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WHY WE NEED

TO CULTIVATE

INNER PEACE

It is a rare person who does not wish,

consciously or subconsciously, to find

peace. In fact, the only people without

that desire are those who have found

peace already. The majority of humanity

suffers from stress to at least some

degree innumerable causes of tension in

mind, emotions and the body.

The first stage in finding peace is to

establish quietness. This is not so difficult

it just takes a little self-discipline to go

about the extraordinary but simple task of

doing nothing for a few minutes. Just

sitting quietly, with eyes closed and a light

awareness on the breath for ten minutes

can make a profound difference to how

we feel. If we haven't done this sort of

thing before, we may be surprised at the

level of calmness that we experiencewhen we open the eyes at the end. This is

a wonderful start and anyone can do it.

Once we have found that, we might

wonder, "Where does that quietness

come from?" If we think that it comes

from a peaceful environment, that

perhaps we may have chosen to sit down

in, or even from the technique of simple

meditation itself, we would be off the

mark. It is not unusual for the answer tothis question to be, "From within," and

probably that is near enough for most

people. But although the quietness can be

said to come from within, if we start to

search for the location of "within", we will

struggle to find it. If we look for it in the

chest, the heart, the bones or anywhere

else in the body, we find the source of

quietness doesnt reside there. If we said

it resides in the mind, then the mind

would always be peaceful and we knowthat isn't the case. However, if we said it

is, or arises from, our own natural

presence, we would be on the right track.

When we feel agitated, we are not fully

present; part of us is absent. Agitation

arises in the mind and is a mixture ofdisturbed thoughts and emotions. The

thinking part of us is erratic, generating

thoughts that are unhelpful and illusory;

the feeling part of us is in varying degrees

of turmoil and the body is affected, too,

as our energy is thrown one way and then

another. We may think that in such

circumstances our quietness has left us

but this is not so we have left our

quietness.

Quietness is always present but it is

hidden from our experience when our

awareness is clouded. Clear water is

always present in a river, yet if it is

disturbed after heavy rain, for example

we will think the water is cloudy. The

nature of the water hasn't gone anywhere

it has just been obscured by mud. We

could say that we are like that much of

the time naturally clear but our inherent

clarity is hidden by the mud of ourthoughts and emotions.

To enjoy true peace and clarity, we have

to go beyond calmness and set about

releasing all inner tension. We may think

that if we have calmness, that is the end

of the story and tension will be released

of its own accord. To a great extent this is

true. But all of us have underlying tension

the tension that under certain

conditions causes us to have fear or acraving for something that seems beyond

reach. The tensions of fear and desire

come from a very basic state of ignorance

that gives rise to wrong perceptions.

This false view comes from a perception

of a separate self the view that we each

have of a sense of separate identity. Fear

stems from the underlying knowledge,

which we all have but which can only be

known when we are clear, that our belief

in a separate self is totally wrong and

untenable. Sensing that at some level of

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our being, we nevertheless carry on

regardless, but always subject to the

threat of impermanence to our perceived

separate existence. Like a child who has

built a sandcastle, each of us tries to

maintain a structure or idea that has nofoundation. Until we let go of the notion

of a separate self - the "I" - we struggle to

keep up the illusion, and there lies the

tension.

To change this view and so eliminate the

causes of our inner tension, we have to

arrive at an understanding that nothing is

separate. At first, this is an intellectual

understanding and it doesn't require

enormous intelligence to reach that.However, it does take a great deal of

effort to remember it. It is one thing to sit

down quietly and read or reflect on the

impermanence and interdependence of

everything but it is quite another to hold

that understanding strongly enough

throughout all life's activities. The need to

understand can only be met by constant

reflection so that we become convinced

of the truth of it. But to really understand,

we have to know by experience. We haveto have direct knowledge that everything

is not a lot of separate things but myriad

appearances of oneness.

This fundamental change of view and the

experience and knowledge of life that it

brings can only be achieved by degrees,

usually requiring many deep, quiet and

searching meditations. It is a rare soul

indeed who is fortunate enough to

achieve instant enlightenment. For therest of us, the main immediate task is to

weaken the sense of "I" by loosening the

grip of the ego.

We may think we have no ego, but

everyone has. Learning to surrender is the

key component of becoming happier and

more peaceful. Instead of fighting or

resisting what life brings, we have to learn

to accept not by becoming the

proverbial doormat but by accepting

every moment and its circumstances and

living accordingly. Most of us are not

strong enough yet to be completely

selfless, which itself is a form of

surrender; but the more selfless we are in

our motives, the easier it becomes to

surrender to the flow of life.

Eventually comes the time when we

realise that having surrendered

everything the final surrender being

"me" there was never anything to

surrender at all and no I to surrender it.

Until then, a little at a time we dip into

quietness, reflect and go about our

business, each day offering a little

something to life itself. Gradually, we will

rediscover our own nature and unearthwhat we always knew that there is no

"you and me" and that there is nothing to

hold onto or to lose.

Andrew Marshall

March 2012

Andrew Marshall 2012

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this article, visit www.joyousness.org.uk