The Omnipresence of Peace
By Vedam Clementi
Peace is available to every person, every minute of the day, but how much peace do you experience? Is peace a prominent part of your existence, or is there something obstructing it? Is there a clog in your peace channel, or are you obstructing it?
Peace is similar to love; you either have it or you don’t. You are either in it or not. Peace and love are two qualities that are part of the Absolute; ultimately, there are no opposites for either of them. Some people believe there are opposites of these two qualities, but I ask you to look deeper than the surface. The absence of something is totally different from the opposite of something. Let’s use light as an example to illustrate my point. Some people believe that the opposite of light is dark; however, darkness is the absence of light, not its opposite. Even the dictionary explains this. The dictionary defines peace as “the freedom from disturbance.” Is not freedom from disturbance the same as the absence of disturbance? So where does the disturbance originate. Have you given that any thought or consideration?
I want to share a parable. Its origination is a bit vague; some sources say Buddha said it, some say Sai Baba said it, and some say a man asked God. Its source is irrelevant, simply because it describes a timeless truth, and timeless truths trickle down and touch the heart of whoever is truly listening.
Someone said to their teacher, “I want peace.” The teacher replied, “Remove the I, that is ego. Remove the want, that is desire, and peace is what you have left; peace will automatically be yours!”
What does this parable teach us? Without a shadow of doubt, it is the mind, and the qualities of the mind, such as ego and desire, that obstruct us from experiencing peace. Peace is available to all of us, every minute, every hour, every day; it is always there, but you are going to have to move beyond the mind to access it.
I have often asked my life-coaching clients to explain in their own words what they perceive to be the difference between happiness and joy, or happiness and peace. Some understand the point of my question immediately. Others are stumped and have never really given it much thought. So, let’s address it here and now.
Happiness is fleeting; it comes and goes. Happiness is a feeling that you experience when you are getting something you are wanting, or possibly not getting something that you do not want. Either way, happiness is in direct relation to something outside of you. Peace is a quality that exists independently, no matter what you are feeling in the moment. From the mind’s perspective, situations occur. Some situations bring about happiness, sometimes sadness, others bring about anger, and projections about the future can usher in fear.
However, peace is always there, if you are willing to look. Peace is autonomous, and is independently available no matter what you may be feeling. The key is to go deeper than the surface feeling, the transient comings and goings of the psyche/somatic dance of the mind and body. All feelings are momentary and are in direct relation to something else. Peace is unrestricted, unrestrained, boundless, infinite, and unconditional, but you will not find it traversing through the halls of your mind. After all, isn’t the mind, and its concepts (ego, ‘I,’ desire, duality, past, future, needs, time, etc.) the culprit of all disturbances?
The first key to accessing your peace is to know that it is always there. It may be temporarily covered up by your own thought forms or judgments, but it is still there. The second key is to go deeper than the surface of your feelings, not from the perspective of dishonoring or ignoring your feelings, just ‘deeper than’. In some cases, honoring your feelings can translate to accepting your feelings, and acceptance is one of the strongest links to accessing peace you will ever find. When you accept, there is no disturbance, there is no adversarial relationship.
Another way to access the available peace is to drop the labels and judgments of yourself and others, and to have a stronger determination to experience peace, than to engage with the temporal, fleeting feelings. Remember, your feelings will pass, but peace is omnipresent.
So when life’s circumstances, or more specifically, your judgments of life’s circumstances, stand between you and your experience of peace, it is a choice to not access your peace.
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Vedam Clementi is a spiritual teacher, life coach, meditation coach, author, and lecturer. Vedam has a unique way of uniting psychological and spiritual tools that support the individual to relate to themselves, others, and life in a new way: openly, lovingly, and authentically.
Learn more by visiting www.vedamclementi.com or at http://www.facebook.com/vedam.clementi
