People throughout the world express their desire for peace in many ways. We often hear phrases such as: "Peace be with you." At Christmas people send greeting cards or sing songs about peace on earth. People hold up two fingers in the form of a "V" which symbolizes peace. When someone dies, we pray that he or she "rests in peace.
Nations meet continually to search for ways to make peace with each other. Organizations dedicated to peace have sprung up in many countries. There is even a Noble Peace Prize for individual contributions to this noble cause.
The quest for peace is universal. In every age and in every country, people have been trying to find peace within their environment, within their families, within their places of work, within their communities, and within the world nature meditation quotes.
It is strange that although countless people have been searching for peace throughout the ages, its attainment remains elusive. Few of us have found peace for ourselves. We how the difficulties of life conspire to deny us true and lasting peace. Is it really possible for us to achieve this goal?
First, we should analyze what peace is. A dictionary defines it as freedom from strife, and a state of serenity, calmness, and stillness. Inherent in this definition is the answer to why peace is so difficult to achieve. Life and strife seem to go hand in hand. We have all experienced this. Any happiness we receive is often short-lived. We may suddenly find ourselves in states of sorrow. There is disturbances at each and every stage of our life. Existence in this world is turbulent.
If peace means "freedom from strife," then it is not easily attainable. Whether one is rich or poor, a king or a peasant, one's life is burdened with one problem or another.
There is an instructive story from the life of Lord Buddha which aptly illustrates this truth. A woman whose young son had died was inconsolable. She visited all the doctors in her area to find out how the child's life could be restored. Someone finally told her that there was an enlightened being, Lord Buddha, who might be able to help her. She approached Buddha and asked him to help bring her son back to life and ease the terrible pain in her heart. Buddha, in his wisdom, told her he would help revive her son if she could first bring back a mustard seed from a household in which no one had ever died.
The woman was filled with joy and set out to follow his instructions. She visited one house after another. Yet at each door she received the same reply. One or more members of the family had passed away. Each household thought she must be a fool for thinking that any family can pass through life escaping the loss of one of its members.
In this way Lord Buddha taught her that death is the one inevitable reality of life. We as mortal human beings are all going to die one day. Sickness and disease are other facts of life. We need only examine our own existence to see how difficult it is to go through life without any illness, mishap, or accident. Medical books are filled with many diseases that can afflict human beings. There are no shortages of accidents that could befall us as we move through life's journey. We live in an environment over which we do not have total control. With death, misfortune, or illness hanging over our heads, how can we live in perpetual, uninterrupted peace?
Even if our physical body is fairly healthy, few can lead their lives without strife. There are many occurrences that produce stress. If we have a family we know that the illness, unhappiness, or misfortune of any member causes the others to be distressed. Whenever any two people live or work together, there are bound to be tensions due to differences of opinions or viewpoints. When we are not at peace with those with whom we come in contact, we experience stress and apprehension in our day-to-day activities. And this tension prevents us from leading a life of happiness, joy, and bliss.
There are a host of other problems that afflict our lives. If we search we search for peace in our outer life, at best we can find transitory moments of tranquility. We certainly have times where we enjoy the warmth of being with our loved ones, or we have moments of happiness from some gain or achievement. But these moments are fleeting. Inevitably, life again presents us with another set of problems.
A great mystic-poet and saint, expressed this beautifully in one of his verses:Whenever I experience any moments of bliss, Life comes and offers another cup of sorrow.
It seems as if lasting peace in this life is virtually impossible. Life should be more than a pendulum in which we swing back and forth between moments of joy and moments of sorrow.
Despite the obstacles, we can attain true peace in this lifetime. But to do so we need to undergo a shift in our way of thinking. Our angle of vision needs to change. We tend to look for peace in the outer world. We hope to find it in our possessions, positions, and relationships. but the loss of any of these causes us to become agitated and distraught. Our peace of mind is disturbed. Every thing in this world is subject to change and eventual decay. So as long as we look to the transitory world for happiness, we will be disappointed. We need to change the way we look at this problem. An Anecdote from the life of Moghul Emperor Akbar can help us in this regard. Akbar is considered to be one of the most enlightened emperors of India. He had a number of advisors to help run his ministries. Among these great minds was Birbal, the wisest of them all. He was quite clever and could figure out solutions to difficult problems by looking at them from a totally different perspective.
One day Akbar wanted to test his advisors, so he presented them with a puzzle. He took a stick and drew a line in the sand. He asked his advisors to try and shorten the line in he sand without erasing any part of it. Each counselor took a turn but all were stumped. They could not figure out how to make it shorter. Finally, Birbal came forward, took the stick, and carefully drew a line next to the one the emperor had drawn. But Birbal made his line longer. By drawing the second line longer, it made the second one look shorter
The solution to finding peace requires us to look at the problem from a new prospective. We cannot change the nature of the world or its problems. But we can add a new dimension to life that will give us peace. Lasting peace can be found within us. Enlightened luminaries throughout history have had mystical experiences which verified for them the existence of an inner spiritual reality.
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