Peace Part 6
February 23, 2025
Peace Part 6
In the womb, we float in amniotic fluid, and nurturance is provided through the umbilical cord. We don’t expend energy on navigating the world or making our needs known; they are automatically met. We are carried around in a warm container insulated from the outside world. Though there are a lot of sounds in the womb, such as voices, mother’s digestion, and heartbeat, we are used to these sounds because they have been there forever. So, we begin life in relative calm and peacefulness. But our peaceful condition is disturbed once we come into the world with its demands, fears, desires, and stressors. Our essence is preserved in our soul child years, but as demands increase, we eventually give control over to the ego.
I believe that because we once lived in peace as a soul child, even though we were not consciously aware of it when we lived in it, we know somewhere in our depths that peace is possible — and that is a condition to which we would like to return. But in life, we become enchanted with other things besides peace. Attached to ego, our mission is to fulfill its dreams and hopes for us; it also leads us to strategize how to attain our desires and quell our fears. These strategies include our passions, fixations, avoidances, and the traps we make for ourselves. Instead of peace, we have a life of worry that things will go wrong, disturbance when things do go wrong, and delight and enjoyment when things go right. The older we get, the more we value downtime, relaxation, and calm.
Cemeteries are full of markers with the following engraving: “RIP,” which means Rest In Peace. Why don’t the markers say, “Rest in Activity”? I believe it is because life is full of activity, and our great reward is the peace we have sought throughout our lives. If our lives on earth were peaceful or as peaceful as we wished, there would be no reason to want us to rest in peace hereafter. That would be taken for granted.
John Milton’s classic epic poem, “Paradise Lost” (1667), explains how the fall of humankind took us out of the peaceful Garden of Eden into a life of woe. In 1671, he wrote another epic entitled “Paradise Regained” which describes returning to the garden through faith in Jesus Christ. His poems lead me to consider that it’s possible to regain the peace we had in the garden and the womb.
Self-inquiry: What level of peace would you like for yourself and why?
Dear God,
I pray for peace and activity grounded in peacefulness. In your name, Amen.
