Grand Opening

Last night was the official beginning of the Parliament. While it is somewhat one of those “you just gotta be here to see it” experiences, I would just invite you to imagine thousands of people from all over the world, of all skin tones and languages, dressed in diverse religious garb gathered in one place….it was truly amazing in so many senses of the word. It was simultaneously a reminder of just how big this planet is and how small it really is. This is only the 5th gathering of the parliament (with the first being in 1893 and the second in 1993 - with one every 5 years thereafter), so in some respects the Parliament is still discovering its purpose, place and role in the service of the human family. That may be a strange phrase, “in the service of the human family,” but it is truly one of the first gatherings that I have attended that actually has global reach and impact.

The evening began with a welcome to the country by Aboriginal Elder Joy Wandin accompanied by digiridoo and another aboriginal person in traditional markings. The history of Australia is a long one with Aboriginal presence dating back almost 60,000 years. Yes, sixty thousand! Colonization in the 19th century has left an impact from which this country never recovered and tensions run very, very deep (although for the purposes of the Parliament, I suspect people are putting their best forward). Out of 22 million people in Australia, only 2 – 3 % are Aboriginal, and it was only in the 1960’s that the government even started “counting” them as persons in the census…There’s so much more that could be said on the topic of colonization, but I’ll stop there. Quite a few of the workshops over the next few days deal with the effects of colonization here and all over the world – including Upstate New York!

The evening continued with welcomes, prayers and blessings from people all over the globe. We received blessings from the Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Bahai, Shinto and Aboriginal faiths. We heard 3 keynote speakers: Rabbi David Sapperstein (Newsweek’s 2009 most influential rabbi in America), Sakena Yacoobi (an Afghani woman working to empower girls/women) and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (founder of the Art of Living). The whole evening was stunning in its breadth and depth – and went on for almost 2 ½ hours. Throughout the whole event, there was a guy on stage with a lit up sand art table (which was projected onto a screen). As the blessings, song and addresses were delivered, he made artistic images in the sand that were just unbelievable. All in all, it was quite an ushering in of this week-long event.