Unconditional Peace
Finding peace amidst chaos, that's our superpower
The venerable monks gave such inspiring talks at each one of their stops along the 2,300 mile peace walk that they undertook. I was lucky enough to see them along their journey. One thing they said that really stuck with me, was on unconditional peace — a foreign concept for many of us, truly. They said (I’m paraphrasing): if your peace is disrupted by outside factors, it’s conditional. This viscerally hit me as it landed with my soul. All of the chaos around us — the corporate world and its never-ending all-important deadlines, the devastating geopolitical landscape and ongoing war and genocide, the intense polarization and division of our fellow human beings. I mean, there’s a reason the monks did this walk through the U.S. right? We’re seeing this turmoil between humans unfold that we’ve never seen in our lifetime, we’re seeing this curtain fall revealing corrupt systems for what they are, and we’re left trying to wrap our minds around the grotesque inhumanity living among us.
I’m digressing — what I’m trying to say is, it’s no surprise our nervous systems are shot. BUT the concept of unconditional peace was so refreshing. Because while we should hold outrage and action in each of our hands, we do not always need to hold it in our hearts. I’m going to say something potentially controversial, this is something you hear from people who are grieving over and over again: two opposite truths can co-exist at the same time. You can be grieving a world that doesn’t value its people or its Earth while also going on vacation and letting yourself rest, while also celebrating a promotion at work, while also falling in love. And you SHOULD. I feel like sometimes social media tries to make us feel guilty about thinking about anything else — you have permission to take care of yourself first, you have permission to also let good things happen amidst the bad, you have permission to celebrate while also grieving. We need the good moments even more right now, so please let yourself have them alongside however you are inciting your own revolution.
The words that the monk said were simple yet so profound — as we talk so often about unconditional love but hardly ever/maybe never about unconditional peace. How can we hold unconditional peace within ourselves while chaos ensues around us? If we think of a stream: how do we not get swept up into the current and ride wherever it takes us, but instead become a rock that stays solid while the stream moves around us? I want to be clear, I’m not saying disengage. I’m saying become an unshakable warrior of light. Our power comes from standing in our unconditional peace and love, not from fighting shadows with our own shadows.
The last thing I want to say — when I originally metabolized this message by the monks, I thought of it in the context of work. For three days, I let the chaos and deadlines burn around me while I stayed peaceful, focused, and steady — forging ahead at a balanced pace, working but not giving in to the urgency. I hope that’s how this post can land with you. It’s a call to find the inner stillness, peace, and love. That is where our power lies, that is where our health and vitality lie. I hope we can operate from that place more often. <3
