Earth Pilgrims, the new documentary with Graham Hancock, Satish Kumar, Nassim Haramein, Wade Davis and Peace Pilgrim. Directed by Echan Deravy, the film explores how we can navigate through global problems towards our own inner solutions. Out now on DVD: http://www.earthpilgrims.com/
From a world swamped in problems, in a global civilization on its last march towards the edge of the cliff, how can we reconnect with a deeper, more meaningful way of life? How can we make a difference?
What happens when 60,000 Quechua Indians gather to give thanks to the vital life force that sustains them? What can we learn from those who put harmony and balance before gain? What is an Earth Pilgrim?
Every person has an image of a pilgrim. In Japan it is probably the image of the ohenrosan in Shikoku. This movie was conceived while the director was actually walking the roads of Shikoku on that pilgrimage. But this is not a movie about that kind of pilgrim. It is a message about the deeper meaning of being a pilgrim in the modern world. It is about the great dangers our planet is now facing and about how the pilgrim spirit can help us all.
The film follows director Echan Deravy as he travels in search of the meaning of Earth Pilgrim-a new kind of pilgrim, a pilgrim that we can all become in our hearts. The film was shot on location in Britain, Japan, Israel, the US and Peru as well as Hawaii. It is a documentary which includes the wise advice of several leading thinkers and an astonishing older woman. It is not about saving the world it is about how we change our way of being in the world. We do that by becoming a new kind of human that Echan calls Earth Pilgrims. It is an internationally released 90 min film available on DVD from 23 July, 2009 in English, and later in Spanish and other languages.
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Director's Message:
In my culture, the Celtic culture of Scotland and Ireland we have the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. They had to go on a quest to find the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is a symbol of higher understanding. In this movie I go in search of a higher understanding by asking people as I travel on a world pilgrimage to give me advice. I meet people in very different fields such as anthropology, ecology, shamanism, physics and plant healing. I do two major pilgrimages. One in Shikoku was 1300km and the one in Peru was not long at all. It was high. We climbed to 5 thousand meters in the Andes with 60,000 native people to film the Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrimage. Rumi, my favourite poet speaks to us throughout the movie to remind us of our spiritual life as pilgrims. The film is a quest to answer the riddle of our times. Why is the Earth falling apart? The answer lies in the heart of each person.
The answer may be in our all becoming Earth Pilgrims..
Cast:
Echan Deravy
Satish Kumar
Wade Davis
Graham Hancock
Peace Pilgrim
Paul Temple
Rene Franco Salas
Nassim Haramein
Coleman Barks
Rumi
Echan Deravy, a lifelong pilgrim from Scotland, passed through 75 countries before settling in Japan where he established himself as an author and public speaker on issues of planetary concern, metaphysics, spirituality, and remote viewing. Echan has become a vital link between Japanese culture and the West, acting as interpreter for figures such as Graham Hancock and leader of many journeys with Japanese to sacred sites around the planet. He currently has over a dozen books in print in Japanese and a series of DVD talks recorded over the last 6 years-all in Japanese. His key concern is conscious evolution. Visit his homepage at: www.echan.jp
Satish Kumar is an Indian, currently living in England, who has been a Jain monk and a nuclear disarmament advocate, and is the current editor of Resurgence, founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College international centre for ecological studies and of The Small School. His most notable accomplishment is a "peace walk" with a companion to the capitals of four of the nuclear-armed countries - Washington, London, Paris and Moscow, a trip of over 8,000 miles. He insists that reverence for nature should be at the heart of every political and social debate. Visit his homepage at: www.resurgence.org
Wade Davis (born December 14, 1953) is a noted anthropologist and ethnobotanist whose work has usually focused on the observation and analysis of the customs, beliefs, and social relations of indigenous cultures in North and South America, particularly the traditional uses and beliefs associated with plants with psychoactive properties. Among Davis' many books are: "The Serpent and the Rainbow" (about the process of zombification in Haiti) (1986), "Passage of Darkness" (1988), "One River" (1996), and "Shadows in the Sun" (1998). Visit his homepage at: www.nationalgeographic.com
Graham Hancock is the author of the major international bestsellers "The Sign and The Seal", "Fingerprints of the Gods", and "Heaven's Mirror". His books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and have been translated into 27 languages. His public lectures and TV appearances, including the three-hour series "Quest For The Lost Civilisation", have put his ideas before audiences of tens of millions. He has become recognized as an unconventional thinker who raises legitimate questions about humanity's history and prehistory and offers an increasingly popular challenge to the entrenched views of orthodox scholars. Visit his homepage at: www.grahamhancock.com
Peace Pilgrim (July 18, 1908-July 7, 1981) born Mildred Lisette Norman, was an American pacifist, vegetarian, and peace activist. In 1952, she became the first woman to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one season. Starting on January 1, 1953, in Pasadena, California, she adopted the name "Peace Pilgrim" and walked across the United States for 28 years. By 1964 Peace Pilgrim had walked 25,000 miles, at which point she stopped counting, though continued to walk for peace until her passing. Visit her homepage at: www.peacepilgrim.org
Paul Temple, born in England in 1953, began his life studying botany at U.C.N.W. of Bangor, later becoming a teacher in Canada, before moving to India for more than ten years where he studied and taught Sanskrit sacred song, meditation, and Vedanta Philosophy. Paul has been a lifetime gardener, and student of the shamanic tradition with particular interest in the entheogenic use of sacred plant medicines, and their traditional and contemporary roles in the development of human consciousness. For the past several years he has divided his time between BC Canada, and the mountains and jungle of Peru.
Rene Franco Salas is the leader and organizer among the native people of Pisac in Peru, and is actively teaching indigenous Quechua shamanism to visitors. He has been a participant of the Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrimage throughout his life, and works for the protection of traditional Quechua culture through education and ceremony.
Nassim Haramein is a Swiss born physicist. In the past 20 years, Mr. Haramein has directed research teams of physicists, electrical engineers, mathematicians and other scientists. He has founded a non-profit organization, the Resonance Project Foundation, where, as the Director of Research, he explores unification principles and their implications in our world today. The foundation is actively developing a research park on the island of Hawaii where science, sustainability, green technology, and permaculture come together. Visit his homepage at: theresonanceproject.org
Coleman Barks was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was educated at the University of North Carolina and the University of California at Berkeley. He taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for thirty years. He is the author of numerous Rumi translations and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. His work with Rumi was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers' Language of Life Series on PBS, and he is a featured poet and translator in Bill Moyers' poetry special, "Fooling with Words." Visit his homepage at: www.colemanbarks.com
Jelaluddin Rumi (September 30, 1207 - December 12, 1273) was born in Balkh, Afghanistan to a theologian and mystic father. Around 1215 Rumi moved to Konya, Turkey, where after his father's passing, he became a sheikh in the dervish learning community. His life was spent in a state of divine connection, which expressed itself through his friendships and through his poetry, which have become more popular today than ever in history, thanks in part to translations rendered by Coleman Barks. He remains an important figure in Sufi and Islamic culture.
