RESTORING THE SACRED BALANCE AND ENDING WAR TO HEAL OUR WORLD FAMILY

Written by Chief Phil Lane Jr. for the World Peace Gathering, 18 – 20 July 2025, Dripsey Castle, Cork, Ireland

By

My Very Beloved Relatives of Our Human Family,

We gather here today, on the sacred ground of Dripsey Castle, under the protective canopy of the Sacred Tree of Life, to affirm a New Covenant, a Binding Planetary Treaty to End War. We come together not in fear, but in faith. Not in separation, but in solidarity and unity. Our collective action is a force to be reckoned with, not in despair, but in a hope so ancient and deep that it rises from the bones of Mother Earth herself. 

The urgency of our mission is paramount. We stand at a critical juncture, where our united choices will reverberate through time, either blessing or destroying the generations to come. This is not a time for complacency, but for swift and decisive action. The time to act is now.

This moment is not just a turning point; it is pivotal. It is a crucial threshold where history meets prophecy. 

We are not merely responding to a crisis. We are ushering in a new era —a sacred return to right relationship, balance, justice, and peace.

The Oxfam report of June 25, 2025,  the latest mirror held up to humanity, shows us how distorted our global reality has become. It tells us that the wealthiest 1% of our Mother Earth’s population have captured $33.9 trillion in new wealth over the last decade. This staggering amount is not theoretical. It is enough to end extreme poverty across the globe twenty-two times over.

At the same time:

• The richest 3,000 billionaires now control 14.6% of global GDP, while,
  
• Eight hundred twenty-eight million ( 828 million) people go to bed hungry every night.
  
• Every 5 seconds, a child under five dies from malnutrition, contaminated water, or preventable illness.
  
• Two billion people live without access to safe drinking water.
  
• Approximately 4.2 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services.
  
• 1.6 billion people, including 1 in 4 children, are homeless or live in inadequate shelter.
  
• Half of humanity is without access to essential healthcare.
  

We are witnessing not a lack of resources, but a failure of spiritual and moral direction.

From 1995 to 2023, private wealth grew by $342 trillion, while public wealth, which feeds our hospitals, schools, clean water systems, and climate resilience, grew by only $44 trillion. The circle has been broken. The sacred has been commodified by unbridled greed and profound spiritual sickness. The few have claimed the abundance of our Mother Earth, while the many suffer.

This is not the Sacred Path that leads to our Beloved Creator, Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery. This is not the way of our ancestors. This is not the path to a positive future for our future generations.

Yet there is more.

In the year 2023, the nations of our beloved Mother Earth spent more than $2.4 trillion on military forces, the highest amount ever recorded in human history. These trillions are not just figures on paper. They are missiles and tanks, surveillance systems and drones, tools of fear, control, and destruction. This massive investment in war is a sign, not of progress, but of our deepening spiritual disconnection from the sacred path of unity, peace, and justice.

Rather than healing the open wounds of our Human Family, rather than feeding the hungry, housing people experiencing homelessness, or safeguarding the sacred lands and waters, the powers of the world continue to invest in perfecting the art of war. And this dangerous path has only escalated. Russia’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 undermined the regime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, revitalized war rhetoric and justified the increase of military spendings in all the world. The NATO nations, once a symbol of post-war reconciliation and peaceful cooperation, have now expanded their military spending target from an already significant 2% to an alarming 5% of GDP by  2035.

This is not a small or symbolic change. It is a thunderous turning away from the opportunity to build a world founded on mutual respect, cooperation, and shared security. It signals that the winds of fear and mistrust are once again shaping the destinies of nations—and that the teachings of war are being chosen over the teachings of peace.

If this path continues, over $60 trillion will be spent globally in the next 25 years on war machines, militarized borders, surveillance systems, and technologies of violence. That is $60 trillion not spent on ending hunger. Not spent on healing our ecosystems. Not spent on ensuring that our children and grandchildren inherit a world of clean air, living waters, and peaceful skies.

From an Indigenous perspective, this is more than a political failure; it is a profound spiritual crisis.  It reflects a dangerous misalignment between our sacred responsibilities and our worldly priorities. We must urgently address this crisis with clear eyes and courageous hearts, acknowledging who benefits from this militarization and who suffers as a result. 

We remember the teachings of our Dakota ancestors—the teachings of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, Pte Ska Win, and the ways of Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery. These ancient teachings remind us that true power comes not from weapons, but from wisdom. Not from conquest, but from compassion. Not from division, but from kinship with all beings.

