In closing, we want to share with you something very special from our lives. It’s the story of how our personal empowerment came to include creating and manifesting a very large vision, a vision of hope and possibility for our world, a vision of our power and our capacity to create the world that we want.
From September 16 through December 11, 1986, twenty-five million people and forty-five heads of state in sixty-two countries participated in passing a torch of peace around the world, encircling it with light. The torch, in turn, shed light on what was working in the world—local self-help projects that were creating solutions to community challenges. This event was called the First Earth Run and it was a celebration of our possibility to live in harmony with each other and our Earth. We organized it under the banner of the United Nations International Year of Peace; our global partner and sponsor was the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
More than a billion people were made aware of the event through the media. In the United States, ABC’s Good Morning America provided unprecedented television coverage, tracking the event every week for the twelve weeks of its global journey.
This all grew out of a vision and the knowledge that we can create any vision we believe in—the essence of personal empowerment. As we kept experiencing the empowerment process in our own life, and seeing others experience its power in their lives, it was only a matter of time before we were ready to own a larger vision, a vision of making a difference in the world—the whole world. It was quite an adventure! We’ll share some of this adventure and our learning with you from our different points of view.
For me, David, the creation and manifestion of the First Earth Run was a ten-year adventure. In 1976 I organized the U.S. Bicentennial Torch Relay as a way to rekindle the deeper values on which America was founded at a time when our country had sunk into a post–Vietnam War malaise. The flame was transported through all fifty states, witnessed by hundreds of thousands of Americans, and honored by President Gerald Ford as one of the major contributions to the Bicentennial celebration.
As the flame was being extinguished on August 16 after its journey through America, I had a strong impulse to see this fire continue around the world. That was the birth of the vision—passing the fire person to person around the world to celebrate our potential to live in harmony with each other and the Earth. It was a vision of hope and possibility.
I attempted to create this event in 1979, but I couldn’t raise the money or convince people that it could be done. I was not skilled enough, and the timing didn’t seem to be right for a global event of this magnitude. Then, out of the blue I was invited to organize the 1980 Winter Olympic Torch Relay that went from Olympia, Greece, to Lake Placid, New York.
My favorite part of this experience was picking up the flame in Greece. We flew on Air Force One to Athens, where we took another plane and then a bus to the little town of Olympia. Just as I arrived, I saw the flame being processed in the ancient ritual form by twelve Greek priestesses. They moved with such an appreciation for the fire they were carrying and treated it with the respect due one of the few sacred symbols on our planet. When the flame entered Air Force One, one of the flight attendants said that this was the most special passenger she had ever had on the plane.
Instead of taking the fire around the world, a billion people watched the fire come into Lake Placid to start the Winter Games. About six months later, I met Gail, we fell in love, and decided to create the Empowerment Workshop.
As we conducted the Empowerment Workshop each month, we experienced a deep integration into our beings of all that we were teaching and especially the willingness to dream big. In 1983, I would get a chance to put all this into practice. The imminent threat of nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States was foremost on everyone’s mind. The political apparatus was frozen with the threat of war escalating by the month. If ever there was a need for something that could help change the belief system of mutually assured destruction, this was the time. Perhaps the First Earth Run could serve as such a catalyst—a global unifying experience that reminded us of what we had in common, rather than what separated us.
I asked Gail for her help. I told her that our lives—and the financial comfort we had achieved—would be totally disrupted. Gail said, “Is there a choice? If we can make a difference, we need to go for it.” And so we did!
For the next three years, we developed the First Earth Run as full-time volunteers, offering the Empowerment Workshop on weekends. I learned what it meant to persevere, to continually refine your vision when you get feedback that it’s not working. I learned about all the qualities of personal power and how important they are to manifesting a vision. I learned anew that when you are creating your own truth, commitment and discipline help move you forward, and inner guidance, love, and lightness keep you on track.
I learned how important trust in the universe is when you know the final destination, but you don’t know how you’ll get there. I learned how important believing in myself and my vision was if I was to get others—from a volunteer to a head of state—to join in. I learned how important a positive attitude and flowing with change were, as up to one month before the event we had not secured our financing.
In effect, I spent three years intensively learning all the lessons in this book and then testing them out on a global scale. They allowed me to be effective and the event to manifest—ten years later—almost exactly as I had envisioned it in August 1976. On that day, my vision was seeing the flame in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations being passed to the secretary-general by a child, who reminded us why we needed to create a better future. I then saw the secretary-general, deeply inspired, passing it from leader to leader. And that’s the way it happened, not all at once, but over eighty-six days.
UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar was moved to tears as he received the flame from a child and launched it on its journey around the world. It passed through the hands of millions of people, including most of the world’s major leaders, and eventually was handed back to the secretary-general in the General Assembly Hall as the guest of honor in a special session called to celebrate its return. My greatest dream had manifested with all the elements I had envisioned—and much more.
Now I have more than hope; I know for certain that we, the people living on this planet, have the ability to create the world the way we all, in our hearts, want it to be. At this very moment, we have the ability to create a peaceful planet, dedicated to caring for all its inhabitants and our fragile life-support system. We have the ability to create a planet full of kindness, caring, love, and generosity, a planet where people are developing their full human potential, a planet where we can use our creativity to make it a better and healthier place to live, for all of us and for the children who inherit it when we leave.
This is the vision that the rest of my life is dedicated to manifesting. The more who help, adding their variations on the theme, the sooner we can create it.
