World Peace in an Inside Job
Sometime in the course of last year, I decided I was going to finally sit down and write my first book. I began manifesting this by speaking it out loud, telling others, and finally consulting with published authors for guidance on “how to discipline oneself to write his/her first book.” While I am proud of the initial steps I have taken (only a decade + in the making, but who’s keeping track), I found myself stuck again over the past few months. I have made very little progress from the initial rush I felt in this process, and was unable to pinpoint what derailed me once again.
As I sat with my thoughts, which I so often do, I realized I hadn’t factored in the difficulty the process would be in the midst of a pandemic, occurring at the same time the country is in a state of political turmoil and unrest. In my lifetime, neither of these have occurred to this degree, let alone at the same time. How could I prepare for my reactions to something that was completely unknown? Perhaps if my subject matter wasn’t literally on PEACE this process might be easier? Maybe I would have been able to stay disciplined and steadfast in my plan. However, as I began to recognize my heart, my mind, and my soul have felt many things over the past few months… in this contemplation I allowed myself to see that peace isn’t currently my natural set point. THAT is the dis-ease I am feeling. It is no wonder I am having difficulty in my writing on the very subject I not only hold dear to my heart, but consider to be my life’s work….. bringing more peace into our world.
While sitting down to write today, the irony of my writing on peace when I am both not feeling peace-filled and being surrounded by a nation that is far from peaceful, was not lost. But then this dawned on me…perhaps that is exactly why I need to be writing on this subject…right now…right here…. in the midst of chaos….is where we need to dig deep and find stillness.
Hanging on the wall next to my desk hangs a piece that states:
“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there Is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things, and still feel calm in your heart.”
This is the work.
To be in the midst of chaos, we must still work to still find stillness in one’s heart.
When I look at the images of the riots in the US capital, after the anger, the fury, the disgust, the absolute sadness settles….. what is left? Where do we go from here? What I do know for certain, is putting more of the “problem” (in this case anger/violence/disrespect/etc) will never, ever, ever, and I do mean EVER solve what is truly wrong with what happened. What we need, in our WORLD, is for each human to find peace in his//her own heart. As I wrote shorty after the riots calling for prayers for those who perpetrated the violence, I continue to believe. Until we heal what is so clearly broken in the hearts of anyone who would resort to violence against another human, regardless of the explanation (in this case patriotism or something) we will never have peace in our world.
Never.
Think of the most peace-filled people in our world… The Dalai Lama. Pope Francis. My beloved Father Kohmescher from University of Dayton (ahhh…what a gem he was to all who knew him) …. these are people who regardless of their life circumstances found a way to have peace in their hearts and the peace that lives/lived there…spills over into all they do and who they are. Un-phased by circumstance, peace is always the goal.
Seeing the violence that happened in the US capital, though painful to watch, shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who has been watching this unfold for months and years and perhaps decades or a lifetime. Now, if we turned on the news and saw that it was supporters of the Dalai Lama or Pope Francis, based on their guidance or teaching…that would have been surprising, shocking even! But hearing the harmful/hate-filled rhetoric that has emerged as commonplace within this country over the past ? amount of time should have prepered all of us that this was coming. Filling up those who are already broken with more reason to lash out at others will never heal what is broken in their hearts. While I continue to feel like there is so much I have left to learn in this lifetime, this part I know…. with absolute certainty…. if you want peace in our WORLD…. each of us must seek first to find peace in each of our own hearts.
If there was another way, I am with you, I would choose another way as this work is HARD. But I believe in both the resilience of the human spirit and our capability to do really hard things. We can do hard things. But before you go pointing your finger (let us hope it only one’s finger going forward) at another saying he/she has to fix whatever is going on with him/her and believing then you will have peace…know you are only passing off what is broken inside you to another. You have to be willing to do your own work, really working on seeking peace in yourself in all things, in all times, I all spaces and truly living that so others can learn from you to find it in themselves. Be the reason others choose peace. Be the reason others seek to heal their own wounds. Be the reason the world grows to be a better place, not just for all of us who are currently occupying the same space/time in history, but in our generations to come. Let us leave a legacy of peace….. and a shared belief that good will always, always triumph over evil in our world.
Be….the good.
Be…the peace…….
