Inner Peace

There can be no more significant achievement than to gain a measure of inner peace. It is the foundation upon which is built all lasting progress for all men and women. It’s almost impossible to exaggerate its importance for seekers. It is the master-key, the first, middle and final step. At all stages of the path to light, inner peace is both the way and the destination.

Throughout history the great philosophical and religious traditions have warned us against the destructive, selfish aspects of human nature, urging us to find instead the peace which lives deep within our heart.  All the great teachers have pointed to the importance of inner peace, whether it’s Lao-Tzu who teaches that:

“Having emptied yourself of everything, remain where you are… After blossoming for a while, everything dies down to its root. This going back to one’s origin is called peace…”

Or the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita:

“That man attains peace, who, abandoning all desires, moves about without attachment, without selfishness, without vanity.”

Or the peace held sacred by Christians and expressed in the solemn beatitude:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the Sons of God.”

Christian mysticism presents Christ as the author of peace. It establishes inner peace as a key element of ‘the kingdom of God within us’, and Christ as the prince of peace, the saviour of mankind and redeemer of souls. However, Hui-yuan in his ‘Song of the White Lotus of the Pure Land in the West’ provides a remarkably similar perspective, attesting to the universality of the message:

“There Amitabha stands in shining dress
Preparing for the endless festival.
He draws each human soul up from the abyss
And lifts them into his palace of peace  . . .
Where they shine in the garden of redeemed spirits.”

On an individual level, the path of peace is a difficult journey because it requires us to do something about ourselves. We all at some point fall way short of our best. Often at such times, it is our lack of peace and inner control that underlie our failure. At one stage or another, we are all it seems in need of the redeeming power of inner peace, however much the worldly-wise might sneer at such ideas.

After but a few steps along the way we realise that to travel the path to inner peace requires us to walk ‘to the beat of a different drum’. We soon know that we cannot pretend to walk it; it demands sincerity. It asks us to examine our motives, to submit ourselves to the penetrating light of conscience.

Sooner or later however, we decide. Somewhere deep within we eventually discover an unrelenting determination to rise above the petty selfishness of our lower self, to separate ourselves from the whirlwind, to exercise our God-given authority to rule our baser nature, rather than be ruled by it. And however uphill the path might be, however slowly and fitfully our progress at first, we begin to free ourselves from the worst in us, we learn to be bigger and better than our little selves, we begin to find at last a measure of blessed peace.

But—the ancient wisdom warns—beware of trying to force the process. Trying to live up to impossible ideals is profitless. Who has not stumbled on the bit of the path closest to his feet by focussing all his attention on the unreachable horizon? The path begins where we are. Our materials are those that make us who we are, rather than those of who we would like to be.

That we reap what we sow has become a cliché. But almost nobody really accepts that it’s true. You’d think that science with its infrangible causes and effects might have convinced us by now, but sadly not.  On the contrary, it seems that:

“Men believe that they can sow the seeds of strife, impurity, and unbrotherliness, and then gather in a rich harvest of peace, purity and concord by merely asking for it.” (Allen)

No, our selfishness and unrestrained lower passions will not bring us to the gentle light of peace, but instead will lead to greater darkness, doubt and destruction. We choose our way, and we reap our due rewards. It’s obvious; it’s common sense; but how many of us can say that we have taken note and acted accordingly? How many of us have sustained a degree of peace within, or can even say that we have at all times tried to do so? And however much we choose to trick ourselves by trying to justify our bad actions, the plain truth is that until we are sincere in our efforts to take a step towards inner peace, we are not yet securely on the path to light; we have not yet been able to find the mystic way of return.

And nor is it enough for our seeking to be a mere intellectual seeking. While the intellect may have an important place, all the intellect in the world will not, on its own, bring us to inner peace. Without peace of mind, intellectual reasoning brings only perplexity. The labyrinth of anxious thoughts and opinions of the lower self, surrounded by the noise and clamour of the workaday world, are barriers to the calm certainty of inner peace.

“In the silence is the highest peace, because wavering is the intellect’s unreal work.” (Shankara)

This going within in search of silent peace is the very essence of the mystic way. And the deeper we go the better. However, the peaceful man does not in any way discard reason. On the contrary, his reasoning faculties are enhanced and more powerful than they ever were when he can maintain a measure of inner peace.

