The world right now is in a tumultuous state. Things are going on everywhere. Eruptions are going on everywhere. It appears that things are out of control and in chaos. The headlines every day talk about another tragedy that’s going on in some part of the world; another battle that’s going on in some part of the world; another slaughter that’s going on in some part of the world. As we read the newspapers or watch the news we can become affected by these things. You might think “Everything is going out of control”, and “Is there anyway to pull any of it back?” If you are a student of history you would know that throughout history there have been constant eruptions in the world; constant conflagrations in the world; constant battles and struggles for superiority for real estate, for dominance, for control.
On the coast where we live here in the eastern United States we are sometimes hit by hurricanes. Hurricanes are like large battles: they come in, they do tremendous damage, and they leave. But in the eye of a hurricane there is tremendous calm. Everything swirls around that one central point but in that central point there is a calmness. It’s as if nothing extraordinary, nothing out of control, nothing that has lost control, nothing that is beyond the ability to get in the way of, is going on.
It’s interesting in all of the wars through all of history there have always been some pockets of peace, some men who have been able to find stillness, a place within them that no matter what is going on in the entire world, no matter the state of the burning that is going on, of the pillaging that is going on, of the destruction that is going on, they are still able to find a place of peace within themselves. This is what we as individuals have to look for.
Everything is moving at a tremendous rate of speed. Everything is going from one place to another. Everything is constantly in motion. We sometimes join that motion. We go from here to there to the next place, to the next spot, looking for something. That something that we’re looking for is not going to be found through constant movement. It’s not going to be found through rushing around the world. Geese migrate from one space to the next, to another, to another, to another. They have an objective. There are places where they breed. There are places where they feed. There are places where they’re safe and they go there from season to season, and time to time.
For us those external things, the need for food, the need for shelter, in this part of the world where we live, have been mostly satisfied. What hasn’t been satisfied is the ongoing hurricane that not only goes on outside of us, but goes on inside of us. As outside, so it is inside. Can we, while watching the outside, alter the inside so that we somehow separate ourselves from the insanity that is the world of illusion? From the insanity that is the world of power? Of attempting to claim and to take power? From the insanity that is the bloodlust that seems to rise in the world over and over and over? Usually a bloodlust against certain peoples — a bloodlust against certain tribes — bloodlust against certain nationalities. Is it possible that we can enter into a space where there is peace and quiet inside of ourselves, no matter what is going on outside of ourselves? No matter what is going on in the world? Can we establish a place of sanctuary in side of ourselves?
