Chief Phil Lane Jr. visited Florida, November 3-8, 2011 to lead a spiritual gathering, meet with Walt Disney World about the Tree of Life, and make a presentation at the Patel School of Sustainability, at the University of South Florida (USF)

The visit was made possible in part by a grant from the United Religions Initiative, as well as support from Global Healing, and the Sacred Lands Preserve & Education Center.

Phil Lane Jr. is a hereditary chief of the Yankton Sioux tribe, and member of the White Swan Band.  He is also a member of the Chickasaw Nation and Founder and Executive Director of Four Worlds International Institute for Human & Community Development, member of the WHALE Center Board of Directors, and founding member of the Global Healing Initiative.  See full Phil Lane Jr. Bio.

The visit was coordinated by Dr. David W. Randle, President & CEO of the WHALE Center and co-facilitator of the Global Healing CC.

The visit began with a gathering led by Chief Phil Lane Jr. on Healing Ourselves, Our Communities, and Our Relationships with Mother Earth.  Dozens of people came to the gathering from a variety of spiritual beliefs and traditions to learn and share.  The event was held at the Sacred Lands Preserve and Education Center, the site of ancient Indian Mounds in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Following the spiritual gathering, Chief Phil Lane Jr. and Dr. David Randle journeyed to the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resorts® to have conversations with Disney Imagineer, Gary Graham, about the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life is a 14 story, 50 ft. diameter center piece of the Animal Kingdom, and includes carvings of 345 animals. 

All the sculptured animals were done by three different nationally known Native American artists.

Gary shared that the intent for the Tree of Life is to remind us of our connection to the animal kingdom, to foster a greater appreciation of nature, and to instill a positive sense of adventure in the natural world.  Further info may be found at Animal Sculptures of the Tree of Life

The three discussed the common archetypes found in Phil Lane Jr's book, the Sacred Tree, the Story of the Sacred Tree, the Disney Tree of Life, and the movie, Avatar.   Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom is currently planning an Avatar Land which might further celebrate these archetypes of the Tree of Life.

Phil Lane reflects on the Animal Kingdom Tree of Life following the meeting.

The following day Chief Phil Lane Jr. and Dr. David Randle traveled to Tampa, FL, to the USF Patel Center for Global Solutions where they met with Dr. Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy, the Center's Director, to discuss common approaches to sustainability found in Native American, Hindu, and Judaeo Christian traditions.

The meeting was then followed with a presentation by Chief Phil Lane Jr. to students and faculty at the  Patel School of Global Sustainability, followed by a discussion facilitated by Dr. David Randle.  The audience represented over a dozen countries from around the world.

Plans for follow-up to the visit include:

• An online seminar on the Sacred Tree for participants at the Sacred Lands Gathering.
• Follow-up meetings with Walt Disney Company.
• Continued exploration of an international Tree of Life gathering, bringing the sacred traditions of the Tree of Life from indigenous peoples and religions from around the world together to share the connections for a common ethic of sustainability.

 During the visit, Brian Shremp, of Global Healing, videotaped Dr. David Randle interviewing Chief Phil Lane Jr.   We hope that you will share this interview in your respective networks.