| Niangua Campers perform in the Peace Dome!  | Although the Peace Dome is still under construction for its October 11th Dedication, we are consciously enthusing it with the highest thoughts we can create. Since late last year there have been planning meetings, PeaceMaker gatherings, singing and chanting, praying and meditating, and more recently performances of "THE INVITATION" a powerful play based on speeches of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates and the text of the Universal Peace Covenant. During camp this year, the kids met the laureates and they came together to meet the 20th century's greatest teacher of peace – Mohandas K. Gandhi in an amazing presentation. | | The campus was graced by Nobel Prize Laureates and the campers got to spend time with them. College and graduate students had for five months before camp started, been becoming familiar with particular Peace Laureates, learning by heart excerpts from their acceptance speeches and endeavoring to embody their consciousness. It was fitting for these individuals to serve as representatives of the Peace Laureates so the campers could spend time with a person who had devoted years of their life to the progress of peace. They picked up rocks with Jimmy Carter, dug potatoes with Betty Williams from Northern Ireland. They made short cakes with Mother Teresa, and went on a scientific expedition of dowsing with Linus Pauling. They travelled through the Niangua jungles with Albert Schweitzer to go swimming. And Martin Luther King Jr. visited at our Peace Fire on Friday evening. Through the week the campers learned and became familiar with the ideas of these Peace Laureates to gain a greater idea of what peace is.
Where they learned the most about them was through theater arts. Dr. Barbara Condron, teacher, had created an exquisite three part presentation given on Saturday night of Family Weekend. | Niangua Campers meet Nobel Prize Laureates at 2003 Summer Camp by Dr. Pam Blosser, camp director | | The second chant, Pravi , Rama, Rama, Rama ani Om (bring the delight of creation), was represented in the love story of Rama and Sita. Rama means delight, and the campers delighted in presenting this story as a shadow puppet play. They designed and created the characters themselves. Upon seeing it the audience was delighted as well. |  | | The third part was a beautiful yoga dance including all the movements from the Sun Salutation. This was danced to the chant Svagatam mahatma (Come, great soul), Namaskar ahimsa (Pay reverence or obescience to non-violence). A lovely tapestry of form and movement was woven together through sight and sound.
This beautiful experience brought our camp to its fruition and formed the climax to a wonderful evening of Family Weekend for everyone present.• Audio cassette recordings of Satyagraha and Peace is Real are now available ... check out Peace Tools |  |   |  | Return to Index Copyright® 2004, School of Metaphysics | | |