BE WILLING TO BE A BEGINNER EVERY SINGLE MORNING

We all need to cultivate a ‘beginner’s mind’.

One of the best books ever written on meditation from a Buddhist perspective is Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by the Japanese Sōtō Zen monk, rōshi and teacher Shunryu Suzuki, pictured below.

Having a ‘beginner’s mind’ means seeing all things as if for the first time. In truth we are always seeing things for the very first time because everything is in a constant state of flux, but we seldom think of it that way. Even the familiar and the everyday—those things around us that we habitually see—they never remain the same.

When we see things with a beginner’s mind, we see each thing in all its directness and immediacy and freshness. Everything is new and wonderful, and you are part of the ongoing unfoldment of life itself from one moment to the next. In that regard, I am reminded of something the great German mystic Meister Eckhart once said, namely, 'Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.'

There are many schools of Buddhism, but there is this golden thread running through all of Buddhism, namely, that each one of us can be—and in a very real sense already is—a Buddha. Now, I am not talking about the historical Buddha as such. I am talking about a potentiality within each one of us that is always trying to burst its way into full expression in and as us. In the New Testament Saint Paul writes of ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27) which, as I see it, is more-or-less the same idea. This is what Shunryu Suzuki has to say about the matter:

'To do something, to live in each moment, means to be the temporal activity of Buddha. To sit in this way [Zazen] is to be Buddha himself, to be as the historical Buddha was. The same thing applies to everything we do. Everything is Buddha’s activity. So whatever you do, or even if you keep from doing something, Buddha is that activity. …'

Suzuki refers to this way of living as ‘being Buddha.’ He writes, ‘Without trying to be Buddha you are Buddha. This is how we attain enlightenment. To attain enlightenment is to be always with Buddha.’ Suzuki quotes the historical Buddha’s statement, ‘See Buddha nature in various beings, and in every one of us.’ In that regard, a number of Buddhist scriptures state that the historical Buddha said that we are all buddhas, a buddha being a person who is enlightened, that is, awake. This is reminiscent of what Jesus himself affirmed, namely, 'Is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods' (Jn 10:34; cf Ps 82:6). Sadly, all too often we fail to see the world around us—as well as ourselves—as they really are.

Start seeing everything afresh with a beginner’s mind.

 

FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE: THE FIVE STAGES OF TRUE GROWTH

All of us are in bondage to something or someone, some of us more so than others. Some of us are in bondage to alcohol or other drugs. Others of us are in bondage to other sorts of addictions including being addicted to work and other people. (Oh, how we crave the useless attention and approval of others! But why?) Still others of us are in bondage to mental obsessions and physical compulsions, things that make even our moment-to-moment existence misery. What can we do about all this?

When we get right down to the bottom line all bondage is addiction to self. Yes, addiction to self. Self-obsession, self-absorption, self-centeredness, selfishness. Yes, there may be mental illness as well as physical illness involved as well, but deep down all forms of bondage are bondage to self, that is, to a sense of self that is illusory. We are not a ‘self,’ or those many, many ‘selves’ which are nothing other than mental images. They are not the real person each one of us is. So, what is the answer? We need to—wake up! We need to experience self-release, which is the ending of illusion. Once we see the false as false—and self is the ultimate illusion—a whole new world opens up for us.

George S Arundale

Many years ago I read a little booklet penned by George Arundale. I can’t remember the title of the booklet—it was more of a pamphlet—but I do remember something of immense value in it, something has that helped me greatly in my own life, something that I want to share with you now. Of all the bits and tidbits of advice and wisdom I’ve read over many decades, this gem of spiritual wisdom from Arundale is perhaps the best and most useful of them all.

George Arundale wrote of the five stages of true growth—true spiritual growth, that is. The five stages are as follows: discontent, search, escape, discovery, and freedom. Let’s deal with them in turn.

First, discontent. This is the beginning of freedom. You know, there is a phrase ‘divine discontent,’ because discontent can be a most wonderful thing. Without a certain amount of discontent in our lives we would never seek to grow, learn, understand, or escape bondage. The Indian spiritual philosopher J. Krishnamurti had this to say about discontent: 

Only a mind that is in despair can find reality. A mind that is completely discontented can jump into reality, not a mind that is content, not a mind that is respectable, hedged about by beliefs. ... Though painful, it is a marvellous thing to be discontented ... .

