(continued from the previous post)

These days, “peace” means something altogether different to me. It does not mean the absence of all psychological disturbance, or a deep, abiding silence of the mind, or a sense of perfect inner safety, although such states may well exist for some human beings. Rather, what I mean is a subtle sense of being at home in one’s life, even and especially when there are things to worry about. Worry can still countine, but can also be seen in its proper perspective. (NOT by telling oneself that there is nothing to worry about or something to that effect.)

The most important thing to say is that the basic foundation of peace is already present as the background of all experience, and has been present from the start. However, because it was overlooked for so long, and because our idea of peace is generally more dramatic than subtle, it can take some time for it to become apparent in daily life.

From this perspective, peace is not a matter of eliminating disturbance, but is rather a foundation from which disturbance can be met. After all, who or what is disturbed? Only the thought process is disturbed, brought to the point of alarm by what is happening or what is about to happen. Obviously, this is also accompanied by a bodily reaction: certain tension will appear, the heart might beat faster, etc. But when there is not this sense of there being somebody separate from the thought process, a permanent thinker/feeler who is disturbed by circumstances and by his own thoughts and emotions, then the disturbance will soon start to lose some of its momentum and become almost blended with the subtle background of peace that is the very taste of life.