Today go into a secluded forest of your mind. Leave possessions behind. Leave all the electrical outlets and paraphernalia you are surrounded with, and enter this divine glen of your mind. Divest yourself of the world for a moment, and surround yourself with tall trees. Tall thoughts will appear, and no worries will enter this forest.
The forest turns into an ocean, and you are at the center of it. All around you are ripples of salt water, buoying you, floating you to the top of the ocean’s highest waves. You will paddle your thoughts like a canoe; your thoughts will dribble in the ocean like fingers.
You will lie on the sandy beach in the sun. You will count the grains of sand and never finish. You will build a sand castle, and it too will be unfinished. It is ongoing, the work of art that you create in the world.
And now you return to the forest, and you make your way back to civilization. The salt water stays on your skin. The sun follows you. You get back to the world of activity, and you spin in it. And yet the salt water stays on your skin, and the sun finds you wherever you are no matter what you are doing.
The peace you seek is inner. The world will not teach you peace. It will teach you uproar. That you must know by now. It is not that you abandon the world. You will return to it, and little by little, and you will maintain the peace within. Peace will accompany you. Yes, peace even in the midst of war. Even in a fiery furnace, peace can reign.
You will light a different fire from the one that flames outside. You will ignite the embers that burn in your heart’s longing for peace. Share your peaceful bonfire by your very presence. Break the bread of peace daily. Let your heart say to the world:
“Peace be yours, World. Peace be unto you. Peace I give you this day so that you may surround yourself with it. I light your heart now with a flame of love so bright, it is eternal. It has always been within you. I just touch a match of my love to it, and now the white flame of peace will blaze in your heart. It has a steady flame, for peace is steady, and peace is temperate.
“World, I will win over your heart and the hearts of everyone who lives in you. Hearts will be awakened, and you will be nourished. You will make a great comeback, dear world. You will have the love you deserve, and you will be a playground of happiness where all of God’s children romp and play, making up games with happy endings, creating a world that you will be proud to be, an original untouched world made of happy hearts.
“You will spin differently. A new dance will invent itself, and yet everyone will already know it.
“You will be the new world that everyone seeks. There will none like you. You will have won the hearts of all, and you will spin with joy, and everyone lucky enough to be on Earth will spin with you. Feet will hardly touch, and every step will be a blessing to you. Every word spoken will nourish you. A feast will be prepared for you. World, Mother Earth, God’s Creation – whatever your name – you will be recalled to love, and all will remember who you are, and the tap of our feet dancing on you will make you happy.”