Peace is a "natural state of man". Peace can't be "taught". And if it IS taught, it isn't really peace but merely a veneer of peace covering over roiling emotions beneath. That isn't to say that we can't help people find peace. Just that real peace goes far deeper than anything that can be taught.
If one tries to acquire peace by some intellectual effort, then one may only have a veneer of peace--like the quiet "peaceful" person next door that goes out and stuns the neighbors by committing this horrible crime. He surely had a veneer of peace; he wanted to believe so badly in his peacefulness because he wanted so badly not to be what he knew inside he was. But such is just an existence based on a lie and consequently,negative energy courses through his very veins. Eventually, something has to give. That would be the explosion that "surprised" everyone because he was such a "good" boy.
So beliefs are central. There is some capacity inside us all that allows us to sort out true beliefs from false ones. Ideally, this process should be followed before we accept any beliefs. But when false beliefs find their way in, we can know them because of the "friction" the energy they give off creates inside, guilt. If we are ready, we can then recognize them as lies. If we are not ready, we will try to believe the guilt comes from something else (usually something we look back upon as a silly notion.) In this way, we know the truth and the truth sets us free, as the old saying tells us. Free because while we believed falsely, an energy expressed itself through us without any consent by us (other than the implicit consent derived from our allowing ourselves to believe wrongly.) Neither did we have control over ourselves. But as the lies become exposed, we are restored to a peaceful state where we once again can choose.
I suppose one could say a peaceful state is simply the state of having this freedom while a lack of peace is a life lived compulsively.
So, the natural state is peace. It is like the natural state of humans being health. If we get rid of the bad habits, defective environments, or other ill influences, peace (or health) restores itself.
There are people who work at health and those who work at peace. Some succeed. But it is my view that not understanding that it is a natural state can lead to problems. Specifically, one can begin to be drawn by fear ("if i don't DO something, all is lost"-kind of thinking.) That is by far the greatest danger. One cannot obtain peace through fear. Fear itself destroys inner peace.
One might say that everything stems from the spiritual realm. Lack of health (and peace inside) have more to do with a problem in the spiritual realm than with anything physical. In many ways the phsycal realm is insubstantial and the breeding ground for illusion. Much that we are "taught" lends substance to the physical realm and hence easily contributes to illusion. This in turn affects health and peacefulness.
From another direction, things that lead us toward materiality, by strengthening our connection with physical reality, also lead us away from spiritual reality with its perfect health and peace. This is the secret of most of the seven deadly sins. Greed, gluttony, lechery, anger, envy, and sloth all relate to people connecting strongly to the physical realm. The other deadly sin, pride, lies in the spiritual realm but is the spiritual blindness that is necessary for there to be any allure of the physical realm. All together, engaging in these strengthens our bond to the physical while at the same time dulling our connection to the spiritual. Let me substitute "mortal" for "physical" and things make even more sense.
Mortality itself represents degeneration. The mortal progress to life's end with degeneration and death. "Spiritual" is the opposite of "mortal." As we disengage with the mortal--by seeing it's illusary nature, a kind of truth setting us free - we naturally engage with the spiritual with its perfection which lies beyond the possibilities of the physical (all of which eventually decays.) At these moments of disengagement, health and peacefulness flow from the spiritual realm to fill us. This is the secret of many "miracle" cures. Go interview someone whose cancer went completely into remission and you will find someone whose whole perspective on life changed (before the cure.) Many will tell you that surgery kept them alive but that their change of heart cured them. And if you examine the essence of this change of heart, you will find at its core a loosening of the grip of mortality and a strengthening of the connection to the spiritual.
Man (meaning women too) is created perfect, in the image of God, as God is perfect. Hence, health and peacefulness are natural states to man as also with God. But as we become connected to physical materiality (and disconnected to God,) health and peace wane. And this connection to mortality comes about as we place more faith in physical senses doubting our "inner eye" (which produces common sense and which naturally sees through the illusions of materiality, being spiritually based.) Perhaps I should mention that the return to health and peace reverses this process, following the inner eye/inner teacher/common sense which act represents the disconnection with materiality in preference for a connection with the spiritual. In a sense, it is a thing of faith, an act of faith, to believe in one's common sense.
