What Is Peace?

As human beings, we have a need–not a need created by society, but a fundamental need to be fulfilled, to be in peace. It is easy to toss around the word “peace.” But what is peace?

Is it just hearing wind chimes? No traffic? No airplanes or trains buzzing by?
Or is peace a feeling–an undeniable feeling not born of thought. Everything that comes to us is born of thought. We get good news and we think, “Things are going my way.” We get bad news and we think, “Why is this happening to me?”

It doesn’t take much for us to get unsettled. It happens when we’re in traffic and somebody honks their horn. Your son or daughter tells you, “I failed,” and you get upset.

So is peace simply not being upset? What is peace? Something that is not born of thought, but felt. Something that resides in the ocean of answers, not in the ocean of questions Your life. Your being. What does it mean to be here, to be alive? I want to understand it as clearly as possible before I lose the ability to understand it. I want to know what this life is.

Breath–the coming and going of this breath–out of nowhere it comes and to nowhere it goes. From this breath comes the gift of life. You can be. You can admire. You can be thankful that you exist. You can feel and give kindness. Know that all is well.

We only think of this in times of trouble. Do you know that you’re fine? You always were and always will be. We live in a world of fear. But there is something within you that you should not be afraid of. It is the ability to enjoy and appreciate this life.