Alex did interview with Thomas in Bran/Romania

Here it is! 🙂  incl. pictures

joi, 11 octombrie 2012

Thomas Heinrich Schmöckel

Am ales sa postam in engleza asa cum s-a tinut interviul, discutia dintre Thomas Heinrich Schmockel si Alexandru Dumitru (colegul nostru la Roddia). Enjoy.

„The last weekend, while on a regular Iezer to Fagaras ridge trek, Alex (Roddia) met an old man trekking in sandals. Quiet, his feet skin hardened and worn out due to the old sandals he wore, he spent the night in the basic Curmătura Brătilei Shelter without a sleeping bag while temperatures dropped at a few degrees above freezing. A short, slow pace discussion showed that he is a peace walker. Having started in Southern Germany, he is on his way to India, walking. A project that will take him about 4 years to complete. He is not going in a straight (or easy for that matter) line. He went up the Fagaras a few weeks ago, the snowstorm two weeks ago caught him up there, so he went down, waited for good weather and decided to return up the ridge to continue the trek without going around the mountains.

A man. A project meant to bring people, respectively people and nature in harmony. No doubts. Natural (as opposed to man-made) happiness. The inspiration that comes from the inside and is then shared with the others without expecting (or asking for) anything back. Meet Thomas Heinrich Schmöckel.

Alex (Roddia): It might sound simple, yet people actually walk less and less nowadays, as even walking two blocks away has turned into a challenge for many of us, while you are a serious walker, to say the least. How did it all start?

THS: It started 20 years ago, when I got this insight that at 50 years old I would walk from Germany to India. Some 6 years ago I started to prepare for this project, with shorter walks through Germany and the neighbouring countries. My purpose was and still is to find the pain and sorrow in the places I walk through, trying to heal that. Take it, if you want, as a small, personal attempt to give something to the people and places I walk through. I walked for about 7000 km. in that region, especially through Poland, where I found a lot of suffering due to teh harsh history of the country.
Alex (Roddia): Do you walk alone or with company?
THS: I have always invited people to join me and I often have company for 2-3 weeks or so. An important thing for our meditating and personal approach towards the places we cross, we always walk in silence. Now there are 4 of us, but we are not always travelling together as everyone has his / her preferences and personal profile and we must respect that. For instance, most of us will probably meet in Bucharest (the interview was taken in Bran). But by November I shall probably remain alone, as everyone else will go back home.

Alex (Roddia): You are doing this walk advocating peace among people, between people and the nature hosting us…
THS: First of all, we try to cultivate peace inside the walking group, to understand and forgive, as we are together 24 hours a day. It is important to realize that the whole thing is coming from the heart, as we all are nothing but a manifestation of the will of peace, which lies in everyone; all we need is just to try and bring it to the surface, to cultivate it. Then, once we have embraced peace both at an individual and group level, we can share our experience with the others, hence our walking across different places. Apart from the walk itself, we knock on people’s doors and tell them about our project, we work on the collective consciousness.

Alex (Roddia): What about the fences, doubts and obstacles the contemporary man – always in a self-made rush – blames for not doing things, for not fulfilling his dreams?
THS: If I have doubts, it means I do not have enough breaks, I do not have enough peace inside. It does not happen often that I have doubts. In the first 5 years I had a hard time getting enough breaks. Not having enough breaks is like getting ill. Now I am walking through the snow, across mountains and plains in sandals or barefoot.

Alex (Roddia): What is your daily routine?
THS: I wake up at 6 AM, I do yoga at 6:30, go on with meditation for an hour, I pack my stuff (n. Thomas travels only with a rather small backpack) and I am on the road by 9 AM. I walk for 15-20 km. every day, even though I also have my 30 km. days. Speed is not my concern, I go at about 3 to 4 km. / hour.

Alex (Roddia): What gives you the strength every morning?
THS: I feel very privileged to be a peace walker and to walk with other people. It is fulfilling to wake up, do yoga and prepare for the day; it is beautiful to walk for peace. It is joyful to do every step. And more, to do this from the heart, not because you have to or that because it is comme il faut to do that.

Alex (Roddia): The future?
THS: I shall do this for the next 4 to 5 years and I shall see then if there is a continuation to it. I shall listen to my heart voice to see what is coming afterwards. But I am willing to do this for the rest of my life.

Alex (Roddia): We have met in Romania, one of the several countries on your way. Do you feel a difference going from one country to another one?
THS: For instance, when I was going through Hungary, I met many nice people that helped us and – together with my companions – we used to say that everything is possible in Hungary. Then we crossed into Romania and we soon realized that here it is often not necessary to ask, things just came and happened to us. Here we used to say that Romanians are rich, but not in a financial way, rather taking care of the stranger, being nice to him.

Alex (Roddia): Joy is about giving, not about asking, so do tell us something of your own choice at the end of our discussion.

THS: It is very important to listen to the voice of your heart, to find your own peace and to see what you really want to do. If you haven’t found this inner peace, you have to ask yourself why this happens. If you have peace, you have happiness. To have peace is to have be in harmony with everything, the universe, God or whatever else people think is the greatest entity around. Harmony creates beauty for both yourself and the others. If you are in harmony with the rest of the universe, you are rich.“