Peace
Peace is the natural state of mind,
lack of peace the normal state.
The whole art of living consists
in making the natural more normal.
Peace was never lost, it is still here
where I am constantly overlooking it.
Peace is closer and more intimately mine
than my own heartbeat.
Why, then, do I not experience it?
Simply, because I do not want to.
I am afraid I will get lost in peace.
Happiness is not for the faint of heart, it seems.
With my miserable little self I know what I have got
and suffering is so much more familiar.
Therefore I am running my own little project
and I do not want any interference from reality.
My body and the world in which it seems to exist
are the representation of my own state of mind.
I have come to live here in my own projection,
my own imaginary universe.
Projection depends on dualistic thinking
and peace lies beyond all forms of dualism.
Projection is unconscious and I cannot perceive
anything in this world that I have not projected.
However, at every moment I can still choose
another interpretation of what it is I see.
That turns the tables on my state of mind
and my experience of this world will show it.
If I recognize this world in my own divisive thoughts,
I have found the cause of my unhappiness.
Every judgment I make, no matter how subtle,
blocks my experience of stillness and peace.
In order to be at peace I must
become aware of what I am doing.
Mindfulness is a way to practice awareness
of my inclination to judge everything constantly.
Being mindful means letting thoughts be,
no matter how sad or happy they may seem.
Every attribution of a quality is a judgment
that carries me away from peace.
If thoughts are bothering me,
it is because I judge them to be real.
That belief gives them the power of my mind.
Without that power they are harmless.
My attempts to be mindful will fail many times
but quietly trying again is already a realization of peace.
There is nothing that still needs to be achieved.
The goal is reached in going without condition.
Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.
– A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 189
Stan