It is one minute after midnight on the morning of January 1, 2000. As the clock ticks, New Zealand will be among the first countries to reach over the "imaginal line" and touch our future! Radios and televisions around the world will ALL play John Lennon's "Imagine" (or another heart-swelling tune). People around the world will stop to listen. They will know that this new future is soon coming to them as well. Be patient, the hands of the clock are moving the future to ALL!
In the meantime, we, the inhabitants of this planet, are all watching the same image via satellite television as 2000 A.D. comes to New Zealand (or . . . ?). As Jean Hudon has already imagined and shared with us from his mind's eye, we will now see this unfold in real time before our very eyes: natives from every land circling around a giant torch, each holding a small burning torch. The music comes to a crescendo as each native representative comes forward to add his/her flame to the central eternal flame. The music of Torchbearers can be heard now. This shared air time is perhaps short, but it is also the early dawn of more to come on this subject throughout the year!
Now it is July 1, 2000, and we are halfway through the new year and also halfway to the real beginning of the year of the New Millennium, Jan. 1, 2001. Picture either Washington D.C. and the famous Mall of green lawn stretching between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial or the Los Angeles Coliseum.
In the center of an expansive grassy area is the Eternal Flame, whose light has been transferred from New Zealand to Washington D.C. (or substitute the Coliseum in Los Angeles).
Making a large circle, hundreds of feet wide, around the Eternal Flame are 187 (or whatever the number of recognized countries on this planet) brightly colored "double pillars" standing for all males and females from every land in equal interdependence. Between these many brightly colored "country pillars" are many much thinner uncolored pillars or uprights. The effect is not unlike Stonehenge or the standing stones of old.
Around the circumference of the circle are piles of scarf-like pieces of material which have already been donated by people from all over the world and assembled here for this great "Imagine Weaving the Dream" ceremony.
These lengths of cloth might have been elegantly woven, hand painted or might be as simple as a piece of someone's T-shirt. But the offerings have all been donated by individuals.
This announcement, invitation to participate, and any instructions, would have been disseminated 2 years before this event. Either the United Nations or perhaps the Red Cross would be the receiving Chapters for the assembled donated cloth from each country.
In addition to donating a piece of cloth 4-5 feet long, the gifter would also be invited to add a one-page story, if any, about the gift (e.g., who gifted it, where it came from, and anything else pertinent to the story). Various camera persons and documentaryists would have followed the process from its implementation several years before, creating a written and verbal history of this planetary unification of heart-fullness.
Throughout this unfolding ceremony of several days (suggested June 24-July 4, 2000) there would be a schedule of music and dance performances from every country of the world. Visitors to this site would be invited to participate in the "Imagine Weaving The Dream!" ceremony.
Each visitor would be invited to select an offering from the donated "world's cloth," separated into piles by countries. Next they would step up to the Pillared Ceremony Circle and actually weave this piece of cloth into that structure, thereby actually helping to create the Whole Cloth seamless fabric architectual structure (our unified, shared vision of a healing future)!
When the structure has been completely woven, the result will be a very deeply touching symbol for all the world to see - all of this of course being recorded and played to television viewers around the world!
WE ARE THE WORLD, and this IS our symbol of Unity which we have made with our own hands, and all woven together into something of far greater value than each piece of cloth!
When the ceremony has finally been finished, all of the remaining piles of pieces of cloth will be mixed together (like a casserole) and divided up into the equal numbers of the recognized countries in the world. These Whole Cloth packages will then be returned to each participating country to seed future art projects, as visioned and determined by each country.
Therefore the process will have completed its circle, having begun its journey in each country, been shared with the whole world, and finally the resulting world cloth package ending up in each country of origin. The same camera documentaries and written material would continue through this point as well, symbolically recording the desire of the people of this planet to live in peace with one another.
This, in very brief form, is a re-do of the Proposal of "Weave A Dream Of Whole Cloth" which I submitted to the 1996 Olympic Committee in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). The Advisory Board for this proposal included Madame Jehan Sedat of Egypt, Ray Bradbury (Futurist and well known science fiction writer), Jean Houston (philosopher,psychologist, futurist and evacateur of "The Possible Human"), and Sergei Plekhanov (physicist and member of The Russian Academy of Sciences), as well as myself, Penny McManigal, Transformational Peace Artist.
The proposal was eventually withdrawn at the suggestion of Ray Bradbury, who suggested that we wait for a time when this interwoven, integrated world art creation could be appreciated for the depth of the vision that it offered to the planet. So be it.
Now, is there anyone who is interested in helping this become a reality???
Please send any ideas or comments to me at Paxweave@aol.com. If you have not already done so, please visit my website at http://www.ashlandweb.com/millennium.weave for more information on my background in the art of peace.
Now fast forward to Jan. 1, 2001, and witness the further Dawning of the Ages with "Imagine" being played once again at one minute after midnight.
Then the television cameras from around the world will begin to play 24 hours of a visual feast of all the wonderful moments that humankind has created in this past 365 days! "Feast on the Possible!" Just "Imagine!"
Love and heart,
Penny McManigal
You may email Penny McManigal at Paxweave@aol.com.
©1990 Penny McManigal
Mystic Planet
http://mysticplanet.com
mystic@mysticplanet.com