Arundale calls discontent, which is the knowledge and recognition of bondage and limitation, an ‘angel-messenger of Light in the midst of all darkness.’ Take the alcoholic, for example. Alcoholics are never really happy. In fact, they live in misery, as do all addicts. Every alcoholic—and the same goes for any addict—seeks to escape an unwanted self. 

Actually, that is a very necessary thing to do, for we all must learn to escape our unwanted selves, that is, all those false and illusory images we have of ourselves that prevent us from seeing things as they really are. The problem with alcoholism and all other forms of addiction and bondage is that drugs and the like are never the answer. Indeed, they increasingly become the problem, and more and more of a problem, until the sufferer either dies or goes mad. That’s true. Don’t doubt it, even for a moment.

The second stage of true growth is search. Discontent, after varying periods of time, results in a search for a way out. A thought comes to mind— ‘There must be a way out!’ There is—always. So, we look for a way out. That may take a long time, although in most cases we make it longer than it need be. We may seek the views of others. We may join a new religion. We may read self-help books galore. I did all of those things in my own search for freedom. None of them really helped me to break free from bondage, but for some glorious reason I never gave up hope. But eventually I gave in—that is, surrendered, let go. Only then was it that a power-not-myself—for self can never change self, as self is forever the problem and never the solution—led me to freedom. Sadly, many people never get to this second stage. They die—discontented.

Discontent alone is not enough. Insight alone never changes us. We must want change—I mean, really want it above all other things—and we must be prepared to go to any length to get it. As Williams James used to say, we will always do whatever is our strongest desire. Search begins with desire. The stronger the desire for escape, the more likely the search will not be in vain.

George S Arundale

The third stage is escape. We exit the prison. We enter into a new world. Arundale called it a ‘garden.’ Lovely imagery. Then, we make a great discovery.

Discovery is the fourth stage. We take possession of our new world and we discover. We learn. We understand. Gone are the old beliefs that only helped to keep us in bondage. Once, we believed. Now, we know and understand. There is a whole world of difference!

The fifth stage of true growth is freedom. Arundale wrote that we need to be very careful here. Sometimes, if we are not ever-vigilant, we will find that we have entered a larger prison. True spiritual growth, he wrote, is often a case of freedom succeeding freedom as we draw nearer to Eternity—‘at least to an Eternity,’ wrote Arundale.

Discontent … search … escape … discovery … freedom. That’s it! In many ways these five words are all you need to know to be able to live a long, happy, and satisfying life. Arundale wrote that these five steps encapsulate a certain spiritual or metaphysical law—the ‘Law of Universal Growth,’ he called it. He also wrote that this law of growth is ‘God’s gift of Time.’ Perhaps, but for many people time is running out. We must act … now!

‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2), says the New Testament. Yes, right now! Salvation is all about wholeness and health of mind, body and spirit … and freedom from bondage and limitation of all kinds—in this life. Salvation is all about—waking up! It's about self-release. It's about freedom from bondage.

Yes, there is a power-not-oneself that can make all things new. That power, as Norman Vincent Peale has written, is 'a spiritual giant within you, which is always struggling to burst its way out of the prison you have made for it.’ The power can restore you to health and vitality, release you from all bondage, and make your life worth living. The power is your 'real self'—that is, the life in you manifesting itself as you ... your very ground of being ... the source and essence of your life, health, strength, and vitality.

May you come to know this power today ... indeed, right now!

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY—OR HOW TO ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT

Fairy tales are a subgenre of the artistic and literary genre known as fantasy. A ‘fantasy’ ordinarily involves the following elements: first, a quest or journey of some kind, often involving tests, trials and tribulations, with a battle between good and evil; secondly, a fictitious or legendary place in which strange, seemingly unnatural events occur; thirdly, the presence of strange, seemingly unnatural, fanciful, even grotesque, characters and capricious forces; and fourthly, lessons in how to live, evolve, and relate to others and a power-not-oneself that is capable of freeing oneself from the bondage of self.

