True peace awakens in love

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: 

not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

   John 14:27 King James Version (KJV)

As global political tensions sweep across nations in cresting waves of fear as palatable and dense as the toxic air pollution seeping into our bodies, minds, hearts and homes all of life as we know it is threatened. 

This dark smog of fear gnaws at the hearts and minds of everyone, slowly eroding any hope for happiness as it tempts each one's sanity with an outlook so bleak many find themselves descending into suicide's bitter pit of despair.  This global poison is everywhere.  

Survival for each of us, as it is for all of us, depends not on our denial, or optimism, or community organizing or even democratic caucuses. It is an infection of the mind with no medical remedy.  It is most certainly evil as wicked as humanity's ancient foe.

Yet, there is an antidote that would free each mind from its cold, grip of despair.

It is peace. It is the peace finally penetrating a landscape the brutal cacophony of war pummeled with gunfire, bombing, and screams of terror. It is even in the eerie silence after all the men have gone home when the battle is finally over.  It is the morning after, when a soft rain washes the blood of death away, readying the land for the lark and nature's recovery.  And, yet, that is only an outer peace.  As all outer events are first born in the heart, for there to be peace anywhere, it has to begin in the mind. 

When Jesus breathes His peace on His disciples before His final departure, He says His peace is not like the peace after a war.  He is describing the most important peace, one that has the power to prevent wars, neighborhood gang violence, drug addiction, and so much more.  If each mind could find this peace, we would evolve into a peaceful world.

His peace is the gentle breath of peace which calms the heart when the mind finally is reassured that only love is real and that self-condemnation and judgment destroys our individual self-determination and self-valuing. It is that inner destruction that breaks down our inner peace, creating a war zone in our minds. So, the remedy is in realizing the world spins on judgment, not love, and we have been infected with its lies.  It is a frothy place of deception, corruption and predatory exploitation of innocence.

It is not eternal or divine reality.  It is only our collective illusion. Blindly, we all play a part in that global theater.  But, what if we could awaken and know, really know, that this world is NOT real and that there is something, somewhere that is.  It is that place of love and peace that Jesus is steering us to.

His peace comes when you realize and know in the furthest recesses of your soul, there is another world that is real and that world only loves.  Once you realize this, you will be able to cast off all your worry, fear and judgment. To embrace this truth - that love is the fresh air of our real world - the world's power to control our minds by feeding us the poison of anxiety, fear, and violence, is eliminated.  It melts as fast at the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz.

Then, you can look across your inner mind and breathe in the peace of the silence where once the terror of wrong thinking, of self-judgment, where once the thoughts of controlling others seeped into your mind and caused you so much despair, and know you are finally free.  Jesus' peace is liberation. It frees your mind from anyone else's control of you and sends away all your fears, anxieties and worries. 

As you take back control of your mind, you may want to sit in meditation and put in place an inner watchtower to guard your mind against the outer world's control of it through judgment.

Jesus' message was never about religion. It was always about peace which prevails in the knowledge that while you are in this world, you are not of it.  You are from a place that is real and you can return whenever you choose to love yourself and others.  This peace is compassion, first for yourself and then for others.