So the next fruit of the Spirit that we find flowering and ripening in us as meditation becomes part of our life is peace.
The world is desperate for peace.
We have peace talks,
We have peace campaigns,
We have peace marches.
Even those who are working for peace often end up fighting with each other.
Why is peace apparently so unattainable?
Perhaps it's because we're frightened of conflict,
Because there is conflict within ourselves,
Conflict between what we desire,
What we don't desire,
Conflict between who we think we are and what we really are,
Conflicts between what we repress and deny in ourselves and with that which we are and how we act.
There is conflict within each human being who is a universe,
Just as there are galaxies colliding billions of light years away from us.
So within our own universe there are clashes and conflicts and dark holes and but also there is a fundamental harmony in the universe which holds this conflict.
There is a oneness,
Unity and where there is unity there is peace.
When we meditate we're not frightened of encountering from time to time anyway that conflict within ourselves.
Not every meditation is blissful and harmonious and joyful.
At times meditation can be hard work,
Can be a struggle and you might get up and say I didn't pay my bit for to get this,
I want instant gratification.
Well that's not the way it is.
Learning how to deal with conflict within ourselves is the way that we can then learn to deal with conflict with other people,
With our families,
With our colleagues at work and between nations.
So peace is the harmony that brings people and organizations together in an experience of unity that is greater than the conflict or their differences or their different interests.
And this peace in the biblical language is Shalom.
It's the peace that passes understanding.
You can't analyze it,
You can't construct this peace because it's already there,
It already exists.
It is the peace of God that pervades and is working actively,
Peace as an energy,
An energy of harmonization and healing.
It's an aspiration,
It's something we want to achieve but it is also always present.
And in meditation as we allow the conflicts of daily life,
The psychological conflicts within ourselves to fall to one side and we focus on what is fundamental and central to us,
We will find that peace within us and it will accompany us more and more powerfully even through times of conflict or despair or a doubt.
That peace is not dependent on external circumstances like the joy or the love,
It is always with us.
So let's prepare for our meditation now as a time of peace where we receive this gift of peace and are better able to be channels of peace to others as well.
Again,
Take a moment to sit upright,
Close your eyes lightly,
And then gently begin to say your word,
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Listen to the word as you say it.
Give it your attention by listening to it as you say it and you'll find that you come to say it more and more gently.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you a short reading from the Kattah Upanishad Hidden in the heart of every creature exists the Self,
Subtler than the subtlest,
Greater than the greatest.
They go beyond sorrow,
Who extinguish their self-will,
And behold the glory of the Self through the grace of the Lord of Love.