Fairy tales are not just about fantasy and most such tales are not even about 'fairies'. That grand master of modern fairy tales J R R Tolkien wrote that fairy tales have four main uses: escape, consolation, recovery, and fantasy. I have already spoken, albeit briefly, about fantasy. The ideas of escape and consolation are fairly straightforward, but the notion of recovery is a fascinating and most important one. Recovery is, yes, all about regaining what seemingly, and perhaps actually, has been ‘lost’, namely, our spiritual heritage.

Nearly all fairy tales are encoded spiritual and moral lessons (‘road maps’) of great importance---just like the parables of Jesus in the New Testament---and they almost invariably incorporate more than a few fragments (‘gems’) of ancient wisdom, with the spiritual ideas and themes being portrayed in a highly figurative and literary manner. Fairy tales graphically depict the involution and evolution of the soul, or, in the language of the great American mythographer Joseph Campbell, the 'hero's journey' of self-discovery through trial, tribulation and adversity. Here’s a clue. In fairy tales, as well as in most sacred literature, the soul is nearly always spoken of as a woman, and the human spirit a man.

If there is one theme or underlying message contained in the great religions of the world it is this---we come from God (Spirit, Life, the Source), we belong to God, we are never truly separate from God (even though we act as if we were), and we are all on our way back to God. Of course, not all the world’s religions use the word ‘God,’ or express this idea theistically, but that is largely immaterial. The idea is generally still there.

Now, the story of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’.

A king and a queen have been trying to have a child for years. Finally, a frog prophesies a birth. When the child finally arrives, they call her Aurora. A great holiday is proclaimed to celebrate Aurora’s birth. Visitors come from far and wide, including three good fairies. One of the most distinguished guests is another king from a neighboring kingdom, who brings along his son Prince Philip. (No, not that one. He’s not quite that old.) Both kings realize that their dream of a united kingdom can now come true.

Three good fairies begin bestowing their gifts upon Aurora. She receives the gift of beauty, and gift of song, but before the last gift is bestowed, a wicked fairy interrupts. This wicked fairy is upset that she wasn’t invited to the party, so she casts a spell on the day of Aurora’s 16th birthday, to the effect that Aurora will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The third good fairy hasn’t bestowed her gift yet, and she’s horrified at the spell the wicked fairy cast. The good fairy isn’t strong enough to undo the spell, but she is able to dilute it a bit, such that instead of death Aurora will instead fall asleep until her true love comes along to undo the spell with a kiss. As a precaution, all spinning wheels are removed from the kingdom, and Aurora lives in hiding as a peasant with the good fairies for protection.

Aurora grows up, meets Prince Philip, and falls in love with him. On the night of Aurora’s 16th birthday, Aurora, Prince Philip, and the good fairies all go back to the castle to live. But the evil fairy sneaks into the castle and pricks Aurora’s finger with a needle, causing her to fall asleep. With the help of the good fairies, Prince Philip, after a heroic, difficult, and dangerous journey, reaches Aurora, then kisses her, and she awakes---and, yes, they all live happily ever after.

Well, this is a story of ‘paradise regained’—a very familiar theme in fairy tales, indeed in almost all sacred (so-called ‘occult’) literature. We have the involution of the human soul, with its incarnation from the starry regions of space-time and the cosmos. Significantly, it is a ‘frog’ that heralds and prophesies the birth of Aurora, a frog being the ancient occult symbol of metamorphosis. The princess is called Aurora, which means ‘dawn’ or ‘enlightenment.’ If you are familiar with Roman mythology Aurora is the goddess of the Dawn. She renews herself each morning and flies across the sky, announcing the arrival of the sun. Much symbolism there!