Whatever congregation we may have joined, whatever the group or body, whatever our allegiances and loyalties, religious or secular, the path to peace remains an acutely personal path. Our endeavour to gain, preserve and increase our measure of inner peace is private: our business and no-one else’s. It is for us alone to achieve.

And we should not delude ourselves: however high in esteem he is held by others, whatever his social status, the man who is a slave to his lower self is not at peace. The man who is ill-protected from greed, envy, restlessness and worry, from hatred, anger or lust or anything of a similar nature is not at peace. When we are pulled this way and that by the turbulence of material life we are not at peace.

But a word of warning to the hasty: in taming the worst aspects of our lower nature, we must learn to do so without the use of whip or rod.  Patient far-sightedness shuns the extremism of the ascetic.  The aim should be to live a normal, healthy, responsible life. Balance is the key and is itself an essential element of peace.

To uncover and retain this balance is not easy. At first it seems that every step of progress is quickly reversed, and the ground we thought we had made is lost again. Make no mistake, the attempt to gain and keep our peace of mind is the first, and for many of us our most difficult test. But if we are not easily and quickly discouraged, and if we renew our efforts after the inevitable failures then we will eventually secure a firmer grip on our sense of peace within. And once this first step is secured our peace will grow and we will discover many new and wonderful things in life.

The beginning of peace is relaxation. But learning how to thoroughly relax the body and still the mind requires perseverance—another aspect of peace. Regular meditation is of enormous benefit. We can enter an inner state of quiet or stillness by dwelling on anything we consider ideally peaceful or truly beautiful. It doesn’t really matter what we choose to attune our minds to, so long as it helps us to still our thoughts and free our minds from all stress, unpleasant disturbances or any sense of inner struggle. The calm contentment and the freedom from anxiety and worry that we can experience during such meditations grows with practice and allows us to build up an inner reserve which we can draw on whenever we need to. It can also place our mind in a state of receptivity allowing us to receive unexpected insights and inspiration.

To the inexperienced seeker, it might appear that to give primacy to peace of mind is to advocate a kind of escapism, or perhaps a stoical resignation, unemotional and indifferent. But to think in this way is to be misled; peace is based on a positive striving not indifference.

“For peace implies not mere negative absence of disturbing desires and passions nor even merely the masterful control of them, but chiefly the right direction of them” (Channing)

And to assert that a measure of inner peace brings a measure of freedom does not imply that we should try to escape from our material duties; but rather that because we have won a measure of peace, we are better able to tame, control and use our energies more creatively and wisely, instead of being in thrall to them. We are more able to maintain, through constant adjustment, a more appropriate balance between our physical, mental and spiritual principles. And while perfect peace is the supreme freedom, it is not achieved in a few short years but is the work of many lives.

However, we know we are making real progress when we can bring an added harmony to life. We are on the path to peace when inner conflict begins to fade, when hungry ambition begins to give way to contentment, when we are naturally tolerant of difference, when we begin to feel the great power of gentleness and simplicity, when we remain calm, retaining our poise in the face of adversity.

And what a blessing it is to be able to retire into the rejuvenating silence of peace within whenever the demands of life leave us in need of refreshment.  To succeed in maintaining a measure of inner peace proves that we have gathered wide experience in previous lives and are now ready to make further progress. And who knows, this may be the life in which our inner peace brings to us our final victory.

The ancient wisdom tells us that the utmost creativity exists at the point of peaceful equilibrium between the opposites; and that this creativity brings with it the opportunity to make ourselves useful when we learn how to apply its principles to everyday life.

For only by gaining a measure of peace are we better able to carry our responsibilities—to others as well as to ourselves; only then can we contact the very best of who we are; only then can whatever it is we have to give get through in an undistorted manner; only then can we bridge the divide and make the stretch; only then can the above and the below dance their mystic dance; and only then can we begin to unravel the many-coloured threads of rebirth.  

For then we know that the light we seek is peace and that it radiates from the centre of our being, full of goodness, perfect, immortal and divine; and that it is like the sun of our better self, or like a golden star shining in the clear blue sky of heaven, above the clouds of little self.  Or perhaps it is like a golden island surrounded by a sea of deepest blue. It is like home; it is pure and unalloyed, sattvic; it is like the heart of Nature; it is like the breathing silence of the night when:

“…The stars came out
Like angels from their dark blue gates in heaven,
Serenely calm, gentle and beautiful
As if no sin or suffering could come near
Their holy atmosphere of silver light.” (Kenealy)

Inner Peace

There can be no more significant achievement than to gain a measure of inner peace. It is the foundation upon which is built all lasting progress for all men and women. It’s almost impossible to exaggerate its importance for seekers. It is the master-key, the first, middle and final step. At all stages of the path to light, inner peace is both the way and the destination.

