The path of peace
It came to me last night that peace is not an end but a means. Peace is the vessel for the simple directions. Here I’ve been seeking peace like it’s the goal when it’s merely a symptom. Peace is but a necessary step on the path to wakefulness. Peace is just tapping into the sensation of eternity; it is not eternity of itself. To suggest peace is the goal is like saying that being pricked by a pin is becoming the pin, or feeling the wind against my face is being the wind. Peace is merely an experience that opens me to a brand new vista. Entering that vista, becoming a part of it, that is the aim of the exercise.
So being at peace is no big deal. It’s a great experience – highly recommended – but in and of itself it’s meaningless. In fact, it’s meaninglessness that takes me there: when my thoughts lose the meaning I’ve assigned them, peace is the inevitable consequence.
I love this discovery! It takes all the pressure off. For now I no longer seek peace as a goal; now peace has become my path to a goal. Like they say: there is no way to peace, peace is the way.
posted by Jamie Reygle at 09:50
1 Comments:
Hi Indigo,
For me, the chaos and aggression seems to be totally dependent on my perception of it. When I ask myself where I am chaotic and aggressive, and I look into that and work on that, then somehow what's happening around me doesn't have the same impact on me. And this is not to say I don't act on a situation (brush it off) if it feels out of my integrity not to do so. What I have found is that when I'm at peace, then I'm much more effective in such situations, and often they seem to diffuse almost as soon as I focus my attention towards them.
When I am clear and I see someone acting chaotically or aggressively I don't see a chaotic or aggressive person, I see a confused person, someone who is suffering. It is impossible for me at such times to do anything but act compassionately, and I find that this consistently seems to get the best results.
Nobody is capable of doing anything that I am not capable - in my thinking - of doing; good, bad or indifferent. So I am just looking at myself in another life, another situation, and my role becomes one of guidance, not attack (or defence, which is exactly the same thing). And when I say guidance, it doesn't mean that I attempt to teach them anything, it means that I follow the simple directions and let them guide me. What follows from there is anybody's guess!
Peace comes from within, not external circumstances. If I think I am at peace and can easily be disrupted by a distraction (scream, explosion, aggression, you name it), then I wasn't really at peace in the first place.
I'd also love to recommend The Work of Byron Katie (www.thework.com). She'll be in Europe this summer and her calendar is on her web site.
I love your earnestness!! Earnesty (?) Good luck!
Love always,
Jamie
5:03 pm, April 23, 2006
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