There are ‘good fairies’ (successes, achievements, growth) and ‘bad fairies’ (setbacks, mistakes, failures) in life. We can learn from them all. The curse from the wicked fairy represents all those trials, setbacks and negative forces with which we have to grapple and which we have to overcome is we are to grow spiritually. Once again, we have the archetypal Path or Quest so frequently found in sacred and even secular literature. Then, there’s the staircase that Aurora ascends, being a symbol of the spiritual unfoldment of the soul. (In sacred or occult literature all ‘uprights’ such as stairs, ladders and trees represent the creative divine life within us; cf Jacob’s ladder.) The ‘spinning’ refers largely to intellectual development, that is, the ‘spinning’ of one’s thoughts. 

Then we have the Prince, who must fight his way through overgrown thickets of tall trees and sharp brambles. At first, only the very tops of the castle’s towers could be seen, and then a fearsome dragon (or, in some versions of the story, ferocious dogs or other animals). Yes, the human spirit, represented by the Prince, must fight its way through evil and false beliefs (sin, separateness, selfishness, etc). Some commentators have written that we also have here an allusion to the spirit evolving and successively passing through the various kingdoms (plant, animal, etc) in its divine unfoldment. (That, however, is not how I see it.) Ultimately, there is the ‘kiss’---that is, the connection and conjunction between truth and love, the union of the human soul and the human spirit with the divine. Enlightenment is achieved. Oneness. Wholeness. Union. Communion.

Now, here’s something else—something very important. Aurora is not really a separate person from the Prince, for she is nothing other than the soul of the Prince that was sleeping—lying dormant—in the illusion of the material world or realm (the false self). Ultimately, the Prince is able to ‘spouse’ his enlightened soul—and live happily ever after! So can you.

So, what is enlightenment? Well, as I see it, it is waking up to the reality of one’s true self, one’s true be-ing-ness. It is casting off the false self/selves, that is, the belief in our separateness from other persons and things, and the life of selfishness and bondage to self. It is ceasing to identify with all those false selves (the ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’, our likes and dislikes) that make up our personality but which are not the real person that each one of us is. It living as a person among persons.

Come alive! Awake the sleeping beauty within.

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MINDFULNESS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Mindfulness and the kingdom of God? Really? Well, yes. Let me explain.

The kingdom of God is a Biblical concept, in particular, a New Testament one. The phrase, the ‘kingdom of God’, does not appear as such in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) -- the Jews were, and still are, expecting a different kind of kingdom -- but you will find the phrase in many, many places throughout the New Testament.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, in its article on the kingdom of God, explains that the kingdom of God means not so much a goal to be attained or a place – although those meanings are by no means excluded – it is rather a ‘tone of mind’ and an ‘influence which must permeate [our] minds’ if we would be one with the Divine Life and attain to its ideals. The kingdom of God refers to the rule or reign – the sovereignty – of God in our hearts and minds. The kingdom of God is a past, present and future reality all at the same time. It’s a very powerful concept, full of meaning and beauty and wonder.

The Bible says that the kingdom of God is within [or among] us (Lk 17:21). Who or what is God? Well, God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and God is Spirit (Jn 4:24) – and that Spirit is LOVE. Another way of understanding Spirit is as pure Be-ing. So, if you think that God is a giant man 'up there' or 'out there', some supra-personal Being with a face, body, arms and legs and a penis – sorry to be crude – then you are horribly mistaken. The concept of a personal God has misled and confused many, yet the concept is valid if properly understood. First, each person's understanding of the Divine is personal. Secondly, the heart of Christianity is personality in the sense that our personality is to be moulded by the Divine. Thirdly, it is a key assertion of Christianity that God can be known as a person--as a loving Father or Mother. ‘Anyone who has seen me [Jesus] has seen the Father’ (Jn 14:9). So, who or what is God? As mentioned, God is love and Spirit. In other words, God is reality, truth, life and love in the most absolute, infinite and eternal sense. God is pure Be-ing, and we have our be-ing-ness in God. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being' (Acts 17:28). Jesus gave the world an entirely new conception of the Divine, and for Christians Jesus was and ever remains the supreme revelation we have of God as love.

