Peace from the Latin, to agree.
Peace, a state of tranquillity or quiet,
state of security or order.
Peace, freedom from disquieting or
oppressive thoughts or emotions.
Peace, harmony in personal relations.
Peace, a pact or agreement to end
hostilities between those who have been
at war or in a state of enmity.
“If we have no peace, it is because we
have forgotten that we belong to
each other.” Mother Teresa
Peace. Peace. Peace.
Throw out, together, a picnic blanket
of peace, picture this moment in your
mind's eye.
Feel the slight gust of wind as your hands
snap and the blanket of peace billows
gently to the soft grass of grace.
Remember? We have done this before.
Breathe peace… allow it to flow into
your body, filling your blood, your
breath, your stomach, your brain…
Peace. Peace. Peace
Place peace in your hand.
Peace, sweet peace.
Peace is inherent to your being-ness.
Sweet being-ness. Knows peace.
Trace the infiniteness of peace in
your hand as you breathe in
the fullness of this lesson.
There is a lot to take in – intend
to breathe it, to taste it, to know
it – intimately – peace.
I started preparing for this lesson and
discovered, “I write a lot about peace.”
In my archives I found essay after essay
engaging in a discussion of peace. Using
the word peace, expressing the word peace,
feeling, becoming, instructing, inviting peace.
I hadn’t realized how often I moved into
the direct line and flow of peace.
I was surprised on one level and on another
evel, I couldn’t help but simply giggle.
Peace, peace, peace.
“Peace is at hand” said Henry Kissinger at
the conclusion of the Vietnam War.
“Peace is at hand.”
I like to think of it a bit differently
than Henry did, when he looked at something
like peace as having a beginning and an ending.
I see peace, instead, as infinite, without
beginning and end.
I don’t see peace ever as being AT
hand, I see peace as being IN hand.
Peace IN YOUR hand, Peace IN MY hand.
Peace IN HER hand, Peace IN HIS hand.
Peace, sweet peace.
Infinite peace, sweet, infinite being
in peace.
I would rather there not be wars – so all
we would know as a culture and as a people
is external peace, yet I know – I know – that
peace is in my hand and my heart. while Outside
my hand and my heart, wars may rage.
I need, as a member of our human community,
to focus on the peace in my hand and spreading
that peace to the best of my abilities. I
know there is war waging, I can’t deny that
there is war waging.
That is what is so, that is what is reality.
I also know that peace is here – now – in
my hand and my heart.
Mostly, primarily, peace is there because I
have made peace with what is…
Are you following me?
Peace, sweet peace.
Infinite peace, sweet, infinite being
in peace.
I have made peace with the reality of war,
the reality of unpeace – and I have devoted
myself to creating peace even in the reality
of unpeace. I am continuing to devote myself
to growing peace in my patch of the
human community.
I am not in denial of what is, I am taking
responsibility for my stake in what is….
In Enlighten Next magazine, Ma Jaya Sati
Bhagavati was interviewed by Andrew Cohen
and was asked –
AC: What would you say to the individual who
says, “I can't bear to face it. What you're
asking for is so psychologically and emotionally
and spiritually overwhelming that I just can't
bear to face it. Even when I do begin to face
it, I can't stay with it because it's
too much to bear.”
MJ: It's so overwhelming that one is like a
deer in a headlight. You can barely look at
it. So what I would say is start very small.
Start very small. See how it feels to take
care of one thing and let it nurture. Let
it grow. Yes, you get overwhelmed. But I
have such passion about what could be done!
And if we go down, we go down—but we go down
trying. We go down knowing we did not waste
our love and our life. If you waste your
love and your life, what's going to happen?
Put it toward something. “
Be at peace and step toward something.
Don’t stay in apathy or denial and step
back or stay in one place or pretend what
is, isn’t. What is, it IS.
It is.
When we know what is, when we can be fully
with what is, when we can be passionately
present with what is – then – we know peace.
Let’s try that on again:
When we know what is, when we can be fully
with what is, when we can be passionately
present with what is – then – we know peace.
Thomas A Kempis said:
“First keep the peace within yourself, then
you can also bring peace to others.
One of my favorite lines of thought comes from
a Greek philosopher from many centuries past. I
hear his words echoed in thinkers from today
who don't even know this master existed – this
master who was a greek slave who experienced
peace while still enslaved.
Yes, he was at peace – he was free – while
he was still…. enslaved?
Yes. And Epictetus teaches us, “Humans are
disturbed not by things, but by the view
which they take of them.”
We do not become unmerciful because we know
of war or lack of peace, we become devoid of
peace because of how we view this lack of
peace, this war, this disturbance.
We lose contact with peace when our perspective
labels something “not peaceful” or when we choose
to see something as “disturbing”.
You might want to disagree with me here, you
might want to wave a flag around saying, “No,
what is truly IS disturbing?”
What makes it disturbing?
Your opinion of it makes it disturbing.
Your opinion of it is what takes away peace.
Place peace in your hand.
Peace, sweet peace.
It is like your being-ness. Sweet being-ness.
Place peace in your hand.
You may choose any emotion you want and place it
alongside and inside your being-ness.
The same is true of peace. Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us:
“The practice of peace and reconciliation is one
of the most vital and artistic of human actions.”
You may choose to clench your fist on this perspective
of peace. You may insist your version of “what is”
is the only version.
I request you listen, instead, to the wisdom of
Indira Gandhi: “You can't shake hands with
a clenched fist.”
Helen Keller said, “I do not want the peace that
passeth understanding. I want the understanding
which bringeth peace.”
Indira Gandhi said, “You can't shake hands
with a clenched fist.”
Jimi Hendrix reminds us, “When the power of love
overcomes the love of power the world will
know peace.”
M. Scott Peck teaches us, “There can be no
vulnerability without risk; there can be no
community without vulnerability; there can be
no peace, and ultimately no life,
without community.
Peace in YOUR hand. Peace in MY Hand.
Peace in HER hand. Peace in HIS hand.
Peace in OUR hands.
Peace. Sweet Peace.
©2009 Being Bootcamp (Julie Jordan Scott)
Listen to the audio…
