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Wisdom Story
There was a contest that offered a great prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried, and the judging committee looked at all the pictures. They arrived at two pictures from which to select the best one.
One picture was of a calm, serene lake. The lake reflected the peaceful mountains towering beside it. Above the mountains was a pale blue sky dotted with soft, white clouds. Surely, the audience thought, this was the perfect picture of peace.
The other picture had mountains, too. These were rugged and stark against a stormy dark sky from which rain fell. The storm clouds roiled. And rushing down the side of the mountain was a tumbling and frothing waterfall. The picture did not look at all peaceful.
Then, as you looked closely, you saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of rushing, boisterous water, sat a mother bird on her nest, safe and in perfect peace.
Wisdom Words
We are warmed by fire, not by the smoke of the fire. We are carried over the sea by a ship, not by the wake of a ship. So, too, what we are is to be sought in the invisible depths of our own being, not in our outward reflection in our acts. We must find our real selves not in the froth stirred up by the impact of our being upon beings around us, but in our own soul which is the principle of all our acts.
*Thomas Merton. No Man is an Island. "Being and Doing."
Musings of a Modern Day Mystic
I am first a being in Being, not a doer; and peace, as God Who is Being is Peace, is my natural birthright in the Divine Order. To return to peace, I return to the One Who is Peace. I do not seek to understand God; rather, this return is a return to loving God.
I do not seek peace, I seek God. For peace is the consequence of my communion and union in Love with the Word. Peace flows from Christ, Who is God, while the illusion of peace, which is nothing more than a momentary calm due to quieting the mind or reduction of stress in the environment, leads back, soon, to disquiet.
But where do I find this One Who is Peace? I discover such Love, for each return to God Within is a new discovery, in the inner cell of my being. And I discover, likewise, that the One Who is the Inwardness of my being is the Inwardness of creation and every creature, for that One is the Center from Whom life flows into action and returns into rest.
To return to that One Who is Peace and, so, receive and enjoy peace, I must not hide from the mystery and, yes, confusion of my own being by doing among, with, and to others. I must resist the religious sin of seeking God in service and worship, thereby thinking that in so doing I am pleasing God, when I am by such busy activity, now called religious or spiritual, choosing another action that hides my being from the reduction of myself to nothingness in the Fullness fulfilling me in Love and sharing Its Being with me.
In such a return out of myself as separate from God to myself as in God, Who is Peace, I enjoy peace. I have peace, then, as long as I live in Love with God, for God is the source and condition of my peace. I lose peace when inward thoughts or outward circumstances of life draw me from Loving Union with God. I rediscover peace in rediscovering God, whom I often am drawn away from, trying to manage my life for peace or create peace among others, and not one of the two can I do. But I can share peace by simply living in the One Who is Peace, and my loss of peace will be a signal to return in naked faith to God.
How can focusing on God itself become avoidance of God?
Brian is available to respond to requests pertaining to seeking a Spiritual Director, his speaking, doing classes, workshops, or retreats for churches or other spiritual groups. He will inform regarding how to receive his other writings or offer replies to comments or questions.
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*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, and their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Clearwater and Punta Gorda, Florida. He is a United Methodist pastor and vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ through contemplative prayer and living.
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