No doubt, there are moments in life that bring us struggle, anxiety, worry, and unease. Our lives are filled with places to be, people to meet, and bills to pay. It can sometimes seem like a mad dash to the "finish line" but that line keeps moving. We never seem to get there. One of my favorite authors over the years has been Gerald May who died a few years ago. Once in an email correspondence with him he shared with me a little of his thoughts on peace. Specifically I had asked him about something he had written that had never left my thoughts. He wrote: "Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone... much less upon one's own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is." Maybe it's not for us to escape the chaos or anxieties of living. Maybe if we can find that peace within ourselves then the waves won't force us to crash into the rocks of pain and struggle. Can it be that diving into the waves of living is the key to finding peace after all?Thursday, December 1, 2011
Diving Into the Waves
No doubt, there are moments in life that bring us struggle, anxiety, worry, and unease. Our lives are filled with places to be, people to meet, and bills to pay. It can sometimes seem like a mad dash to the "finish line" but that line keeps moving. We never seem to get there. One of my favorite authors over the years has been Gerald May who died a few years ago. Once in an email correspondence with him he shared with me a little of his thoughts on peace. Specifically I had asked him about something he had written that had never left my thoughts. He wrote: "Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone... much less upon one's own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is." Maybe it's not for us to escape the chaos or anxieties of living. Maybe if we can find that peace within ourselves then the waves won't force us to crash into the rocks of pain and struggle. Can it be that diving into the waves of living is the key to finding peace after all?