Peace be yours.

I frequently walk alone and often do not meet many, if any, other people on my walk. I am not saying that I seek such places or actively pursue being on my own but I do love the sense of peace that such moments bring. As I wandered up the glen the other day, hearing only the song of birds, I turned my thoughts to the subject of, Peace.

I remembered an art challenge that on the topic of peace. 

The challenge was to convey the perfect picture of peace. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally, the great day of revelation arrived. The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another, while the viewers clapped and cheered. 

The tensions grew. Only two pictures remained veiled.

As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd. 

A mirror-smooth loch reflected lacy, green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner.

The man with the vision uncovered the second painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace?

A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky precipice. The crowd could almost feel its cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-grey clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls. One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power.

A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs. With her eyes closed and her wings ready to cover her little ones, she manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil.

Peace is not just the cessation of noise or the end of fighting or turmoil, it is the inner peace that comes from the knowledge of having found something in the inner being that allows you to be at one with yourself and the world. Some may call this their God, others their, Chi. To question them about what it seems inappropriate for that moment. Rather we should rejoice in the peace that passes all understanding.

Safety consists not in the absence of danger but in the presence of such Peace.

As one religion says, Be still and know.

While elsewhere I read.

The wind stirs the bamboo,

But once the wind passes,

The bamboo is silent.

Geese land on the chill pond,

But once they fly away,

There are no reflections.

In the same way, 

Once the red dust passes,

The mind is still.

Have a wonderful day filled with peace and Understanding.