Peace, the final frontier.... Most of the world wishes for it. Many of us actively seek it or promote it. A section of my office wall is decorated with quotations about peace from throughout history and across the continents. The notion is so wonderfully quiet and restful.
While peace may allow for quiet and restfulness, its origin is not in passivity. How often do I back away from conflict in the name of peace only to find that the conflict goes on without me and within me... or do I divert an uncomfortable conversation in the name of maintaining harmony only to leave unresolved issues brewing beneath the surface... or do I decide not to express my feelings only to experience others as leaving me out of the equation, creating sadness, frustration, or lowered self-esteem for myself?
A well-known Taoist verse teaches that peace begins inside the individual person:
If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.
So how do we get to a place of peace in the heart? Not through passivity, not through avoidance, not through denial of trouble or distancing ourselves from our emotions. We ultimately find peace by allowing ourselves to experience ourselves ever more deeply without rejecting what is there. In allowing internally the experience of anger or frustration or hope or fear and inquiring into the reality of its presence... just letting it be so that we can come to see what is beyond it and then allowing that, whatever it may be... and following the thread of acknowledging the significance of the various emotions and sensations which present themselves, then we come to be present to ourselves, and in that deep presence we find peace.
Peace is not for the faint of heart. It is there for us when we stand up to ourselves to be counted as wholeheartedly present.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Lessons from Understanding Enneatype 8
In many ways I consider myself a weakling. I envy others' physical strength and endurance, effective assertiveness, fortitude in hard times, ability to carry on during illness, powerful presence in the face of opposition. The list goes on. Sometimes I think, "What I wouldn't do for more strength and personal power!"
When I feel hurt, terrified, territorial, or mistreated, part of me wants to strike out. In times of accomplishment and success, I notice a desire to gloat and show off. When something really difficult needs to be done, I wish for pumped-up muscles, nerves of steel, and the bullheadedness of an action hero. Tough times call for tough people!
But what is the truth? Is it accurate to say I'm weak, without sufficient capacity, lacking the power to make an indelible mark?
Actually, there is an essential strength and power of which each of us is made. It's part of who we are. When we allow ourselves to become aware of it and we allow it to shine, we are no longer able to look at ourselves as weak and we no longer feel the need to manufacture a mask of power. We realize that the power inside of us is much more akin to the energy of Moses' burning bush than to a superhero's costume. It's not a power that retaliates, gloats, or causes us to rev up. It is a power that abides.
When I feel hurt, terrified, territorial, or mistreated, part of me wants to strike out. In times of accomplishment and success, I notice a desire to gloat and show off. When something really difficult needs to be done, I wish for pumped-up muscles, nerves of steel, and the bullheadedness of an action hero. Tough times call for tough people!
But what is the truth? Is it accurate to say I'm weak, without sufficient capacity, lacking the power to make an indelible mark?
Actually, there is an essential strength and power of which each of us is made. It's part of who we are. When we allow ourselves to become aware of it and we allow it to shine, we are no longer able to look at ourselves as weak and we no longer feel the need to manufacture a mask of power. We realize that the power inside of us is much more akin to the energy of Moses' burning bush than to a superhero's costume. It's not a power that retaliates, gloats, or causes us to rev up. It is a power that abides.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Lessons from Understanding Enneatype 7
Yesterday I met with an old friend, someone I hadn't seen in years. What a high it was to reconnect, catch up on each other's lives, discover that we have many current interests in common, make plans to visit again in the near future....
Such a "high" seems to heighten our sense of aliveness and to bring about a desire to hold onto that feeling. Somehow reality seems tinged with new colors whenever there is a touch of excitement in the air, when there is anticipation, when things are fun, when the moment seems to hold the promise for development. And it can make everything that occured beforehand seem ho-hum.
Yet what could possibly be ho-hum about living, about breathing, about being connected to this very moment, no matter who is there to share it, no matter what informs the environment, no matter what might happen in the future? Life is now; this moment is here; and the only Self I have is here, now. When I allow myself to experience my own deep presence right here in this moment -- with a friend, without a friend, happy, sad, in the midst of busy-ness or when there is stillness all around -- then I am truly alive. I am alive inside and throughout my being.
