Follow Peace With All Men ++

It is necessary to follow a path of peace with all men.  This is the most difficult thing for me, and yet the easiest.  I struggle because I see imperfection and possible perfection in everything.

One of the most life-changing ideas I've ever read was in a book called "A Return to Love" by Marianne Williamson.  You'll see me refer to that book often.  In it, Williamson says of forgiveness that you're not offering someone absolution because you're superior to them, but rather you are seeing that they are perfect at their core, and don't need forgiveness.  You recognize that the other person has made mistakes based on the fact that they are not aware of who they are, but who they are is powerful and perfect.

This idea totally revolutionized my life, and I'm still trying to live in the magic it reveals.  The idea that we're all perfect has not been the easiest idea, but it is filled with truth.

My problem is that I hate ppl.  Well, that came across a bit raw.  Let's refine it.  I hate how ppl allow themselves to respond to life.  But, upon further investigation, I realized that ppl responded in that way because they were hurt, and scared, and feeling desperate for validation, and in some twisted way, they received encouragement to continue.  I always believed ppl were much better than they allowed themselves to be, and I could see clearly the potential in a person.  Weighing a person's potential against their "reality" caused such anxiety and disappointment in me.  I refused to believe that ppl would prevent themselves from living the life they were meant to live.

What I've learned about ppl is that everyone I become disappointed in is just a mirror to my own disfunction.  Everyone is here to teach me a truth about myself.  The battle is within, although I struggle without.  I am combative with harsh words, unhospitable attitudes, frowns, impatience, and glaring anger.   I may not hit, but I bruise with my words.

I did that today, and I was mistaken.  It came from my own fear and hurt, and insecurity. 

What I understood clearly in that moment is that I wasn't following a campaign of peace.  I wasn't at peace with myself, and it manifested in me being hateful and hurtful toward another.  It is my belief that following peace with all men begins with being at peace with yourself.

How to be at peace?  I've been meditating recently, and that peace begins on the inside... in the silence of the moments.  It's when I stop rapidly finding defences.  Meditation is the inquiry into the true self, and in it, you don't actively try to stop your thoughts, but rather to seek the quietness that lies in between each racing thought.  In order to be done effectively, you simply don't focus on your thoughts.  amazing, they slide away without difficulty.  For me, meditation is peace.  peace is the silence in between the thoughts.  finding peace with all men means resting in that silence with everyone.

I'm not there yet, you must believe me.  But, I'm actively trying to stop gravitating toward the defensive thoughts that have in previous times ruined my sense of perfection.  Self-perfection and perfection in others.

But one thing you must know about me is that I'm so definitely trying.  Being in love with everyone takes a different sort of consciousness that I've not yet attained, but somehow know is possible.