"Living From Inner Peace”
Rev. LeRoy Zemke, Pastor

At one pole of my existence, I am one with the stones and the tree branches. Thus, I must submit to the yoke of the universal law. It is this, in the end, that is the very basis of my life. And that force comes from that which is closely bound up in the unity of the world, which is in full communication with all things. But at the other pole, I am distinct from all of the rest. Here, I have broken the barriers of equality and I find myself alone, as an individual. I am absolutely unique, I am me, I am incomparable. The whole of the mass of the universe can not crush this individuality that is mine. I maintain it, despite the formidable gravitation of all that exists. It is small in appearance, but great in reality.
Rabindranath Tagore 

Any discussion of Inner Peace, must I suspect, include a perspective on our deepest inner nature. If we can agree, that our innate sense of self is sacred, holy and genuinely divine, then a relationship to that which is perceived as peaceful or offering peaceful behaviors, attitudes, actions and deeds can emerge, in a simple, gentle, straightforward manner.

If however, peaceful means behaviors, attitudes and long sought peace filled results are imposed from without as by decree of law, rule of authority, or social restraint for meeting some common good, peace thus gained will essentially be no peace at all.

There are, of course, varied and unusual ways to consider the idea of peace, the approach to and the specifics of creating a peace filled life including sustaining and maintaining the state of being we language as peace. In my very abbreviated comments, I’d like to suggest three avenues of approach to peace from a more spiritual viewpoint.

1. All beings, men, women and children, the world over are inextricably linked together. The thread that unites us - each one - great or small, is a divine spark, set into the heart of every sentient being. This subtle thread or spark is a core connection from which the quality we call peace can emerge. It is latent, yet ever, always potentially available.

Our collective and yet very human personal work is to remember it and to access it whenever we feel genuinely threatened, fearful and frightened within our life or any of our very personal circumstances that truly disturb us or cause us to lose our equilibrium.

2. Remembering inner peace is an active process. We consciously choose to remember each time we look into the face of anger (our own or that of another) and offer a blessing to ourselves or to another. We remember each time we feel fearful of anyone, anything or of any projected future oriented experience and as gently as possible, consciously choose to refocus and drop the fear. We remember our inner peace when we consciously choose to lovingly bless the appearances in the world of hatefulness, bitterness, war or warlike conflicts, injustices or any form or manifestation of inequality we see.

When we respond from the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “let me be an instrument of your peace...” we are at that moment contributing toward a refocusing, a reshifting, a realignment of our thoughts, words and (hopefully) deeds in a more peaceful manner. We are at that moment co-creating peace. It is emanating through us, when we can bless a man/woman/child who hurls angry insults or damages property or speaks disdainfully of us or our work, or of our life-style or reflects negatively about who we are or appear to be to them.

3. The real challenge in remembering our inner peace is that we cannot fix what’s “out there,” or what appears outside of us. But we can choose how to hold in a clear, loving, more peaceful conscious and consistent way, how we will respond to life’s daily rituals of woundedness and pain and loss and grief. The task is never easy. It is never about an ego stance as to whether or not we make a difference. It is about how we choose to make a difference and how we offer inner peace to the world in which we live. If we offer our peaceful nature or our peaceful self to what is occurring in the world, we make a huge difference far beyond any possible mental intellectual comprehension or any form of simple or sophisticated evaluation of result.

The world around us is constantly shifting. The famous metaphor “leaving our footprints upon the sands of time” is not literally true. The essential nature of sand because of its very light weight and exceedingly fine grain like quality changes even as we make an imprint. As soon as we quite literally pick up our foot, the imprint changes unless the sand is extremely wet. And as soon as it begins to dry the imprinted step shifts yet again.

Life is thus constantly being altered, rebalanced and refocused. Resultingly our personal work becomes more crucial to hold to the sense of inner connection we each may have to our inner or divine nature as we continue our dance through the incarnation.

One of the truly daunting almost daily news broadcast observations reveal the multi-layered, on-going conflicts unfolding in the world, in many continents and in many countries. It is profoundly difficult to witness these civil and military offenses and not energize them with our own sadness, hurt, anger, frustration and whatever other feelings we may have regarding such witnessing.

The larger task, as I might imagine it, will be to pray for the people whose lives are caught in the on-going nets of fear, centuries old hatreds and life long struggles. Pray light to be revealed to them (and awakened within them) ... to their leaders, readers, rulers, dictators, and despots. I believe that at the collective level, it is the work of all those of us who have some inner sense of their spiritual nature to deeply focus, to pray that all beings may come to experience something of the Light of God and to affirm it whenever we can. It is especially important when there appears to be a denial or denigration of the Light (the Presence of God), as seems evident when the world’s appearance is turbulent, embattled and engaged in fear mongering on a grand national and international scale.

Peace is an individual effort. Judism says, “Great is Peace! Peace is the name of God” (Talmud, Bemidbar Rabbah 11,18. And Robert Fulghum wrote in “All I Really Need to Know I learned In Kindergarten,”

“If ever there is truly peace on earth, goodwill to men, it will be because of women like Mother Theresa. Peace is not something you wish for; it is something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.”

Peace is somehow the allowing, or permitting of all the crazy, patchwork quilt of life’s kaleidoscopic mix of races, creeds and colors to coexist. When we begin to honor ourselves and all of the variety of our own magical mix of elements, qualities and potentialities, we offer a modeling for others to follow our example in the world. And yes, it is a daily task. Every day. Everywhere we are!

Every day we see or read of appalling things happening in the world as the result of violence in man. You may say, “I can’t do anything about it,” or “How can I influence the world?” I think you can tremendously influence the world if you yourself are not violent, if you lead actually every day a peaceful life - a life which is not competitive, ambitious, envious - a life which does not create enmity. Small fires can become ablaze.
Krishnamurti

In a physical world that is seen in many separate and distinct parts, countries, continents and communities, the notion of peace is at once arresting and appealing. How do very distinct groups, races, ethnicities, geographical divides, let alone cultural, social, philosophical and spiritual identities combine to promote peace, a state of wholeness not defined by boundaries (inner or outer) yet at the same moment honoring and being respectful of boundaries?