Such a "high" seems to heighten our sense of aliveness and to bring about a desire to hold onto that feeling. Somehow reality seems tinged with new colors whenever there is a touch of excitement in the air, when there is anticipation, when things are fun, when the moment seems to hold the promise for development. And it can make everything that occured beforehand seem ho-hum.
Yet what could possibly be ho-hum about living, about breathing, about being connected to this very moment, no matter who is there to share it, no matter what informs the environment, no matter what might happen in the future? Life is now; this moment is here; and the only Self I have is here, now. When I allow myself to experience my own deep presence right here in this moment -- with a friend, without a friend, happy, sad, in the midst of busy-ness or when there is stillness all around -- then I am truly alive. I am alive inside and throughout my being.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Lessons from Understanding Enneatype 6
Each of us can recall times in life when it felt as though the rug had been pulled out from under us or when the ground beneath our feet felt shaky. Maybe it happened literally -- on September 11, 2001, or when an earthquake struck, or perhaps when we were in an auto accident. And certainly it has happened figuratively -- when parents divorced, when a boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with us, when a friend was diagnosed with a serious illness, when we failed a test we felt confident about or didn't get a promotion we expected. Suddenly the world seemed different and if only for a moment, it seemed as if we had nothing to hold on to.
Times like these require courage, which can come only from inside of us. A parent, a teacher, a clergyperson, a special friend can seem like a port in the storm, but ultimately we have to be our own parent, our own teacher, our own spiritual guide, our own best friend to move forward. We have to find our footing inside ourselves in order to stand up and walk, and we have to locate an internal navigation system to know that we've moving in the right direction.
Many things about our world are unpredictable. Indeed, life itself is unpredictable, no matter how diligently we try to scope out the future. What's going to occur around us and to our physical bodies will always be largely unknowable in advance and sometimes so even as it's happening. But one thing can remain steady -- our inner spirit, our Soul.
Times like these require courage, which can come only from inside of us. A parent, a teacher, a clergyperson, a special friend can seem like a port in the storm, but ultimately we have to be our own parent, our own teacher, our own spiritual guide, our own best friend to move forward. We have to find our footing inside ourselves in order to stand up and walk, and we have to locate an internal navigation system to know that we've moving in the right direction.
Many things about our world are unpredictable. Indeed, life itself is unpredictable, no matter how diligently we try to scope out the future. What's going to occur around us and to our physical bodies will always be largely unknowable in advance and sometimes so even as it's happening. But one thing can remain steady -- our inner spirit, our Soul.
Lessons from Understanding Enneatype 5
Today I read a blog posting from Andrea Smith, which begins, "We don't have to have all the answers or pretend we know the future, all we need to do is show up wherever we are." And there in a nutshell is the rich lesson of Enneatype 5.
So often we say or think or unconsciously believe that specific knowledge is power, that being in the know will sustain us, that to know is to be. It's a mesmerizing concept, but what it says about us is that we are substituting our storehouse of knowledge for the feeling of being deeply alive and immersed in life.
When we simply allow ourselves to breathe and feel the wonder of life in our torsos, it lightens our load and sometimes even enlightens us. Knowledge is not a bad thing, but it is not the be-all and end-all. Knowledge is about life, while breathing and simply being in life are real living.
There is a deep inner "knowledge" that is not intellectual, not conceptual, not about facts and figures, not available in books, on tv, or on the web. It is our knowledge of ourselves, an experiential understanding that is really all we need to be who we are and to know who we are.
So often we say or think or unconsciously believe that specific knowledge is power, that being in the know will sustain us, that to know is to be. It's a mesmerizing concept, but what it says about us is that we are substituting our storehouse of knowledge for the feeling of being deeply alive and immersed in life.
When we simply allow ourselves to breathe and feel the wonder of life in our torsos, it lightens our load and sometimes even enlightens us. Knowledge is not a bad thing, but it is not the be-all and end-all. Knowledge is about life, while breathing and simply being in life are real living.
There is a deep inner "knowledge" that is not intellectual, not conceptual, not about facts and figures, not available in books, on tv, or on the web. It is our knowledge of ourselves, an experiential understanding that is really all we need to be who we are and to know who we are.
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