Have you ever known peace?

I gave it a chance once, that’s all i’m saying.

I skipped school and slept in I found peace. I needed the day off.

Absolutely. I can say that I have experienced “the peace that surpasseth all understanding.”
It lasted for a lengthy period, years infact, following a lot of awakenings after a traumatic few years of family deaths and divorce. I have now been challenged again this past couple of years by the recession whuch has taken me down more than a notch or two, but still, on a deep intrisic level my inner peace is still intact. I am not hapoy about my current circumstance but I am also very aware that this too shall pass and that, one way or another, or I will pass before it passes. lol
in the grand scheme of things my life is but an infantismal drop in the cosmic bucket an no-thing is that important.
While not fundamentally religious I can say I have experienced what I consider some psycho/spiritual awakenings.

I’ll have peace in the grave. There are too many bastards who need fighting to rest while I still have breath in my lungs and hate in my heart.

“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams

Yes.
The first was in a religious context, although I was there for the socializing.
The experience ripped all stored pain out of my psyche and I grinned like a madman for weeks.
As life goes on and weariness is daily reapplied by modern life, that initial ecstatic state receded but I can recall it in a real sense that is calming and reassuring.

Another was during an ‘enlightenment intensive’ dyadic koan practice.
People work in pairs answering koans, switching to a new partner each two hours.
The next one up across from me had earlier in the day touched some profound truth and his nervous system was resonating such a clear tone that the next few people he worked with got their psychic junk aligned with his. That profundity of that ride left a blissed-out stillness at one’s core for weeks following, longer for the people with a regular meditation practice.

There is the opportunity to ‘let it be’ in every moment, willfully resonating with what is.
That’s hard with our big brain part of our consciousnesses, jumping around like monkeys, constantly. Meditation has relaxation of the mind as a basic requisite on the road to the direct experience of being. With that skill, timeless peace is accessible at the blink of an eye. I’m not very good with the practices that manifest skills like that but I stumble on a good moment here and there that remind me that infinity is bigger than you think.

Yea, I’ve never been in war so my whole life is peace.

Lately I was looking at American politics?
At the age of 11, I railed at the Democratic party’s selection of McGovern for President. What a disillusionment! We were Yellow Dog Democrats and he was a wimp.
Carter was a good man.
Regan won me over. *Presidential.”

I have built a world in my own mind as a shelter. Sometimes the world seems too chaotic and cruel for me. In that world I find my peace, away from all the troubles.

@ucme
Fair enough

@talljasperman
I’ve skipped work the same way before. Glorious.

@Coloma
The traumatic times clearly serve a purpose in bringing that peace. I’m sure that’s what happened to me as well. At some point you break enough to figure out how to fix yourself.

@SmashTheState
Seems like a one way ticket to an ulcer – but I hear ya brother.

@dabbler
What is a dyadic koan? Sounds like a math equation.

I’ve been forced into yoga a couple of times and recognized what you’re talking about. With all of the stupid things our brains worry about – it’s difficult at times to just let go and be quiet for a little while. But once you have it is awesome.

@Blackberry
Wherever you are, don’t move then. Wouldn’t want to jinx it!

@ibstubro
What?

@Mimishu1995
What’s in that world?

Not even a little.

@Uasal
That’s unfortunate. How come?

It’s not so much a personal peace, as in “Everything’s cool in my little corner of the world”. It’s more an awareness that peace is the bedrock state of things.

It’s like a deep ocean. On the surface, there are storms and waves and froth. But all of that plays out above a deep, imperturbable peace. The waves certainly matter; our lives as individuals transpire on this choppy surface. Each of us is one of the waves rising and falling and dashing on the rocks. All of this tumult is both beautiful and awful, and certainly quite compelling, so much so that we tend to be unaware of the steady peace below.

Focusing on my “wave nature” makes for good narrative, full of ups and downs, victories and defeats, but not often peace. Focusing on my “ocean nature” reveals the peace that’s always been there and that we all share, but I can’t really live down there in that peace anymore than a wave can live down in the depths. The best I can do is live this wave-life fully, without losing sight of the peace underlying it all.

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One The dyad is described well in the ‘structure section’ of this article on Enlightenment Intensive.

You know you’ve got true peace if you have it even when you’re under attack, and it maintains that way for the long term, even when you’re fighting the biggest battle of your life. I’ve done it. It is the “peace that passes understanding”, and nothing and nobody can take it away when you’re resting in God’s presence.