Health and peace flow from this as much as degeneration and a restless mind flow from doubting common sense (which is to say, believing more/having faith more in the material world with it's "experts.") So the key to both health and peace is to foster the connection to the inner Self. This strengthens the spiritual ties and severs the physical ones. In this way health and peace are naturally acquired without effort on our part to acquire them. And this is the natural state of man.
Clearly it is possible to mount physically-based counter arguments to what I've tried to create as a spiritual appeal. I suppose your understanding will be dictated by which appeals more to you. If you cannot connect to the humble (prideless) then materiality will have a magnetic appeal that draws you away from whatever common sense may resonate (inwardly) with my (outer) words. Then there will be little sense to be found here. Perhaps you see that I've also spoken to the issue of where understanding comes from--its source will not be physically found.
God gives us "knowledge" (some would say "understanding") of this "hidden" way directly via a mechanism that He crafted to be a part of us. This key to His kingdom lies within us all awaiting questions. To these questions, via this mechanism, He pours understanding into us in a way that is marked by His great sense of timing and carefully measured out so as not to overflow the delicate vessle that recieves it, us. When this understanding pours in, it is marked by an energy that cannot be contained completely - our cup overfloweth and escapes our mouth as "Aha!" Our substance is strengthened by this process.
As people grow spiritually, they come more firmly into contact with how much they'd "forgotten" peace (or denied real health.) The physical realm is mostly a realm of illusion and that the essence of divine man lies beyond the reach of physicality in the purely spiritual realm (where real life and truth reside.) I believe that our real life is lived in the spiritual realm.
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Truth is not hidden. What makes it hidden is a person's complexity. The way itself is so simple that it requires some refinement of our own simplicity even to recognize it. This is why humility is requisite.
Another way to think of it is as a polarity. We are made in the image of God, which means imho that we have an inherent spiritual perfection. Because of illusions we operate under, we may labor with various disease or lack of peacefulness. But peace, health, and awakening from illusion are natural--meaning they are a part of the perfection of Creation (and what, since we're asking this kind of question, does this say about God?) One has to work to maintain illusion, etc. And most of the world does seem intent on maintaining the slavery to physicality that is represented by the rebellion that makes us think we are God. A kind of polarity attained in this rebellion repells us from Truth just as two North pole magnets repell. We are the polar opposite of God, the small of which He is the large. Together we are something beautiful. But if the small tries to be the large, it is even worse than when workers decide they are the boss. There needs be one authority in a structure, for several create chaos.
Mostly, man creates chaos because of his pride (attempts to be God.) These lead to being bound by materiality, with the appeal to the other six deadly sins. Also, this brings disease--inwardly and outwardly--and need I say lack of peace. But man with a resigned will, humble and small, finds a perfect fit with God and a clear path. The Secrets of this way are in plain view, not hidden at all. But those creating chaos blind themselves and cannot see. Only from their point of view is the way hidden.
And if they desire to continue in their error (despite the pain it brings which is always a force moving them toward Truth--what does this say about God) then they will also blame God for their own error. This isn't so different from how wrong people always blame others for their problems. In the case of God, they will imagine that he is cruel, doesn't care, or hides the truth from them. Their anger at God will only deepen their the polarity problem, driving them away from spirituality into the maw of mortality/physicality. But the way remains there. And as the pain that their error brings upon them increases, they must reject the True way again and again because the offer is an open one (and what does this say about God, that being the object of raw hatred, He still offers his love.) All the way to the grave, if one is so foolish as to reject truth unto death (and many do) the offer is there.
The commandments, and in particular the 1st commandment, are things that are good for man. They aren't there for the good of God. The first commandment should be particularly paid attention to. It is good to love God with all one's heart.
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C.N., January 2004
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April 04, 2008
