Peace is this moment without judgment. That is all. This moment in the Heart-space where everything is welcome. ~Dorothy Hunt
We talk a lot about peace, especially this time of year. We want peace in our families. We want peace with our neighbors. We want peace on our streets. We want peace in the world. We want peace within ourselves.
Usually, when we think of wanting peace, we think of wanting people or circumstances to be different. If only …, then I could relax, be at peace, take a break, be happy. Or we think of wanting ourselves to be different. If only I were…, if only I could…. Or we want our past to be different. If only I had…, if only I hadn’t…, if only … had or had not happened. Whatever it is, we want it not to be what it is. And we struggle mightily to make that so, sometimes even when we recognize the futility of those efforts.
Whew, I’m exhausted just writing those words. Makes me wonder if we really want peace at all.
Peace takes courage, the courage to be honest for one thing. In a recent conversation, someone predicted that at some point, the US would have to participate in some sort of truth and reconciliation process. Hmm, I wondered, that would first require being truthful, something many of us find challenging, if not in our individual lives, then certainly in our collective lives.
Peace takes acceptance, accepting the truth without judgment or blame. This does not mean unaccountability. On the contrary, peace requires all of us to take responsibility for our thoughts, words, and actions. But accountability is not condemnation. Acceptance connects us to ourselves and each other. Condemnation separates.
Peace takes an open heart, not only recognizing and accepting truth, but also, and most importantly, holding all that is within the embrace of compassion. I was once accused of “not caring” because I did not express outrage at some travesty of humanity that is the constant drumbeat of what we call “news.” On the contrary, I responded, I care deeply for the suffering that we cause ourselves and each other. Compassion is not limited but rather enabled by not succumbing to fear and judgment.
And, in the most obvious statement, peace takes wanting it. We say we want peace, yet we don’t seem to want it more than we want to be right, to be dominant, to be in control. We don’t want peace more than we want to judge, to blame, to regret, to force, to suffer.
Peace, as the above quote says, is not in the future. It is in this moment. Not in the world, perhaps not in our families, but within ourselves. Peace is a choice we make with every breath. So consider what you really want, and choose wisely.
Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited. ~Alice Walker