For me, Gail, the seeds of my future involvement in the First Earth Run were born when I was very young. My love affair with the natural world is one of the strongest memories of my childhood. I vividly recall endless days spent exploring brooks and fields and climbing every tree within my childhood territory. I remember my mother peeling off my wet, muddy clothes and examining the treasures I had brought home from my quests—rocks, sticks, and wildflowers. I was, quite literally, in love with this Earth, and this love of the Earth inspired and sustained me during the most exciting and challenging experience of my life—the First Earth Run.
Another experience that prepared me for the Earth Run was the time spent living and working in other cultures. I saw the bigger picture, recognized how fortunate I was, and wanted to make a contribution toward creating a better world.
Another major influence came at home in the United States. I was deeply involved in both the antiwar activism of the sixties and the women’s movement of the seventies. Through both these grassroots experiences, I learned something very important: I make a difference.
The final influence on me was the Empowerment Workshop. Here I had the privilege of being with many people committed to both their own well-being and the planet’s. Their commitment gave me an enormous sense of hope that we had the power to make it as a human family.
On New Year’s Day 1983, David and I went to see the film Gandhi. It had just been released, and we stood in a long line in Manhattan for hours to get tickets. Nearly half the audience was Indian and all around me Hindi was being spoken. Though I had read Gandhi’s writings and long considered him a mentor, I was not prepared for the power of the experience that was about to unfold.
I cried through the entire film. I felt as if all the major threads of my personal empowerment were being woven together in front of my eyes: my love of the Earth, my yearning to make a contribution to a better world, my understanding that I could make a difference, and my feeling of hope. The inspiration of Gandhi’s life, exquisitely portrayed through Richard Attenborough’s film, integrated the separate strands of my process into a whole. It took me several weeks after the film to understand this, but what I did immediately know was that something inside me had shifted. I felt moved and empowered. I wanted to act.
I created an affirmation to attract a vehicle for expressing this newfound inspiration and yearning to make a larger contribution. Within several months, the idea of doing the First Earth Run came back to David, and together we were ready to take it on.
For the next three years, David and I had to use every empowerment tool we had ever learned or taught! My belief in myself was constantly stretched to the limits, as the magnitude of the vision often overwhelmed me. I just kept finding my next growing edge and working to affirm and visualize that I was capable enough to do this. The concept of trusting the universe jumped to a higher level of meaning for me during the Earth Run. I came to call this radical trust. Radical trust meant that although I was putting my time, money, love, and personal reputation on the line, there was no guarantee that the event would work. All I had to sustain me was my trust.
Ultimately, the First Earth Run was an opportunity to experience how much I had learned about personal growth and my ability to manifest. I used this knowledge in the most difficult and complex situations. I saw its power time and time again. Let me share with you some of my most precious experiences, which made it all worth it:
In Burkina Faso, West Africa, one of the poorest countries on our planet, a crowd of 100,000 had come from hundreds of small villages to welcome the flame in the town of Bobo-Dioulasso. In an evening ceremony, this enormous sea of African faces was illuminated by candles, which symbolized their hope for a peaceful world.
In China, where the torch was welcomed by President Li Xianan, a million people gathered in Shanghai. We were welcomed into the Children’s Palace by laughing children. We were enchanted. They led us into the outdoor courtyard where they taught us songs, dances, and games. I played patty-cake with a young Chinese girl who wore her hair in pigtails tied in enormous pink bows. In this moment I profoundly felt the precious joy of children and our responsibility to their future.
In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega’s child and the child of one of the Contra leaders walked together, holding the torch while their fathers accompanied them. A cease-fire had been declared to allow for safe passage of the torch. What an unforgettable moment of hope!
In the Netherlands, the torch journeyed to the Peace Palace at The Hague. The flame was accepted by World Court President Nagendra Singh and an eternal flame was lit by Prince Klaus. This ceremony was filled with an elegant dignity as we stood in a place consecrated to world peace, with people whose lives were dedicated to international justice and cooperation.
In the Soviet Union, where there was a strong message of support from Mikhail Gorbachev, 100,000 people had gathered in Leningrad to welcome the flame. As we journeyed through the snowy streets, hundreds of Soviets reached out to grasp our hands and touch the torch in a powerful demonstration of friendship.
In Indonesia, eight million people welcomed the torch during its five-day overland relay from Java to Bali. The flame, called the Obor, or friendship torch, was received with extraordinary joy and celebration as we witnessed the unforgettable music, dance, and spirit of the Indonesian people.
In India, we were met by President Giani Zail Singh and were greeted with great enthusiasm in all cities to which we took the flame. In New Delhi we merged the flame of peace with Gandhi’s eternal flame, placing a garland of marigolds on the sacred spot that honors him. In this poignant moment, I completed the circle that had begun on that cold New Year’s Day in 1983.
On First Avenue in New York City, it began to snow as the torch returned home from its eighty-six-day odyssey. As we entered the lobby of the General Assembly Building, I was flooded with emotion as images of hope, responsibility, joy, and possibility from all around the world came racing through my consciousness. I knew that this journey had changed me forever, and I was awed by my love of this fragile, spinning ball called Earth.
What I learned from the Earth Run is that the challenges facing our world today are unsurpassed in complexity. I also know that we have tremendous untapped potential and creativity. I embrace this paradox, and I choose to act with hope as I wake up each morning.
In closing, we wish you much success in creating the life that you want. We also wish you much success in creating the kind of world you want to live in. Dream boldly—you have everything you need within you to achieve your highest visions. We bid you farewell and blessings on your journey.