Inner peace has no opposite

Has it ever happened for you that you’ve picked up a book, usually a highly recommended one, read it and disliked it? It’s rare for me. Such was my first response to Eckhart Tolle’s original offering, The Power of Now. More than five years have elapsed since then and since I loved his second book, I thought the first deserved a retry. Either I’m totally different or I wasn’t ready before. It’s a book packed with wisdom.

Interestingly, what I couldn’t do was read it all in a row. It’s structured in Q & A. Starting in January of this year, I read a question and an answer a day. Then, I’d sit with them. It took me almost four months to read the whole thing.

Tolle’s ideas are not anywhere near new, and he’s the first to say so. They’re the standard fare of mystics since we started measuring time.

Be here. Be now. Be awake.

One of the things that’s often asked of me as a counselor is what I call the “worst case scenario” question. Like this: Well, but how do I deal with my emotions when a beloved to me has just died? Here’s Tolle’s answer:

“When a loved one has just died, or you feel your own death approaching, you cannot be happy. It is impossible. But you can be at peace. There may be sadness and tears, but provided that you have relinquished resistance, underneath the sadness you will feel a deep serenity, a stillness, a sacred presence. This is the emanation of Being, this is inner peace, the good that has no opposite” (emphasis added). My answer to the question is usually similar.

The thing I like about his answer is that it striates emotion. We humans love to be black and white about our emotions, and we love to whine about them, “But that’s just how I feeeeeel.” Yes, and wait, it’ll change. Or, better, let it be as it is, and follow Tolle’s sensible advice: go deeper.

That’s where you’ll find the quieter level, the peace that lives at the core of everyone (no exceptions), the peace that never changes, the peace that is the very center of Being. We can’t get there from the outside world. We can’t get there from our own emotions. We can’t really “get” there at all. We can only be there.

Here’s what Tolle says: “Stay alert and stay very, very present. The causal level needs to remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace your most precious gift to the world.” Have you ever, ever thought of your core, your peace, as your most precious gift to the world? Few of us have, but Eckhart made me think again. What if he’s right?

So, darling’, I’m peacin’ you. Right here. Right now. I’m givin’ you the most precious thing I got. My peace. The good that has no opposite. Ooh, sweet one, I’m peacin’ you now. And forever.

Visit Dr. Susan Corso’s website or subscribe to Seeds at www.susancorso.com.