Now is the time to walk away from the path of war and return to the Sacred Path of Peace. Let us invest not in destruction, but in restoration. Not in surveillance, but in trust. Not in domination, but in justice, healing, and unity.

It is time to build, not destroy. 

Let us build bioregional sanctuaries and sacred economies rooted in the values of generosity, humility, mutual respect, and reverence for all life. Let us rise together as one Human Family to protect what is sacred and restore balance to our world.

The cost of any other choice will not only be measured in trillions, but will also be felt in the lives of millions. It will be the soul of humanity itself that is lost. If we turn now, if we instead choose peace with the same urgency that we now choose war, we will kindle a sacred fire of renewal that no empire, no weapon, and no darkness can ever extinguish. The potential for a peaceful future is within our grasp, waiting to be realized.

Let this guide our actions.

Imagine if we choose peace, not just as the absence of conflict, but as a global investment in life itself.

We already know that just a fraction of this amount can :

• End hunger worldwide,
  
• Ensure universal healthcare and education,
  
• Provide access to clean water and sanitation for all,
  
• Restore degraded ecosystems,
  
• Transition the planet to renewable energy,
  
• Empower Indigenous land stewardship and climate solutions.
  

We have already seen the power of War. War not only destroys bodies and buildings,  it destroys trust, erodes morality, and strangles the future. It drains the well of humanity’s spiritual energy and desecrates the sacred covenant between peoples, nations, and our Mother Earth.

And as  we war with each other, we are waging an unspoken war against our animals, fish, trees, rivers, oceans, winds, and cloud relatives:

Since 1970, nearly 70% of wildlife populations have disappeared.

Over one million species are now at risk of extinction.

The oceans, once vast and sacred realms of life and memory, are acidifying and becoming increasingly empty.

Forests are falling. Glaciers are melting. Rivers are choking. Bombs, strip mines, and military-industrial expansion are flattening sacred landscapes.

Even in “peacetime”, our Mother Earth suffers the wounds of war through weapons testing, deforestation for military zones, toxic waste dumping, and climate pollution from global armies.

 Yet our Mother Earth, like our Elders, still whispers: Come back. You are not too far gone. The hoop can still be mended.

This is the hour to walk the Fourth Way, a path of peace, justice, and unity that transcends old ideologies and systems of domination. Not the path of old ideologies. Not the path of empire. Not the path of domination. But the path of restoration, reconciliation, and justice.

This is the path of Kindred Spirits Ireland, Four Worlds, and the Union of the Condor,  Hummingbird,  Quetzal, and Eagle. 

Each one of us, my beloved relatives, has a crucial role to play in this journey. To truly end war and restore balance, we must:

• Redistribute wealth through sacred reciprocity, not as charity, but as justice, rooted in mutual care.
  
• Demilitarize our economies, shifting our investments from bullets to bread, from missiles to medicine, from conquest to cooperation.
  
• Revitalize Indigenous wisdom and leadership, recognizing that our Mother Earth is not a resource to be exploited, but a living relative to be protected, honored, and loved.
  
• Embrace spiritual unity, affirming that all the Messengers of Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, spoke one eternal truth: We are One World Family and the Hurt of One is the Hurt of All!

There is a truth more ancient than time and more potent than any treaty or technology. It is the understanding that without the sacred feminine, there can be no healing, no ending of war, no uniting of humanity, and no restoration of the balance of Mother Earth.

The feminine is not a concept. She is life itself, the water that nourishes, the womb that births, the hands that tend, the heart that holds. Our women are not only the givers of life, but also mirrors of Mother Earth. When they are uplifted, heard, and honored, we walk in harmony. When they are silenced, violated, or cast aside, we fall into imbalance and suffering.

This imbalance has been the hidden root of war, domination, exploitation, and control. And so, we must say clearly: there is no pathway to peace without the complete restoration of the feminine spirit within women and men.

The sacred prophecy of the Union of the Condor,  Hummingbird,  Quetzal, and  Eagle tells us this:

“Each of these sacred birds has two wings. One wing is the feminine spiritual qualities, compassion, intuition, nurturing, receptivity, and renewal. The other wing is the masculine spiritual qualities, courage, action, structure, protection, and clarity. If either wing is wounded or over-dominant, the bird cannot fly.”

And so it is with the Human Family. For too long, we have tried to soar with one wing, the masculine, while suppressing the feminine. The result has been war, conquest, inequality, and ecological collapse. The wing of intuition, gentleness, care, and spiritual vision has been bound, broken, or ignored.

But now, the healing has begun.

