainted with the thing you fear (p. 150).

She adds, “Fear of death tends to mean that you identify with the body instead of the spirit, and that is poor self-concept” (p. 150).

A Few Disclaimers

Thankfully, she shares with us her full story of this experience. But before I share it with you in its entirety I need to make a few disclaimers.

First, believe only what you know to be true form your own experience. In this story, Peace Pilgrim describes a supernormal or paranormal experience. I do not ask you to believe the story on faith, but to simply use whatever you find skillful and helpful from it. Only if, or when, you experience a supernormal experience for yourself need you believe in their reality. Until then, both healthy skepticism and open-mindedness are appreciated.

Secondly, this passage of hers references God. Now, up until now, in most of my teachings I have tried to make our teachings both secular and interfaith so they are accessible to everyone. One way of doing this has been by avoiding the use of the word “God” and similar religious language. As a gay man, who has experienced much persecution at the hands of self-pronounced Christians, I can understand how triggering such language can be to those of us who have seen it weaponized against us. Thus, where possible we try to use secular language, so the teachings we offer can be heard and appreciated by all of you — whether you are an atheist, agnostic, or person of faith from any wisdom tradition.

However, Peace Pilgrim mentions God often. In many respects, this is surprising because she was not raised in any wisdom tradition. The first time she attended a church was when she was 16 years old, and it was to go to a wedding. Her understanding of God grew out of her direct experience of God.

Next week, we will talk about what Peace Pilgrim’s understanding of God is. But for now, if you have a negative understanding of God, I can assure you that her understanding is not that. Still, if you find the use of the word God triggering, throughout these trainings, please substitute it with another word that you find more palatable. For those of you who are secular, some possible substitutions include: life, love, source, cosmos, universe, sacred mystery, Nirvana, inner wisdom, or any similar words or phrases of your choosing. For the theists among you, feel free to substitute your preferred name for God: Allah, Elohim, Brahmin, Great Spirit, Jehovah, Heavenly Father, Almighty, Creator, and so on.

Peace Pilgrim has so much wisdom to offer us all, and I hope I can share it with you in a way that you can hear it, regardless of the secular or religious wisdom tradition you belong to. If that is not the case, please contact me so I can try harder to make her teachings more relevant to you. If I fail in this, please forgive me. And when listening to our talks, never forget our guidelines to simply use whatever teachings speak to your inner wisdom, and ignore any teachings that do not do that. Thank you.

Her Brush with Death

With those caveats out of the way, here is her full description of her near-death experience:

Life is a series of tests, but if you pass your tests you'll look back upon them as good experiences. I look back on all of my tests as good experiences, including the night I faced death in a blinding snowstorm. It was the first year of my pilgrimage and the most beautiful experience I ever had.

I was walking in a very isolated section of the high mountains of Arizona where there was no human habitation for many miles. That afternoon there came a surprising snowstorm, out of season. I have never seen such a storm. If the snow had been rain you would have called it a cloudburst. Never had I seen snow dumped down like that!

All of a sudden I was walking in deep snow and was unable to see through what was falling. Suddenly I realized that the cars had stopped running. I supposed they were getting stuck on the highway and unable to pass. Then it got dark. There must have been a heavy cloud cover. I could not see my hand before my face, and the snow was blowing into my face and closing my eyes. It was getting cold. It was the kind of cold that penetrates into the marrow of the bone.

If ever I were to lose faith and feel fear, this would have been the time, because I knew there was no human help at hand. Instead, the whole experience of the cold and the snow and the darkness seemed unreal. Only God (Love) seemed real...nothing else. I made a complete identification -- not with my body, the clay garment which is destructible -- but with the reality which activates the body and is indestructible.

I felt so free; I felt that everything would be all right, whether I remained to serve in this earth life or if I went on to serve in another freer life beyond. I felt guided to keep on walking, and I did, even though I couldn't tell whether I was walking along the highway or out into some field. I couldn't see anything. My feet in my low canvas shoes were like lumps of ice. They felt so heavy as I plodded along. My body began to turn numb with cold.

After there was more numbness than pain, there came what some would call an hallucination -- and what some would call a vision. It was as though I became aware, not only of the embodied side of life where everything was black darkness, bitter cold and swirling snow -- but also so close it seemed I could step right into it, of the unembodied side of life where everything was warmth and light. There was such great beauty. It began with familiar color, but transcended familiar color. It began with familiar music, but transcended familiar music.

Then I saw beings. They were very far away. One of them moved toward me very quickly. When she came close enough, I recognized her. She looked much younger than she had looked when she passed over.

I believe that at the time of the beginning of the change called death, those nearest and dearest come to welcome us. I have been with dying friends who have stepped over and I remember well how they talked to their loved ones on both sides ... as though they were all right there in the room together.

So I thought my time had come to step over, and I greeted her. I either said or thought, "You have come for me?" But she shook her head! She motioned for me to go back! And just at that exact moment I ran into the railing of a bridge. The vision was gone.

Because I felt guided to do so, I groped my way down that snowy embankment and got under the bridge. There I found a large cardboard packing box with wrapping paper in it. Very slowly and clumsily in my numb condition, I managed to get myself into that packing box, and somehow with my numbed fingers managed to pull the wrapping paper around me. There under the bridge, during the snowstorm, I slept. Even there shelter had been provided -- but provided also was this experience.

Had you looked at me in the midst of the snowstorm, you might have said, "What a terrible experience that poor woman is going through." But looking back on it I can only say: What a wonderful experience in which I faced death, feeling not fear, but the constant awareness of the presence of God (Love), which is what you take right over with you.

I believe I had the great privilege of experiencing the beginning of the change called death. So now I can rejoice with my loved ones as they make the glorious transition to a freer living. I can look forward to the change called death as life's last great adventure (p. 82-3).

Amazing, right? Again, you need not believe this story until you know these types of things happen, based from your own experience.

However, this experience of hers shows her dauntless fearlessness, courage, and love in the face of intense adversity, and it is one more piece of evidence to show that she was fully enlightened. And fully enlightened teachers are the teachers we want to learn from, because they have walked the path before us and can tell us how to get to the final destination.

For True Equality

The second main reason I want us to share with you Peace Pilgrim’s words in the coming weeks, is to amplify the voice of female wisdom teachers. It is no secret that women have been systematically and institutionally blocked from being wisdom teachers for many generations and by many wisdom traditions. Yet many female wisdom teachers of incredible attainment exist. In solidarity with all women, and in the hopes that one day women will be recognized as equals in all wisdom traditions, I do my best to include their voices in our teachings.

There is so much that I deeply appreciate about Peace Pilgrim. She was born in the United States, so she understands our culture. She was raised secular and discovered God though direct experience. She lived courageously and simply. She reached full enlightenment. And she speaks plainly, simply, and directly, making her easy to learn from.

Now that you have this basic introduction to Peace Pilgrim, I hope you are able to join us at our virtual meetings every Tuesday at 6:15 pm (Central Standard Time) on our Facebook page as we continue with this series: The Wisdom of Peace Pilgrim. And, if you haven’t already, be sure to order a free copy of her book, Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Times in Her Own Words, and bring it with you to our virtual meeting. Thank you.

Wishing you boundless love, peace, wisdom, and joy!