Anyone who is trying to make the world a better place by doing good works is actually seeking peace. All such efforts are noble and to be commended. We can be tremendously grateful for those who have the courage to take the kind of action that can bring about a better world. The degree to which a person’s actions reflect how in touch they are with the peace within is the degree to which they will manifest peace in the world.
When our efforts don’t make a lasting difference, often it’s because our actions have more to do with the manufacturing of temporary conditions. It’s the difference between trying to “make” peace and entering into the peace that’s already here. It’s so easy for the false persona, in its efforts to “create” peace, to become a barrier to real peace. Indeed, it’s the only barrier to the experience of peace.
Peace Is Eternal
To really know about peace is to embody the truth that you and peace are one. But since so many aren’t aware of what they truly are, how can they possibly know lasting peace? This lack of awareness is why, despite the efforts of activists, seekers, and indeed so many in the world who desire peace, an enduring peace escapes us.
You might think that if people were just informed of the facts, things would change. However, smokers know the facts about smoking yet continue to harm themselves and others. Millions also know the facts about sedentary living and junk food, yet they don’t change their ways, which is why hospitals are filled with patients with heart disease, organ failure, and many other illnesses related to poor nutrition and lack of exercise.
It isn’t so much education that’s needed, but for people to become realigned with the peace that’s their essence. Every form, from atoms to people and planets, vibrates at a certain frequency. To return to our natural state is to realign ourselves with the primordial vibration that created all forms.
As the root vibration, peace-filled consciousness has the power to harmonize the many discordant energies in the universe and bring them back into alignment with it. Because the consciousness that fills space makes up almost the whole of every form, the vibration of permanent peace can rapidly return a form to alignment. Since at this higher level of consciousness time and space aren’t a barrier, to embody peace is to resonate at a vibrational frequency that positively affects the entire universe.
How Does Feeling Peaceful Prevent Hunger Or Climate Disaster?
The root of the problem is that the egoic self is in a constant state of “not enough,” and therefore always on the lookout for the “next thing.” Each ego seeks to adorn itself with more meaningful relationships, objects, and experiences in a futile attempt to feel whole and permanent.
The way the world works, one ego’s success often depends on another ego failing to get what it wants. Because the ego’s sense of self is partially derived from identifying with the forms it seeks to acquire, it feels diminished, its existence threatened, when denied what it desires.
Collectively, the ego produces an economic system in which obsessive consumption and hoarding are the norm. Competition, deception, and violence are the preferred methods of individuals and nations seeking to acquire more resources. The fact there are more than enough resources for everyone on the planet to live a happy, healthy, and struggle-free existence goes unnoticed. The ego can’t help itself. Its paranoia perceives scarcity everywhere. This is the source of conflict in our world.
Acting Peacefully vs. Being Peace
Many set out to act more peacefully, but this isn’t the same as being peace. Though it’s a good beginning, it’s incomplete. When we recognize that we are all part of a single universal reality, our compulsive tendency to acquire more things by exploiting other forms disappears.
Also, when we are aware of our collective oneness, we no longer see other forms as a threat to our existence. Because we recognize them as other expressions of the same formless reality, we realize that to harm another is to harm ourselves.
Awakened from our dream of “me and my story,” we now possess greater clarity, insight, and access to creative solutions to help us resolve humanity’s most pressing issues, such as climate disaster. We actually feel a primordial urge to heal and unify, while respecting the uniqueness and inherent beauty of all forms.
Allowing Awakening to Unfold
In fact, all we can ever do is allow the mysterious process of awakening to unfold. Any conscious doing on our part is really an allowing. When we no longer resist reality, we allow a greater intelligence to inform our thoughts and actions. This higher intelligence can work through us but is beyond our thorough control or understanding. Through our presence we end our resistance. Peace re-emerges in us and becomes a greater possibility for others as well.
In 1969, in the city where I was born, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a Bed-in for Peace. It was there, in Montreal, they co-wrote and recorded what would become an anthem for millions in the years to come, Give Peace a Chance.
Imagining peace, calling for peace, and trying to act peacefully are wonderful initiatives that have inspired me and many others. But a successful and lasting global peace movement can only happen when we notice the actual movement of living peace within us and around us. Vibrant peace is always here and has been waiting eons to be noticed, experienced, and embodied.