We must rebalance the wings. We must empower the women of the world, not just as leaders in name, but as keepers of wisdom, carriers of vision, and co-creators of the future. And we must also call upon the men to honor the feminine within themselves, to learn once again how to listen, how to weep, how to protect without dominating, how to lead without control.

Only then, when both wings are firm, equal, and in harmony, can the Eagle, the Condor, the Quetzal, and the Hummingbird rise together. Only then can the Human Family soar into the Worlds of Light, as prophesied by our Ancestors.

This sacred balance is not optional. It is essential.

Without it, we will continue to fall into war, division, and ruin.
With it, we rise into peace, unity, justice, and the flowering of life.

Let us now walk forward in right relationship, with women leading beside men, not behind them. Let the daughters of Mother Earth lift their voices, guide our hearts, and remind us of what it means to live in balance.

For it is only through the power of sacred feminine love, joined with sacred masculine vision, that we will truly fulfill the promise of this Gathering and the purpose of this Treaty.

As we restore the sacred balance between the feminine and masculine, we are called to remember an even more profound truth, one that lives at the very heart of our beings:

Our soul has no gender. No race. No class. No border. No color.

The soul is neither man nor woman, neither black nor white, neither rich nor poor. It is not bound by the design of our bodies, the language we speak, or the place we are born. The soul belongs not to tribe or nation, it belongs to Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka, the Great Mystery, and reflects the oneness of our Creator.

When we look with the eyes of the soul, there are no enemies, no strangers, no “other.” There is only the One expressed in countless sacred forms.

This truth, known by the Elders, spoken by the prophets, and encoded in our ceremonies, makes all forms of prejudice and division not only intolerable but spiritually impossible. To harm another based on race, gender, belief, or class is to wound the Sacred Mirror within ourselves. To deny the humanity of another is to deny the light within our soul.

The soul is not divided. It is not superior or inferior.
It is whole, radiant, and rooted in the divine unity of all life.

Our soul is a sovereignty, ancient, imperishable, and everlasting. 

If we are to end war, heal our planet, and walk the Fourth Way with truth and humility, we must first see each other with the eyes of the soul, recognizing in every face a reflection of the same sacred fire.

Let this remembrance guide us beyond the illusions of separation. Let it carry us into a world where our diversity is cherished, and our unity is celebrated, not only in word, but in every law, every system, every way of being.

For when we honor the soul in one another, we prepare the way for peace to take root—not just in treaties or institutions, but in the very soil of our hearts.

By the year 2050, if this Binding Planetary Treaty to End War is honored and upheld, we will live in a different world:

• A world where no child dies from hunger, thirst, or neglect.
  
• A world where conflict is resolved through sacred consultation, not through violence.
  
• A world where oceans teem with life, forests breathe freely, and wolves, elephants, salmon, and bees roam and fly in safety.
  
• A world where clean water runs in every home, and every Elder receives the care they deserve.
  
• A world where every youth is equipped with knowledge, purpose, and voice.
  
• A world where borders do not divide hearts, and diversity is seen not as a threat, but as a blessing.
  

In this world, our Mother Earth’s economies will be built on justice, regeneration, cooperation, and cultural flourishing. Weapons manufacturers will become builders of homes, gardens, and green technology. Veterans of war will become healers, storytellers, and protectors of peace.

The more than $60 trillion once destined for destruction will instead nurture a civilization of compassion, beauty, and balance.

If the storm clouds of war and poverty were not enough, there is another force gathering, one that touches every leaf, every child, every raindrop. It is the profound imbalance we now call runaway climate change. It is not only a scientific phenomenon. From our spiritual view, it is a sign, an urgent message from Mother Earth herself, crying out for us to change our ways or be changed by consequences we can no longer control.

For over three decades, the nations of the world have gathered under banners like COP, the Conference of the Parties. There have now been 29 global climate summits, with COP30 approaching, each pledging to turn the tide of destruction. And yet, emissions continue to rise nearly every year, and warming has accelerated. Promises were made, but they have not been kept.

Global temperatures have now risen more than 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels. With each fraction of a degree, we see intensified droughts, floods, fires, and storms. If we do not act immediately, our world will warm by more than 2°C by 2050, triggering irreversible tipping points that no treaty or technology can undo.

If We Do Not Change Our Path by 2050

By 2050, if we continue on this current path of delay and denial:

• Over 1 billion people may be displaced by rising seas, droughts, crop failure, and unbearable heat.
  
• Entire coastal cities will become uninhabitable, from Bangkok to Lagos, from Miami to Dhaka.
  
• Dead zones in the oceans will expand, fisheries will collapse, and coral reefs —the nurseries of marine life —will be lost forever.
  
