A Letter of Invitation
Dear Friends,
For many hundreds of years a tribe of Native Americans called the Esselen inhabited the central coast of an area we now call California. One of their most sacred places was a stretch of land where the healing waters of a hot spring and the life-giving fresh waters of a rushing canyon stream flowed into the great, wide Pacific Ocean.
Esalen; Big Sur, CA, USA
There is an old Esselen story telling that for many generations, the tribes of the world lived peaceably together upon this land, and all lands, treating all life and the Earth itself with the utmost care and respect.
However, a time came when the people of the world began to bicker and fight and even go to war. They began to desire property. They divided up the lands and placed monetary value upon what once was free.
The Esselen elders noticed this grave situation with great concern; and at a sacred gathering they called forth a great spider spirt, named Arachniad, to enquire about it. Arachniad told the elders:
“Alas, this time of disrespect for one another and disregard for the natural world shall continue for many, many years. But eventually, a time will come when my great web shall stretch across the entire world, connecting all of the people in all of the tribes of all the lands.
It will be a time of renewal and of remembrance. Peace shall return to the Earth, and the people of the world will once again be aware of the beauty and sacredness of this planet and of all the creatures that live upon it.”
There are those who say that time is now. They say that web is the world-wide web.
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I am one of those people.
I understand that things look bad. And, whenever I read or listen to the news, I begin to fear that hope is lost. That’s why I seldom read or listen to the news.
I say there is still hope. There is still time to save the world. I say that time is now.
That is why on Earth Day of 2016, from the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California — that sacred place where the hot and cold waters converge with the Pacific Ocean — I initiated my offering of hope across the far stretches of the Internet.
I say it is time to Simply Begin creating peace and sustainability.
And I invite you to join me.
Peace, Love and Blessings,
-- Ty F. Webster