What Is Peace?
What is Peace? On this day when we remember a terrible act of non-peace, I heard this question, and it resonated with importance.
Many people want peace, pray for peace for the world, and/or for inner peace. I have gone to a 24-hour prayer vigil for peace, and a two-week pilgrimage to pray for peace. But I never asked myself this question.
Is peace just the absence of war, or of inner conflict? Is inner peace a sort of still calmness, serenity, equanimity? That is what I have always thought.
A New Sense of Peace
Contemplating this question, what came to me was a new, vibrant sense of peace, a sense of spaciousness, freedom, expansiveness and free creativity—a much more active sense of peace than my old definition. Peace is alive, fresh, vibrant—a whole new dimension of life!
I sense a world at peace, where all people have all they need
to be their full, loving, joyous selves
Goddess of Vibrant Peace
– the freshness, the joy, the unlimited creativity, people dancing, singing, designing things out of peace and love, creating art everywhere!
Can you imagine an inner world of this vibrant peace? How does it feel to you? When I invite this in, my heart warms and expands with sweet joy. I sense that this is my – our – true nature.
But how do we get there, I hear you asking. Here is what a wise man says:
“The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.”
-Eckhart Tolle
This is not easy, I know. I spend too much time resisting what is, fussing and striving to make things be different. But when I do relax, and accept what is, it’s so much easier on my nerves! And often, things begin to flow better. Often, this flow carries me towards this vibrant, living peace that is our inner nature
What is peace?
When you contemplate this question, what arises for you? I hope you will share your answers here. I would love to hear from you!
I had never encountered this quote by Eckhart Tolle before, and I thank you for it! “Anything you accept fully will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender” is so powerful a summation. For me this is perhaps the essential step on the path to peace, for if we can find inner peace first, peace with others usually quickly follows, if not externally (though that often happens too) then certainly internally.
Thanks for your comment, Cathleen. Another way to put it is “Resistance is futile” 🙂 Resistance to What Is keeps us from our peace-full-ness.
Peace to me comes in several different forms. My greatest peace comes when I am actively listening and communicating with my God. When my faith is the strongest, I find peace. When I experience this gift of peace, I can better connect to the people and the world around me.