There’s no doubt about it … the world is changing fast! Never before in the history of mankind have there been so many changes so rapidly.
Not only has there been a mind-blowing surge of technological development over the past 50 years but there has also been an almost ridiculous increase in the pace of life. Fast travel, fast food, fast shopping, internet banking, instant telecommunications: today we want it all and we want it now! The result has been an unprecedented rise in stress levels.
On top of it all, things don’t seem to be as stable as they used to be. Every day we are bombarded by news of violence, corruption, war and terrorism. The political, economic and environmental climates are becoming increasingly shaky and for the first time in recorded history the threat of total annihilation looms on the horizon. As we hurtle into the 21st century, it is hard to find peace amidst all this uncertainty.
Trying to control life just because we are scared of the changes just doesn't work though.
However much we want to make things nice, life has an uncanny habit of being full of contradictions. It is both wonderful in its intricate complexity as well as terrible in its agonising unpredictability.
Just when things seem to be going along in a particular direction, events take an unexpected turn and we find ourselves facing the unknown, that rough edge that fills us with dread. Maybe our finances have taken a turn for the worse, or our lover has suddenly left us, or illness has struck unbidden … or maybe war has broken out much closer to home than we are comfortable with.
The thing is, change has always been a part of life, it’s just that today - thanks to high-speed global communication networks - it seems to be happening all the time.
Contrast this with the messages we are bombarded with on a daily basis telling us that life should look and feel like a glossy advert and you have a recipe for serious inner conflict! Modern media sells us the dream of a perfect life in which we have everything we want and only good things happen.
We know that real life isn't like that and yet we still cling to the dream. It is precisely this wanting things to be bigger, better, easier and safer that keeps us fighting the current of life. Instead of going with the flow, we end up swimming upstream. Eventually, this is exhausting!
Today’s fast-track world does little to encourage us to trust the ebb and flow of life.
But behind the modern-day façade of a perfect life, the wheel of change continues to turn. Life and death, gain and loss, joy and sorrow, these are all a part of the cycle of Existence.
Life is always in motion, always in flux: as surely as the sun rises, the sun sets, and as surely as the tide flows in, the tide flows out. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down. This is true of the seasons, the economic climate, our moods, or almost anything else we can name. Change is an inevitable part of life.
Buddha’s insight into the nature of suffering was spot on! He said that it is only our clinging to that which is impermanent that creates our torment.
If we look deeply, we will see that every thought, every emotion and every sensation arises out of nothing and returns to nothing. Every breath comes and goes. Even our bodies are born out of the miracle of life and return at death to the great mystery that is beyond life. All forms are impermanent manifestations that arise out of eternal formlessness.
The only way to find peace when things are moving too fast or moving in a direction we are not happy with, is to refocus on that which is unchanging. And the only thing that doesn’t change is the spacious awareness within from which everything arises.
When we have the courage to make the leap from our heads to our hearts, we discover the stillness of our essential nature. And in this stillness we remember that we are children of God and that God has not forsaken us, for we have always been one and the same.
When all else falls apart, remembering our divinity returns us to a state of wholeness and holiness.
In every moment, we are perfect and complete just as we are. It’s a spiritual imperative to shift our attention inside where the only change that matters can take place: the move from fear to love. Choosing love is the only thing that will make a difference to our world. Staying open in the midst of tremendous changes, personal or global, is the only way to find inner peace. And surely, if each of us found peace inside, the world would be a more peaceful place?
I invite you to take a moment to close to your eyes and go inside
… watch your breath rise and fall as your body relaxes. Watch how each breath arises out of seemingly nowhere and then disappears back into nowhere. Watch how each thought you have comes and goes, just like a wave rising and falling. And yet there is an ever-present space within which everything exists … the spaciousness of awareness.
Allow yourself to rest more deeply inside this awareness, whilst everything else comes and goes. When you stop chasing that which changes, then you can bask in the deep peace that is your true nature.
Whenever you feel stressed or frightened of change, simply close your eyes and remember that which doesn't change … the peace that resides within.