Forgotten Spiritual Values: Peace

The Power of True Peace

Everyone can find peace. The path toward inner peace leads through acceptance. and acceptance can happen in numerous ways. Some people need more time to resolve their inner conflicts and accept themselves as they are.

A huge obstacle on the path to inner peace is our deeply rooted belief that something is wrong with us or with our way of life. If only we could change just this thing about us, or if society was different, or if the world was more humane...

You can find peace only in yourself. As long as you refuse to accept yourself and reject what's happening to you right now, you won't be satisfied. You won't have inner peace if you incessantly search for something else as a replacement.

What we resist gains strength. If you try to chase bad things away, you give them importance. If you try to change the world, what you actually do is judge it as not good enough. So both actions postpone happiness until a future time, and you can't find peace in your soul.

"When you abandon every desire, that rises up within you, and when you become content with things as they are, then you experience inner peace." ~Bhagavad Gita

As long as you have resistance or judgement of any kind, there is no chance of achieving peace. If, for example, you focus on the things you believe you must change inside of yourself, you will always find something else that needs changing.

That's why inner peace requires that you stop searching for imperfections and choose to be satisfied with yourself. Everything that costs you your peace is too expensive to pursue. Inner peace cannot be found just by improving yourself. It comes when you have accepted yourself.

The key to reaching inner peace is not to be attached to good or bad experiences. Inner peace comes if you can say "yes" to every experience without resistance. Your feelings, whatever they are, are not good or bad by themselves. Your inner dialogue is what makes them good or bad, and, in fact, this inner dialogue prevents you from achieving lasting peace.

Achieving inner peace is not just a matter of changing your feelings, thoughts, decisions, words, and actions. Inner peace also means transforming your relationship with your own mind. If you can accept and understand all your thoughts, feelings, decisions, and actions, you can be free of them.

Here is a story about the kind of peace we are talking about:

Once upon a time there was a great emperor, so powerful that he ruled every part of the known world. One day he came across an old monk, who seemed very calm and relaxed lying on the riverbank.

The monk saw the emperor but didn't move.

This attitude made the emperor very angry: "How dare you not to greet me? Don't you know who I am? I could cut you in half with my sword and not blink an eye."

The monk replied: "Don’t you know who I am? I will continue lying here while you cut me in half and not blink an eye!"

You might be tempted to think his answer is based on arrogance, but in fact, it is based on the experience of deep and profound peace. Once you have realized your true nature, even death cannot scare you. Deep inner peace is a result of spiritual enlightenment and brings fearlessness.

Deep peace comes only when the mind has stopped wandering around. When there is nothing else that you have to do or achieve, everything you need comes spontaneously, without effort.

While enlightenment comes as a result of our persistent work on the path of spiritual and personal growth, peace comes without effort. When you have achieved enlightenment, deep inner peace comes along with it as a gift.

Inner peace is your light that never goes out. This kind of peace has nothing to do with the artificial calmness some people engaged in meditation stubbornly try to act out.

Peace doesn't come by trying to control your mind, by forcing yourself to be calm, or by doing or not doing anything. This state of being comes only if you can establish a broad link with the eternal source, God in you.

To the enlightened, peace flows from the point of unity with their Higher Self. Look at the statue of Buddha. He smiles because he has achieved peace, not only with himself, but also with the entire Universe. He is in a state of enlightened bliss known to all realized individuals.

Don't confuse this peace with a state of satisfying inactivity, because enlightenment is attained through doing consistent and active work on attaining Divine wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.

If you have set your intention on doing good deeds and bringing pleasure to others, you will soon deepen your own peace and your spirit will be well fed. You will start to learn about the nature of all things, you will have Divine clarity, and once your peace has expanded, you will do everything with the full power and capacity of your true self.

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