Throughout history the great philosophical and religious traditions have warned us against the destructive, selfish aspects of human nature, urging us to find instead the peace which lives deep within our heart.  All the great teachers have pointed to the importance of inner peace, whether it’s Lao-Tzu who teaches that:

“Having emptied yourself of everything, remain where you are… After blossoming for a while, everything dies down to its root. This going back to one’s origin is called peace…”

Or the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita:

“That man attains peace, who, abandoning all desires, moves about without attachment, without selfishness, without vanity.”

Or the peace held sacred by Christians and expressed in the solemn beatitude:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the Sons of God.”

Christian mysticism presents Christ as the author of peace. It establishes inner peace as a key element of ‘the kingdom of God within us’, and Christ as the prince of peace, the saviour of mankind and redeemer of souls. However, Hui-yuan in his ‘Song of the White Lotus of the Pure Land in the West’ provides a remarkably similar perspective, attesting to the universality of the message:

“There Amitabha stands in shining dress
Preparing for the endless festival.
He draws each human soul up from the abyss
And lifts them into his palace of peace  . . .
Where they shine in the garden of redeemed spirits.”

On an individual level, the path of peace is a difficult journey because it requires us to do something about ourselves. We all at some point fall way short of our best. Often at such times, it is our lack of peace and inner control that underlie our failure. At one stage or another, we are all it seems in need of the redeeming power of inner peace, however much the worldly-wise might sneer at such ideas.

After but a few steps along the way we realise that to travel the path to inner peace requires us to walk ‘to the beat of a different drum’. We soon know that we cannot pretend to walk it; it demands sincerity. It asks us to examine our motives, to submit ourselves to the penetrating light of conscience.

Sooner or later however, we decide. Somewhere deep within we eventually discover an unrelenting determination to rise above the petty selfishness of our lower self, to separate ourselves from the whirlwind, to exercise our God-given authority to rule our baser nature, rather than be ruled by it. And however uphill the path might be, however slowly and fitfully our progress at first, we begin to free ourselves from the worst in us, we learn to be bigger and better than our little selves, we begin to find at last a measure of blessed peace.

But—the ancient wisdom warns—beware of trying to force the process. Trying to live up to impossible ideals is profitless. Who has not stumbled on the bit of the path closest to his feet by focussing all his attention on the unreachable horizon? The path begins where we are. Our materials are those that make us who we are, rather than those of who we would like to be.

That we reap what we sow has become a cliché. But almost nobody really accepts that it’s true. You’d think that science with its infrangible causes and effects might have convinced us by now, but sadly not.  On the contrary, it seems that:

“Men believe that they can sow the seeds of strife, impurity, and unbrotherliness, and then gather in a rich harvest of peace, purity and concord by merely asking for it.” (Allen)

No, our selfishness and unrestrained lower passions will not bring us to the gentle light of peace, but instead will lead to greater darkness, doubt and destruction. We choose our way, and we reap our due rewards. It’s obvious; it’s common sense; but how many of us can say that we have taken note and acted accordingly? How many of us have sustained a degree of peace within, or can even say that we have at all times tried to do so? And however much we choose to trick ourselves by trying to justify our bad actions, the plain truth is that until we are sincere in our efforts to take a step towards inner peace, we are not yet securely on the path to light; we have not yet been able to find the mystic way of return.

And nor is it enough for our seeking to be a mere intellectual seeking. While the intellect may have an important place, all the intellect in the world will not, on its own, bring us to inner peace. Without peace of mind, intellectual reasoning brings only perplexity. The labyrinth of anxious thoughts and opinions of the lower self, surrounded by the noise and clamour of the workaday world, are barriers to the calm certainty of inner peace.

“In the silence is the highest peace, because wavering is the intellect’s unreal work.” (Shankara)

This going within in search of silent peace is the very essence of the mystic way. And the deeper we go the better. However, the peaceful man does not in any way discard reason. On the contrary, his reasoning faculties are enhanced and more powerful than they ever were when he can maintain a measure of inner peace.

