Aotearoa- New Zealand is a land that welcomed me and became my home for the best part of 20 years. Back in 1995, soon after I arrived here, I met Maori elder, Rose Pere. She said, “People come to New Zealand looking for the lost pieces of their soul. When they’ve found them they must take what they’ve learned back to their own countries”. My time in Aotearoa was a soul journey, a time when I made spiritual and creative freedom my priority. Four years ago I returned to my homeland in the UK and deep healing followed.
As I write this I am back in New Zealand and preparing to launch my new book, Whole Mind-Whole World. My story begins with recollections of the falling of the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001; the beginning of the random acts of violence and hatred we have come to know as “terrorism”. At that time I was teaching counselling skills and I sat in a circle of mature counselling students as we processed our shock and grief at the catastrophe. We longed for the compassionate community, fellowship and deep listening we co-created that morning to spread and become the norm.
I end my story in Whole Mind-Whole World with the event that has just shaken the New Zealand people to the core. On 15th March 2019, while hundreds of people were at prayer, at least 50 people were murdered and 50 more seriously injured in two savage mass shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch. The gunman is known to be a white supremacist motivated by racial hatred. Immediately after the shootings, the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, spoke of this as “New Zealand’s darkest day.”
In the following few days there was a mass outpouring of grief, compassion, solidarity and support by people across New Zealand. This tragedy opened the hearts of millions of people. As I watched the news coverage I felt I was witnessing the birth of the whole new world I, and many others, have been envisioning and holding space for, for so many years. I have intuitively known the destiny of Aotearoa-New Zealand to be a global leader of peace. The media reporting was full of words not normally heard on tv and resonant of the new consciousness: love, empathy, compassion, freedom, unity. The new catchphrase on many people’s lips is “They are Us.”
It’s clear to see how through the polarities of darkness and light, encapsulated here in this event, humanity is moving forward in our evolution. The dark acts of violence draw out the best in people; just as the light calls out the darkness. I feel deeply moved that the New Zealand people spontaneously arose to stand and say No to the savagery and murderous prejudice so prevalent throughout our world. They stood, not in anger, hatred and recrimination, but in Love. They loudly and clearly said No to the unacceptable, embodied their Yes by being the Love and coming together in Love.
In a world where authentic leadership is currently hard to find at the political level, Jacinda Ardern, a young woman Prime Minister, demonstrated clear, firm, immediate, compassionate leadership backed by financial support for the families of victims and immediate changes in the gun laws.
I feel deeply sad for all those who lost their lives, those who are grieving their losses, and those traumatised. And yet, I am inspired, uplifted and hopeful as a result of the leadership the New Zealand people are demonstrating to the world and the ripples that are going out. When tragedy strikes – whether in the form of a natural disaster or an eruption of human violence – we each have a choice. We can choose to allow our hearts to open, to feel our fellowship and solidarity with each other, to stand together in Love and peace, to offer practical support. In the face of death and disaster, we can choose wholeness and unity.
May we all live in peace.
