On Inner Peace

What's wealth, power, and fame without peace of mind?

Ananse was in his mid-thirties. He had a wife and two children. He had worked his father’s farm. No matter how hard he worked, he remained in debt. He decided to end his financial troubles. He traveled to a far away village to consult a medicine man.

The medicine man asked Ananse for the name of a dear family member. Ananse gave him his wife’s name. The medicine man performed a ritual and told Ananse that when he returned home, money would be in his closet. He also told him that he should not weep for anyone who died when he was away.

When Ananse got home he discovered his wife was dead. His wife’s sudden death shocked and saddened him but he obeyed the medicine man. He did not weep for his wife. He discovered that his wife died on the same day and at the same time that the medicine man asked him for her name.

Ananse opened his closet. He found boxes of hundred dollar bills. Ananse became wealthy overnight. Ananse built many houses. He remarried. He became a respectable member in the society. But Ananse was not happy. Every night, as he closed his eyes to sleep, he would see his wife, weeping, pleading to be set free.

Ananse could not drive his wife’s spirit away. Gradually, the wise men and women in the village found out what Ananse had done. They did not banish him. They allowed him to stay in the town but no one had any dealings with him. Although Ananse had all the money he wanted, he lost his relationship with his family and the community. He did not have peace of mind.

Many of us are like Ananse making the choice unknowingly between what the world promises us and our peace of mind. If you knew you could be the richest person in the world and lose your friends and family and your peace of mind, what would you do? And if you knew you could be the most famous person and most powerful individual but would lose your family and friends and your sanity what would you do?

Peace springs within us in a well that does not dry. Access to that peace is independent of what happens to us from the outside world. Our spiritual Elders have told us about a priceless diamond within us that we must all mine. They have reminded us over and over again that we should desire this peace within us above everything else. For some this peace within is synonymous to the presence of God and to the Kingdom of God.

I leave you with the words of Joel S. Goldsmith as he describes the process of obtaining this inner peace. As you meditate on these words, you may substitute God with the word peace. See what happens when you spend some time in this frame of mind. Shalom!

“If I desire God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind, do I have room left to desire anything else and is there anything for me to desire after I have given my whole desire to God? I desire only God - to know You rightly - to live consciously in Your presence. This is my desire and all other desires I surrender to You. No longer do I have any desire but to know You rightly. Ambition? What ambition is there? What is there that I could be ambitious for after I have known God? Is there something in the world of greater value than God? Is there something of greater benefit than God? No. No. Knowing God, having God, I can have no further ambition, and I can surrender my ambition unto You. Hope, desire, ambition, fear. All these I surrender. And now, there is nothing left in the external world for me to be attached to.”

For a complete text of this meditation visit: http://www.beyondprayerandmeditation.com/bd010a2.htm