We are all searching for peace. “Every sentient being has peace within their heart”, declared Avalokites Kwan Yin; if peace rest within our breast then why does it seem so elusive? Mercilessly we compare our lives to the fragmented images and 30 second videos that people are comfortable with exposing; our comparisons develop into a fear that paralyzes our spirits from living. However, out of the timbers of this hell we build our sanctuary; we begin with our brokenness, and sit within our darkness to discover our shame provides the light required for us to live. As light and darkness depend on one another for expression our lives depend on turning shame into a resource. It is refreshing to know we contain the keys to enter our hearts and transform our lives, but we’ve lived so long without peace that we do not know if freedom is possible, and this is devastating. Peace requires we transform ourselves from soul that allow shame, fear, and guilt to control us into sublimate these perennial emotions.
Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
“Oh the Lord look down in Pity.” We exist and as long as we fill the darkness with our light we shall suffer; as we ache for peace within this transitory existence communion is a path towards the heart. Everyone we meet is a reflection of ourselves; everything we feel internally the people around us are experiencing. Through recognition of this universal fact empathy develops with our hearts, and, I believe, from my own experience, building a sanctuary is more bearable with companions. However, this we must remember this sanctuary is a place of confrontation, not escape. As we develop our empathy and strengthen our soul our sanctuary become sacred zones for replenishing and proving faith along our path. We become more than we were through entering our heart, and every experience becomes a sensation worthy of exploration.
As we perceive the universal troubles and joys of man while walking beyond the confines of safety we walk towards our identity outside of the group we inhabit. Our egos becomes passengers rather than the guides of our lives, and we become an example for the people that still have hesitancy about walking the lonely path. Leaving the world in order to come back to ourselves God is recognized through the steps we take; as a people, a nation, and a community we must develop a discipline to enter ourselves. All things are both temporal and eternal, for life is suffering woe to the man that cannot put his faith in life.
“Everything that bears consciousness, down to and including animals, fruit, trees, and stones, possesses the nature of the Tao.”
Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a thousand Faces contains must wisdom for people wanting to find mythological significance for their journeys.