• Crop yields are expected to decline by up to 30% in regions already struggling with food insecurity.
  
• Deadly heatwaves will sweep across continents, claiming millions of lives.
  
• And in the Global South, which has contributed the least to this crisis, suffering will be the most severe.
  

This is not a prophecy of punishment. This is a truth born of imbalance. We have broken our covenant with our Creator and our World Family, and if we do not restore it, our Mother Earth will continue to mirror back to us the chaos we have sown.

One of the most urgent wounds in this climate crisis is the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest, the largest tropical rainforest on Earth and home to over 400 Indigenous nations.

Known as the Lungs of our Mother Earth, the Amazon is being slaughtered for profit, cleared at the rate of more than a football field every minute. Much of this destruction is driven by the global appetite for red meat, as forests are cleared for cattle ranching and soy production, not for people, but to fatten livestock in factory farms around the world.

As trees fall, the Amazon nears a terrifying tipping point, where it will no longer absorb carbon but instead emit it, transforming from a protector to a polluter. If this sacred biome collapses, the global climate balance will unravel.

Few speak of it, but it must be said: Factory farming of animals, especially cattle, is a leading driver of climate breakdown.

• Livestock alone produce more greenhouse gases than all cars, planes, and ships combined.
  
• Methane, released by cows and stored in their manure, is 84 times more potent than CO₂ over 20 years.
  
• The demand for meat has caused a massive expansion in industrial-scale animal farming, where sacred beings are turned into commodities and ecosystems are sacrificed for profit.
  

This is not only a climate issue. It is a spiritual violation, a desecration of the sacred relationship between humans and animals, who once roamed free and were honored through ceremony, not consumed through convenience.

Unless we change course immediately in this decade, the 2050 that awaits us will be one of fires, floods, famine, and flight. It will be a world where our grandchildren ask not, “Why did this happen?”, but “Why didn’t they stop it when they could?”

But if we walk the Fourth Way, if we end war, redistribute wealth, restore the Amazon, honor animals, and relearn the language of our Mother Earth, then by 2050 we can live in a world of green cities, clean waters, balanced climates, and flourishing cultures.

Let us not wait until the tree has fallen to wish we had watered it.
Let us not wait until the air burns our lungs to wish we had listened.

Let us act now, with sacred courage, and choose the path that leads back to Life.

And so, my beloved relatives, let it be remembered that here, on this sacred day, at this sacred place, under this sacred sky, on this Sacred Emerald Isle, where the 8th Fire and Sacred Fire of Kildare,  that has burned for 9000 years, were reunited.  We do more than gather. We answer the call.

We come to do more than merely speak of peace. We come to weave it with our hearts, to bind it with our hands, and to lift it as a high banner for all the world to see.

Here, at the World Peace Gathering, surrounded by the sacred fire and the prayers of many nations, we choose not only to dream but to declare, with clarity, justice, and courage, a Sacred Covenant.  We decide not only to hope, but to act with unity and urgency. We choose not to mourn the broken hoop of life, but to restore it, strand by sacred strand.

The time for waiting is over.

The time is now, this sacred time, when we choose peace with our hearts, our hands,  our minds, our spirits, and our collective will.

The Binding Planetary Treaty to End War is not merely a piece of parchment or ink. This Binding Planetary Treaty to End War is a living prayer, a sacred covenant,  breathed into being by the Ancestors, carried by our Elders, signed by our leaders, and safeguarded by the children yet to be born.

This is our sacred vow and covenant with Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit. This is our way forward.

As we rise from this World Peace Gathering, let us carry fire in our hearts, but walk with humility in our steps. Let each of our footsteps be a blessing. Let each of our words be a medicine. Let each of our actions be a living prayer.

Let us go forth and plant the seeds of peace so deep, so wide, so sacred, that no empire, no fear, no war, no evil, and no greed can ever uproot them.

And may the children of 2050 look back upon this moment, not with sorrow, but with heartfelt gratitude, and say:

“They remembered who they were. They chose the Sacred Way. And we are alive, and thriving, and free, because they did.”

Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. 

Šuŋ́kmanu hé miye do– Čhaŋnúpa Sápa hé miye do

I am a Leader of Warriors Who Takes the Enemy’s Horses,-I am a Sacred Black Pipe Born of Thunder, Lightning, and Rain. 

Híŋhaŋ Wičhášta and Delória Tióšpaye, Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ and Chikashsha Nations 

And I Stand Fully Responsible For All My Words and Actions before Our Creator, Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka, the Great Mystery 

(The names of our Vision Holders and Sacred Stewards will be added to the printed copy. )