In this episode I give a Christian nondual interpretation of the words of the apostle Paul in his Letter to the Philippians: “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
In this episode I give a Christian nondual interpretation of the words of the apostle Paul in his Letter to the Philippians: “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
On the recent National Day of Prayer my wife and I attended a silent prayer meeting at the Quaker meeting in our town. The Friends style of prayer, as you likely know, is group silent meditation. In fact on the board outside the church is a saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.”
The prayer meeting was sparsely attended while we were there. I expected more. In fact there was only one other person in the room at the time we were there, although I assume others came later. You would think that with all the political discord in our country at this time that more people would come out to pray for peace on the National Day of Prayer.
We live in a very rural area. 1200 people in the 100 square miles that make up our town. This Quaker meetinghouse is in the northern part of our township in a particularly rural area. It is usually very quiet. A perfect setting for a Quaker meeting. Yet the internet cable company chose this particular time to hang new fiber optic cable on the utility poles in this area. Up to now we have had only DSL, which I still have, so this is a great improvement for those who wish to live in the country but do business on the internet.
When we were inside the meetinghouse with the windows open, they were installing cables on the poles right outside the building, with all the accompanying noises of machinery. There was a time when noise like that would have distracted me during meditation. I can remember for years trying to make the room I used for meditation as soundproof as possible. And trying to make my inner space as quiet as possible. My goal at that time was to quiet my mind, and to do that I thought I had to eliminate all external noise and distractions.
But things have changed, and this change speaks directly to how one can have what the apostle Paul calls “the peace that surpasses all understanding.” Let me give you the full quote: “In every situation with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
While I was meditating during that National Day of Prayer it was crystal clear how we as individuals – and possibly we as a nation and a world – can have the peace that transcends all understanding. As I was meditating the noise outside the open windows did not bother me at all. It did not matter whether it was there or not. I was aware of it being there but it did not affect me the way it did ten years ago, before unitive awareness became the constant presence in my life.
Peace is all a matter of paying attention to what is always present no matter what is going on inside or outside. During meditation you may become aware of noises or other distractions, such as in the body. But it is all a matter of where your heart is – whether it is on the so-called distraction or on the peace that is always present. Jesus said, “Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.” If your treasure is peace, your heart will be in peace.
Notice that all noises and activities and bodily sensations happen within a vast spaciousness which is perfect peace. The prophet Isaiah said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.” If you pay attention, you will see that vast peace and silence surrounds and envelops every noise and activity of life. The noise and activity is there, but it is insignificant compared to the deep, deep peace of God that it rests within.
There is no need to try to eliminate noises and distractions. There is no need to try to eliminate all thoughts or emotions, whether during meditation or during the activities of everyday life. Because they cannot affect the silence that surround them. They cannot disturb the deep peace in which they dwell. Peace surrounds all thoughts and emotions. Everything that happens in life is immersed and embedded in a lush matrix of deep peace.
You can focus on the noises and thoughts and emotions and bodily sensations if you want. That is what most people do. They obsess over minimizing or eliminating those things that seem to be disturbing their peace of mind. The reality is that nothing can disturb this peace at all. This peace of God – this divine peace – is overwhelming. It is all-powerful. It is omnipresent. It cannot be disturbed. Being aware of this peace is called nondual awareness or unitive awareness. It is always present no matter what is happening.
There is nothing that needs to be done or undone to increase the peace. It cannot be increased because it is infinite. It is all a matter of where your heart is. Where your attention is. Where your focus is. Where you are looking. Are you paying attention to the noise and activity or are you paying attention to the peace that envelops every activity and thought and word and emotion?
I wrote a blog recently entitled “Keeping Cool in Florida.” It was about the problems we were having with our vehicle’s air conditioning while we were visiting Florida for seven weeks. The incompetence of the auto repair shop that was working on our car was frustrating. It raised all sorts of unspiritual thoughts and emotions within me.
In this blog I explained that it is alright to have such thoughts and emotions. Some people think that the spiritual life means not having such petty feelings. They think that true spirituality is about achieving some type of stoic existence, or perhaps an existence that has only positive emotions and none of the negative ones. That is a fantasy. That is a complete misunderstanding of what nondual awareness is.
Nondual does not eliminate anything. If it did, it would not be nondual! It includes and accepts and embraces the bad as well as the good. That includes all our thoughts and feelings. That is why it is called nondual. It envelops all thoughts and emotions and sensations in a bigger unity that is perfect peace. This nonduality brings a lightness to life. The bad stuff is still there, but it no longer has power over you because you see you are not those emotions and thoughts. You are the vast and spacious peace in which all thoughts and emotions – good and bad – occur.
Your true nature and the true nature of the universe is perfect peace. That spacious peace is so clear and overpowering that it sinks deep into one’s heart. The peace is seen not only as what surrounds everything, it is seen as being at the heart of everything. It is even at the heart of the noises and thoughts. They emerge from peace and return to peace and do not disturb the peace.
When I was sitting in meditation in that Quaker meeting, I could see clearly the peace that is at the heart of all existence. I offered my thoughts and concerns about the troubles of our nation and our world to this God of Peace, as the verse instructs us to do. I thought of the Ukraine war and offered it to God. I thought of the turmoil surrounding abortion, and offered it to God. I thought of the threats to democracy and freedom in our country, and I offered them to God.
When we offer these concerns to the God of Peace, then the peace of God that transcends all human thoughts and understanding receives them. God embraces all these troubles that plague humankind. In that embrace is perfect peace. The apostle says that this peace surpasses all human understanding. When we see this for ourselves, then peace reigns. This is what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. It is what the prophet Isaiah saw as the Peaceable Kingdom, with the wolf lying down with the lamb.
The peaceable kingdom is not a pipe dream about a future reality on earth. It is not some eschatological hope. It is the present reality for those with eyes to see. You may have all sorts of problems and concerns that trouble your mind and heart. Inner and outer wars and rumors of wars. You want them to cease in the future. You want peace from those. That is why you are doing spiritual practices. That peace happens not by eliminating all the bothersome circumstances from your life that you think are preventing you from experiencing peace. Like closing the windows of the meetinghouse to shut out the outer noise or disciplining your mind to dampen the inner noise.
Peace becomes a reality in our lives when we see it is already present in the midst of all these noisome circumstances. What you seek is here. The peace is seen as being present in these circumstances and all around them and at the heart of them. This is the kingdom of God. It is all around us and within us, Jesus said. This is the peaceable Kingdom. This is the peace that surpasses all understanding.