Whatever congregation we may have joined, whatever the group or body, whatever our allegiances and loyalties, religious or secular, the path to peace remains an acutely personal path. Our endeavour to gain, preserve and increase our measure of inner peace is private: our business and no-one else’s. It is for us alone to achieve.

And we should not delude ourselves: however high in esteem he is held by others, whatever his social status, the man who is a slave to his lower self is not at peace. The man who is ill-protected from greed, envy, restlessness and worry, from hatred, anger or lust or anything of a similar nature is not at peace. When we are pulled this way and that by the turbulence of material life we are not at peace.

But a word of warning to the hasty: in taming the worst aspects of our lower nature, we must learn to do so without the use of whip or rod.  Patient far-sightedness shuns the extremism of the ascetic.  The aim should be to live a normal, healthy, responsible life. Balance is the key and is itself an essential element of peace.

To uncover and retain this balance is not easy. At first it seems that every step of progress is quickly reversed, and the ground we thought we had made is lost again. Make no mistake, the attempt to gain and keep our peace of mind is the first, and for many of us our most difficult test. But if we are not easily and quickly discouraged, and if we renew our efforts after the inevitable failures then we will eventually secure a firmer grip on our sense of peace within. And once this first step is secured our peace will grow and we will discover many new and wonderful things in life.

The beginning of peace is relaxation. But learning how to thoroughly relax the body and still the mind requires perseverance—another aspect of peace. Regular meditation is of enormous benefit. We can enter an inner state of quiet or stillness by dwelling on anything we consider ideally peaceful or truly beautiful. It doesn’t really matter what we choose to attune our minds to, so long as it helps us to still our thoughts and free our minds from all stress, unpleasant disturbances or any sense of inner struggle. The calm contentment and the freedom from anxiety and worry that we can experience during such meditations grows with practice and allows us to build up an inner reserve which we can draw on whenever we need to. It can also place our mind in a state of receptivity allowing us to receive unexpected insights and inspiration.

To the inexperienced seeker, it might appear that to give primacy to peace of mind is to advocate a kind of escapism, or perhaps a stoical resignation, unemotional and indifferent. But to think in this way is to be misled; peace is based on a positive striving not indifference.

“For peace implies not mere negative absence of disturbing desires and passions nor even merely the masterful control of them, but chiefly the right direction of them” (Channing)

And to assert that a measure of inner peace brings a measure of freedom does not imply that we should try to escape from our material duties; but rather that because we have won a measure of peace, we are better able to tame, control and use our energies more creatively and wisely, instead of being in thrall to them. We are more able to maintain, through constant adjustment, a more appropriate balance between our physical, mental and spiritual principles. And while perfect peace is the supreme freedom, it is not achieved in a few short years but is the work of many lives.

However, we know we are making real progress when we can bring an added harmony to life. We are on the path to peace when inner conflict begins to fade, when hungry ambition begins to give way to contentment, when we are naturally tolerant of difference, when we begin to feel the great power of gentleness and simplicity, when we remain calm, retaining our poise in the face of adversity.

And what a blessing it is to be able to retire into the rejuvenating silence of peace within whenever the demands of life leave us in need of refreshment.  To succeed in maintaining a measure of inner peace proves that we have gathered wide experience in previous lives and are now ready to make further progress. And who knows, this may be the life in which our inner peace brings to us our final victory.

The ancient wisdom tells us that the utmost creativity exists at the point of peaceful equilibrium between the opposites; and that this creativity brings with it the opportunity to make ourselves useful when we learn how to apply its principles to everyday life.

For only by gaining a measure of peace are we better able to carry our responsibilities—to others as well as to ourselves; only then can we contact the very best of who we are; only then can whatever it is we have to give get through in an undistorted manner; only then can we bridge the divide and make the stretch; only then can the above and the below dance their mystic dance; and only then can we begin to unravel the many-coloured threads of rebirth.  

For then we know that the light we seek is peace and that it radiates from the centre of our being, full of goodness, perfect, immortal and divine; and that it is like the sun of our better self, or like a golden star shining in the clear blue sky of heaven, above the clouds of little self.  Or perhaps it is like a golden island surrounded by a sea of deepest blue. It is like home; it is pure and unalloyed, sattvic; it is like the heart of Nature; it is like the breathing silence of the night when:

“…The stars came out
Like angels from their dark blue gates in heaven,
Serenely calm, gentle and beautiful
As if no sin or suffering could come near
Their holy atmosphere of silver light.” (Kenealy)