WHAT IS PEACE
It is common for people to confuse two words with each other, lonely and loneliness. To be lonely is an internal sense of having no one present, no one to communicate with, and being the only one living in a particular environment. Being alone is an external sense of being, separated from all influences, living in a sense of self-sufficiency as expressed in these lines from my poem Only You.
Who are the judges
surrounding your place?
The silence speaks not.
You are your own judge.
Two other words, peace and peacefulness, can confuse each other. Peace is an internal sense of being, the most desired state next to happiness. “She is at peace.” Peacefulness is an external state, a term used to describe the perfect environment, a state of existence:
A mother’s peace
as eternal as her son,
a knowing, not of loss,
but of gain.
(from my poem Pieta)
To achieve peace within is the ultimate goal of us all. There are forces that have to be overcome that present a constant threat to our internal stability, such as anger, jealousy, over sensitivity, finances, relationships and principles. These external issues cause the disruption to our peace through our mind. We let the mind create this internal furnace within causing long-term health, destabilizing our relationship with the world and, most of all, unhappiness.
The mind is like a roomful of cats, uncontrollable. How can we achieve this sublime state of peace? The answer is meditation. We can achieve this by doing external things that demand 100% concentration. Knitting, cooking, playing music are some of a hundred ways we can achieve this by not letting any other thoughts interfere with what we are doing. The sense of satisfaction that comes with completing these tasks is the sense of peace. The more we do this, the more we are at peace. Disturbing forces have less control over our being. Music is another vital force that removes disturbances and can, in fact, change our perception and thoughts.
Living environments have powerful vibrations, unseen but felt. Many are bad and don’t have an inviting feel to them. Living within them does not help us attain the peace we are seeking. Other places have strong, nurturing vibrations that are felt on entry. They emit a strong sense of sanctuary and assist in the internal recognition of peace.
We identify peace through the peacefulness of these places. There are many places in nature known as ‘beam-me-up’ spots providing easy access to automatic stillness of the mind, achieving absence of thought. In this state, we are unattached, open to the space within and experiencing the genuine sense of silence, creating peace within us.
One can practice meditation with eyes closed and letting the mind carry on with its jumbled thoughts and ideas. Over time, the mind will settle, and one enters a state of peace.
We then dissolve into silence from where true ideas and teachings come.
This is not to be confused with prayer. Prayer is intercession to God. It is our expressions and thoughts to God.
Finally, we become automatically connected to peace, live in a meditative stance, and can receive fuller intuition and guidance. The mind is open and free in this state of peacefulness.
Kelvin Brown
The Space Within
I can be here
and be nothing.
Like stage curtains closed,
there is no show.
There is no thought,
no image of worry.
Even the body
can move in the stillness.
But the world has gone,
the page is blank.
The air is here,
the breath is gentle.
What enters passes.
I can roll like the waves,
be taken to places
but still sit in one place,
a hole
in
space.
There is nothing to do,
nothing to be,
no dreams to see,
no pain to feel.
There is an outside
but I am within.
So, when I step into
the day and its destiny,
meet the week and its faces,
work the year and its patterns,
this moment lasts for eternity.
© K.S.Brown
Thanks to YouTube/Sony: GURUS OF PEACE, Official Lyric Video (VANDE MATARAM/ Nussrat Fateh Ali Khan/AR Rahman)
