Pursuit of Peace

 “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

Peace is such an elusive dream. Though many people aspire for it, we cannot deny the fact that many people destroy it too. It seems like an endless search to those who seek for it because of the interference of others who want to obliterate peace.

A place without peace is like a home with open doors and open windows, perilous to stay in and unsafe to live in. Each and every moment, life is at stake because in just a snap, robbers or any other bad elements might enter to attack you.

Though absolute peace is hard to achieve, many people still have hope that peace is attainable through understanding and cooperation of the nation.

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and must begin with a single step. Searching of peace is not like searching for a lost kid in the crowd. It is more on finding solutions within ourselves. The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well being that places harmony in one’s life. It is not an absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for b­­­­­enevolence, confidence and justice.

Let me tell you a story. There was a King who offered a price to the artist who would paint a best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all pictures but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell, in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.

But when the King looked, he 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 the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest ………perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won? The King chose the second picture. Why?

 “Because, peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace,” the King explained.

The quest for peace is indeed the start of attaining it. And we can start searching for it within ourselves. We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. We should always remember that a mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe.