There’s been a conversation going on in my life for a while that discusses what it means to be at peace… having peace of mind… a joyful way of being and looking at life… in a state of happiness. This topic has been amplified as I’ve been studying A Course In Miracles (ACIM), making my way to India, into a vipassana course, staying in Swami Rama’s ashram and listening to his dharma, and falling in love with people here.
As I was leaving Sadhana Mandir Ashram this morning I had another brief interlude with the monk that is living there. As I was saying how I my intention was to be at peace when I leave the serenity of the ashram and into the city… she was telling me that the judgment of the city as not being peaceful is a judgment of the mind. If I’m going to see the divinity and peacefulness in everyone and in life… why was I thinking this way?
I’m not talking about the meaning of love here because I have learned love cannot be taught. However, to have some degree of success at loving well, there definitely is some correlation to being at peace inside of ourselves. If this is the case… then what does it mean to be at peace inside of ourselves? What is some of the wisdom we need to learn? And what are some of the practices in life and ways we can attain it? This is not intended to be any sort of preaching or anything that says I know what I’m talking about. This is only something that I’ve been pondering as I try to put life’s puzzle pieces together.
What does it mean to be at peace?
ACIM says that to find peace we have to be in complete forgiveness and no learning is acquired unless we believe that we need it. That there is no lack at all other than what we create in our own minds. Lack implies that we would be better off in a state different than the one we are in. We cannot relate to others in peace from anything external, it only comes from within. Peace is an attribute in us and cannot be found from the outside. Illness is some form of external searching for peace. Health is inner peace. It enables us to remain unshaken by lack of love from the outside and makes us capable of correcting the conditions proceeding from lack of love in others.
We have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from the realization that we are divine creations and in complete acceptance of ourselves and others without judgment. When we recognize this, we will realize that judgment in any way is without meaning. All uncertainty comes from the belief that we are under the coercion of judgment. We do not need judgment to organize our life, and we certainly do not need it to organize ourselves. In the presence of this knowledge and acceptance, all judgment is automatically suspended, and this is the process that enables us to be reminded of the divinity that is us to replace the perception of something different.
Once I experienced the vipassana practice this all changed for me because the bodies sensations are experienced in the practice that allows the past to be released.
In the vipassana meditation practice it is taught that we all are seeking peace and harmony because this is what we lack in our lives. At times it may seem that instead of finding inner peace we find nothing but agitation by meditating. Surprisingly enough, these difficulties pass away. At a certain point we learn to make effortless efforts, to maintain a relaxed alertness, a detached involvement. Instead of struggling, we become engrossed in the practice. This is the beginning to being at peace where the mind becomes calm, clarity comes, and every moment becomes beautiful, full of affirmations and peace.
The vipassana path is also a path of purification. We investigate the truth about ourselves not out of idle intellectual curiosity but rather with a definite purpose. By observing ourselves we become aware for the first time of the conditioned reactions, the prejudices that cloud our mental vision, that hide reality from us and produce suffering. We recognize the accumulated inner tensions that keep us agitated, miserable, and we realize they can be removed. Gradually we learn how to allow them to dissolve, and our minds become pure, peaceful, and happy.
So why don’t we live in a continual state of peace? Because we lack wisdom. A life without wisdom is a life of illusion, which is a state of agitation, of misery. Our first responsibility is to live a healthy, harmonious life, good for ourselves and for all others. To do so, we must learn to use our faculty of self-observation, truth-observation which is the foundation of the vipassana practice. We learn that nobody causes suffering for us. We cause our own suffering by generating tensions in our own mind. If we know how not to do that, it becomes easy to remain peaceful and happy in every situation.
We learn that peace and happiness cannot come at the expense of anyone. And once we experience this kind of peace and happiness we realize we cannot keep it to ourselves and that by giving happiness to others brings happiness to oneself. Therefore, we seek to share whatever good we have with others. Having emerged out of suffering and experiencing the peace of liberation, we realize that this is the greatest good. We wish that others may also experience this good and find their way out of suffering.
The teachings in ACIM in combination with vipassana meditation has been wonderful experience for me. And what I am finding is that ACIM lacked an embodiment practice. A practice that includes the body where emotions and the past are stored to be released. By observing our sensations in the vipassana practice it teaches us that whenever we are overwhelmed by negativity, we suffer. Therefore, whenever we see others reacting negatively, we understand that they are suffering. With this understanding we can feel compassion for them and can act to help them free themselves of misery, not make them more miserable. We remain peaceful and happy and help others to be peaceful and happy.
There is a complimentary similarity between the teachings in ACIM and Vipassana… development of good will toward others. Previously we may have paid lip service to such a sentiment, but deep within the mind the old process of craving and aversion continued. Now to some extent the process of reaction has stopped, the old habit of egoism is gone, and good will naturally flows from the depths of the mind. With the entire force of a pure mind behind it, this good will can be very powerful in creating a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere for the benefit of all.
Having been in India for over a month now I have learned so much about this country, the culture and the people. A couple of the things I have learned are how much the people do not think they really lack anything even though they may be poor… and how much they are not affected when things don’t work out as they plan. People here have such a spirit for life that’s so amazing to witness and participate in. This is very different than in the USA where a lot of the culture’s values are based in the outside world… in “stuff” that we can accumulate, our homes, our cars, our money and what the outside world can do to provide us comfort, fulfil our desires and attempt at eliminating suffering.
Living here in India has taught me that I need to be ok even more ok with uncertainty and the mystery of life. Traffic jams can happen anytime because a bunch of cows are immovable in the middle of the road. Mobile phone network infrastructure is inconsistent, and you won’t be able to access your data or get disconnected regularly when talking to someone. Internet connectivity is the same as well. As I was making my way from Sadhana Mandir ashram to Ram Jhula there was a parade that closed the road and I needed to walk a couple kilometers to my destination. As I sit here writing this at a coffee shop the power goes out, which happens regularly.
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