I Will Do Anything To Make This Happen!
Through our attentive presence, it feels as if peace has been “activated” and come to life. From a deeper perspective, it isn’t peace that’s dormant within us, but we who are asleep to our true peace-filled nature. By fully inhabiting the present moment, we come to life. We awaken and finally give peace a chance to become manifest in ourselves and across the planet.
When we’re in a situation where we want something very badly for ourselves or for the world, we often declare under our breath, “Please, I will do anything to make this happen!” Now, through this teaching, you have the solution.
The answer to personal fulfillment and world peace is here, and it’s your responsibility. You have it within your means to finally experience what you’ve always wanted.
Returning to Our True Nature, Peace
If as a species we don’t try to return to our true nature, then we and the planet will continue to suffer, and we will have to admit we aren’t willing to do anything we can to heal ourselves and the world. In this case, even though we have the opportunity for the “story of me” to have a happy ending, the ego is opting for the story of struggle and suffering to go on and on.
“You are peace. Feel your body to end your suffering, and thereby save the world.” This is the simple message of this book.
The mind finds it hard to believe that such simplicity can be the solution we’ve longed for, favoring complex, exotic, and esoteric interpretations over what is. This is why we need the body, which is always here in the present moment, to help us determine what’s real versus what’s mind-made fantasy.
Entering the Present Moment
Up until now, human beings have failed to appreciate the essential role body awareness plays on the path to peace and awakening. In part, this is unintentional. The seeking ego conceptualizes and therefore distorts the essence of any teaching that leaves much of it open to interpretation. More than a few wars have been waged over competing versions of a spiritual teaching.
You may be more interested in ending your stress and suffering than discovering your true nature, but the resolution of both is the same—entering the present moment. However, the truth isn’t a concept but a deep knowing based on our felt experience.
The good news is that life doesn’t mind how many times you hear this book’s message. It will keep repeating it until you embody it. Life is using everything around you and within you to help you wake up. Are you starting to notice?
You Are Not Your Egoic Mind
The egoic mind tries to convince us that life without it would be miserable, whereas the opposite is true. Look carefully at your life and the lives of others. Notice that the person afraid of losing passion is already numb on the sofa and passionless. The person afraid of losing love is already hurting, anxious, and empty on the inside. The person afraid of losing their reputation and influence is already in front of the mirror feeling fake and powerless.
The end of your story means the end of identification with mind content, which brings the end of chronic suffering. This is the beginning of a life lived with true passion, deep peace and love, and a strong feeling of dignity and empowerment.
Peace is the essence of every form we see and saturates every inch of the space around us. This intelligent, vibrant, aware stillness is what we truly are. A life of peace can begin when we no longer take the body for granted. Life itself, on behalf of all of the suffering beings in this universe, awaits our willingness to do so.
The Peace That's Already Here
The peace that’s already here will remain largely imperceptible until we each realize this peace for ourselves. The good news is that we have the ability to do so. Indeed, we have the response-ability. We don’t have to change anyone else’s beliefs or wait for legislation or peace accords to be signed in order to begin experiencing peace.
It’s important to realize that the responsibility of allowing peace to arise in our daily circumstances is no more of a burden than noticing our breath is a burden. It’s simply a matter of shifting our attention away from the abstract realm onto what’s actual.
Are you ready to play the heroic role you were born to play? The role to end all roles and stories?
Are you ready to be who you truly are?
Subtitles by InnerSelf.
©2015 by Christopher Papadopoulos. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of Namasté Publishing,
www.namastepublishing.com
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PEACE and Where to Find It
by Christopher Papadopoulos.
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About the Author
Christopher Papadopoulos holds bachelor degrees in education and history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and has served as both a primary and high school teacher. Based on his desire to help create a better world, in 1993 he ran for parliament in the Canadian federal elections. Realizing that a world of peace and harmony begins within the individual, he then embarked on an inner journey toward greater self-awareness. In 2003, he experienced a permanent shift in consciousness from anxious thoughts about himself to the peace we discover when we are in touch with our authentic being. Since that time, Christopher has worked with individuals and groups, guiding others to experience peace through the process of his own self-discovery. Visit his website at http://youarepeace.org/
