Inner Peace (May 22, 2007)

Shalom!

Another wonderful exchange of reflections & insights from people’s personal experiences and wisdom from their respective faiths was concluded last Tuesday (May 22) as the Inner Work Circle took up the topic: INNER PEACE.

“What teachings from your faith guide you to find/maintain inner peace amidst the conflict and suffering all around you?”

This was the question posed to the group at the beginning of the session and it gave way to a lively discussion on personal experiences within the backdrop of the teachings from different faiths.

To a Christian, the offering of oneself, “carrying the cross”, or self-sacrifice is the basic teaching. The point raised was that a Christian can never be at peace if s/he cannot reach out to help those who are not at peace. A Christian would even sacrifice his/her own peace for the sake of the other. Sometimes Christians seem to want to carry the burden or “cross” of the world on their shoulder—hence, to suffer with the world and forget about inner peace.

From another point of view—that of the Buddhist—the first and foremost concern is to establish peace within the self, most especially and more specifically, the mind. The Buddhist teaching emphasizes that the human mind and its habits is the root of unpeace. One of the 4 noble truths taught states that suffering is caused by desires and attachments of the mind. These are attachments to anything—from material possessions to persons, from emotions to sensations, from ideologies, ideals to ideas or mere thought forms. The battle is all in the mind. Hence, peace starts with the mastery of the mind, and for Buddhists, meditation is a practical method for this. Only then can we establish peace in the world outside of us.

The sharing from an Islamic point of view further enriched the conversations. For Muslims it seems that whether peace is being cultivated from within or around us, its source is only one—God or Allah. Muslims pray 5 times a day, and –as our brother pointed out—it is this constant tuning-in to the Divine Source of Peace that gives them inner peace. Furthermore, they find solace in the teachings from the Holy Qur’an as they seek to continuously realize the essence of their religion—Islam: “attaining peace through submission to the will of Allah.”

Indeed, these are different perspectives on one topic but they compliment each other and are as significant as the other in the path towards peace. As if important pieces of just one puzzle they all fit together.

One cannot give something that he/she doesn’t have… such as Peace. And one must not keep to himself/herself such peace he/she has found within, lest we become indifferent and disconnected to other living beings. In all of these, God-consciousness is a requirement-- knowing and being constantly aware that we can attune to the Ultimate Source of Peace anytime and anywhere. And that everything that happens in your life and in everybody else’s—be it peaceful or seemingly unpeaceful— is all part of the unfolding of the Divine Will.