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

Compassion II

I am you are that.

I am you and you are That.

I am you receiving the medal in Australia. I am you staying home to take care of your new born baby angel. I am you in Stuttgart, and Brussels, and in Paris. I am you as you savor the wonders of the world.
I am in your buds tasting exotic foods and wines. I am you watching sunset on the Pacific and sunrise over Kilimanjaro. I am you watching the birds in spring, watching the animals come to the river at dawn. I am you saying goodbye to your hosts in Kenya and Peru and China.
I am you proud of your daughter's new job, new creation, new home, new husband. I am you smelling the flowers in the Bellevue and Butchart gardens and the garden cities of the world.
I am in you listening to the summer music on the beaches and parks. I am you swimming with the dolphins in Kona in Hawaii.
I am you sobbing at night, cursing sunrise.
I am you planning to take away your life. I am you ashamed of your body, ashamed of your life, guilty that your grand daughter has been molested. That your son is in prison. I am you unappreciated at work, at church and at home. I am you watching your husband die slowly. I am you mourning mother’s death. I am you afraid of the next attack.
I am you lost in the forest of life without a path to come back home.
I am you.
I am with you in the joy.
I am with you in the despair.
You are not alone.
I am you and you are that.

Only God

Prayer of the 246 million child laborers,
250,000 infected with HIV/AIDS every month,
and 300,000 child soldiers



Only You can heal
The wounds in our hearts
Only You can hear
The cry of our spirit
Only You can breatheLife into the dead bones
Only You can set us free
Only You can sustain our world
Bringing together all people
Into one peaceful family
Only You, God, Can
It is in your name,
El Elyon,*
We trust.

Kwami E. Nyamidie,
Seattle, July 12, 2006









*El Elyon is Hebrew for Most High