What does it take to create a better future for the human family and all life on this planet? We need to combine the visions and dreams of the young, the wisdom of the elders, and good practice examples of how people are active to tackle the major world problems humanity is facing. We believe that in this combination lies a key to unlock the boundless sources of compassion, imagination, and creativity that are so much needed in our troubled times. Join the Feather Project!

The Feather Project brings these elements together - the visions, the wisdom, and the practical action for creating a more just, peaceful and sustainable future. In this major task ahead of us, the dialogue and collaboration of the generations is a crucial element. The Award-winning humanitarian Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp writes:

"It is the natural but too often neglected passionate cooperation between the generations, blending the lessons from the past with daring visions for the future that will pull us out of the trap of self-indulgence and callousness, which could only lead to destruction of ourselves and the diversity of all life. The young and the old together are bringing forth the energy of compassion which is unlocking the immense resources of human imagination, decency and the power of dignity."

The project is based on the Native American ceremony of the "talking feather" where an Eagle's feather is passed from speaker to speaker, while the person holding the feather is requested to share his deepest thoughts and speak from the heart. Rabbi Soetendorp encountered such a ceremony at the Conference of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival in Kyoto, Japan in 1993 that brought together leaders such as Mother Theresa, Al Gore, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Native American Faith Keeper Chief Oren Lyons.

 In a working session organized by Native American youth, some elders of the conference were approached to hold an eagle's feather and share with the young their deepest life’s lesson that they would like the young people to carry throughout their lives. Rabbi Soetendorp was struck by the simplicity, beauty and great inspirational power of this ceremony and thought about using it to engage the large network of moral and spiritual leaders that he encountered over more than 40 years of his engagement for interreligious dialogue and collaboration. The Feather Project is building on this ceremony and seeks to perform it with spiritual leaders and young people as a beautiful way of enhancing intergenerational dialogue by sharing authentic stories, life lessons, and visions for the future – at conferences, in classrooms and over the internet.

The Feather Project was launched at the international Earth Charter + 10 Celebration in the Peace Palace in The Hague on June 29, 2010 that was attended by HRH Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende. The screening of the Feather Project Trailer was followed by a feather ceremony led by Rabbi Soetendorp with the participation of elders and young people from different cultures. During the ceremony, young people from Belarus and Indonesia shared their vision for the future and then handed the feather to the Maori Tribal Elder Pauline Tangiora as well as Pakistani Human Rights Lawyer Parvez Hassan. The sharing of the hearts, as well as the intergenerational interaction between the participants moved many people in the international audience to tears.

A second ceremony was conducted in Mahatma Gandhi’s historical ashram in Ahmedabad, India, during the international “Ethical Framework for a Sustainable World” Conference hosted by the Center for Environment Education India on 3 November, 2010. Adapting the ceremony to the cultural context of India, the feather was replaced by hand-spun cotton, symbol of Gandhi’s struggle for self-reliance and independence was handed respectfully between the speakers during the ritual. Several high ranking spiritual leaders including His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, His Holiness Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, as well as Sr. Valeriane Bernand of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University participated in this “Threads of Sustainability”-ceremony. The ceremony was preceeded by an address of Prof. Mary Evelyn Tucker, founder of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and followed by Prof. Steven Rockefeller who gave a moving final speech before retiring from his duties as Chair of the Earth Charter International Council, as which he had served for more than 15 years. Again, the reaction from the international audience was overwhelming.

To make the Feather Project more interactive, we launched a call to young people around the world to create and upload on our website their own “feather videos”, in which they share their visions for the future and interview elders in their communities about their life experiences. This way we try to make creative use of the internet to promote the 'value change for survival' that is very much needed in our troubled times and hope to create an interactive online repository of visions, dreams, wisdom, and action that everyone can visit to gain new inspiration for making the small, individual steps to adopt more mindful and sustainable ways of living.

Please help us develop this project by sharing your visions, your wisdom, and your action projects - let us tap into this immense potential of human creativity!

Please also visit the Feather Project YouTube Channel and join us on Facebook and Twitter!