Personal Peace Part 4 of 4: How Do You Want to be Remembered?

Why is peace so rare, so fragile, so tenuous, and so easily disrupted?  How can we become more like the yogi who lie on beds of nails or walk on white-hot coals and receive no bodily harm, but are able to remain peaceful and tranquil throughout?   Peace is more than the opposite of war.  Gandhi’s admonition, “There is no way to peace; peace is the way,” aligns to that of Buddha: “Do not seek the peace without, peace comes from within.”   What then is this inner peace Gandhi and Buddha advocate?  How do we achieve it and sustain it?  What challenges calmness, serenity and tranquility?  What annoying, distressing, irritating, antagonizing, or disruptive events spoil our peace?  Irritants are everywhere and they beg us to react to them, to focus upon them, and to concentrate on their urgent cry.  Instead we must eliminate these distractions from our consciousness. 

Personal Peace Part 2 of 4: A Kind, Gentle, Peaceable Person

Recently I attended the funeral of my last living uncle on my father’s side.  He was a good man who never attained fame or glory.  He was my favorite uncle when I was young.  As I reflect upon my memories of him, a common thread is visible.  He was always happy and in a cheerful spirit.  When I visited last, he was worn down with the process of aging, but there was still his contagious smile always with a compliment to offer, always positive, always helping, and always cheerful.  As his funeral service was drawing to a close some final remarks were offered.  While the speaker’s thoughts developed, he began to describe Uncle Sterling.  His voice became clear, paced, and deliberate.  “Sterling,” he said, “was a kind, gentle, peaceable man, and we are all going to deeply miss his soothing influence.”  This comment permeated my soul and stayed with me the remainder of the day and well into the night.  In fact, here I am months later putting these thoughts down on paper.  What did the speaker mean by “a kind, gentle, peaceable man?”  The words sounded so nice and enviable to me.  What I would give if I were so fortunate to have someone utter these sentiments about me at the end of my days.  As I reflected upon the words individually, and then compared them to the man in question, I had to concur fully.  Of all the men I have had the fortune to be acquainted with, Sterling was indeed the kindest, gentlest, and most peaceable man I have known.