The kingdom of God – also referred to in Matthew’s Gospel as the ‘kingdom of heaven’ – is the realm of divine ideas, producing their expression in us and others as the fulfilment of the nature of the Divine. The kingdom is a ‘heavenly’ one – that is, one of ideas, ideals, values and things not-of-this-world. The kingdom is an ideal state of society, an ideal way of being and living – our highest good. In their classic text The Mission and Message of Jesus (New York: E P Dutton and Co, 1938) by H D A Major, T W Manson and C J Wright, all of whom were eminent scholars and theologians, H D A Major writes in Book I, on pages 36-37:

‘For Jesus the Kingdom was not objective, but subjective. Its sphere was in the minds and hearts and souls of men. Where God reigns in a human personality, there the Kingdom of God has come on earth, and it is for this kind of advance of the Kingdom that Jesus taught His disciples to pray.’

Now, if you have trouble with the word ‘God’, then substitute for it words such as life, truth and love – in fact, anything representing the highest good. And if you have a problem with the word ‘kingdom’, then substitute for it words such as ‘state of mind’, ‘presence’ and ‘positive influence and power’. It’s not the word or phrase that matters but rather the reality behind the word or phrase. Never forget that.

The Reformed Church minister Dr Norman Vincent Peale [pictured right], in his book The Tough-Minded Optimist (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1961), on page 66 of the Fireside edition, writes:

‘… The Kingdom of God is a powerful recreative force deep down in your personality waiting to be summoned forth. When you do summon it and put it to work in your life you will live with so much power that nothing can really upset you again, at least not to the point of defeating you.’

Dr Peale often wrote and spoke about the kingdom of God. And why not? After all, the subject was the very heart of Jesus’ teachings. Peale would often say, ‘All of God’s values of strength, peace, health, and happiness are built into you. All of the riches of God's great Kingdom are potentially resident in your mind. Let them operate freely. Release them into abundance.’ In his book The Power of Positive Thinking (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1952), on page 62, Peale wrote in reference to the kingdom of God that we have ‘within our minds and personalities all the potential powers and ability we need for constructive living’. Got the idea?

Yes, Jesus’ parables were all about the kingdom of God. Take, for example, this one. ‘First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens’ (Mk 4:28). The kingdom of God is like that, said Jesus. Then there’s this parable. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches’ (Mt 13: 31-32). Now, that is the kingdom of God in action and expression. The kingdom starts with an idea and a presence – the Presence – and it grows and grows.

Mindfulness is a lot like the kingdom of God. It is a dynamic presence – a watchful, mindful presence and choiceless (that is, nonjudgmental) awareness of the content, both internal and external, of the action of the present moment, from one such moment to the next. Mindfulness is in this world, but not of this world. Mindfulness affords insight and self-knowledge. It is a state of power and oneness with the flow of life within you and outside of you. It is a state of pure be-ing-ness. Mindfulness can be secular or religious, but if it is divorced from the ideals to which I have referred -- especially the ideals of love and compassion for others, indeed for all living things -- it is an abomination. It is something to be shunned. Mindfulness must be more than a mere system or technique (ugh) of mental cultivation. True mindfulness embraces all things and recognises the fundamental unity of all life. True mindfulness empowers a person to be a better human being. Well, it can be that way.

A mustard tree

Mindfulness is not inherently Christian, but neither is the kingdom of God. Did you hear that? Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian, and he taught the idea of the kingdom of God to Jews and to some who were not Jews. None of those to whom he spoke were Christians as there was no Christian Church then. However, you don’t need to be a Jew, or belong to any religion for that matter, to experience the reality of what the Bible refers to as the kingdom of God. You don’t even need to believe in God as such except in the sense of standing on the side of love, which is God. ‘Those who do not love, do not know God, because God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8). It follows that those who love know God, even if they are not explicitly aware of it. So, those who have love in their hearts experience the blessings of the kingdom. Wow, how’s that for heresy! But it’s true. My authority for saying that is the life, ministry and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Bible. If you are seeking love, life, truth, peace, health and happiness, then the kingdom of God is for you – and is yours, right now!

I am firmly of the view that what I have said above is one hundred percent Biblical, but I suspect that it is still more than enough to give Christian fundamentalists apoplexy. Never mind. I don’t write for them. I don’t truck with them and they don’t truck with me. I have been a fierce and tireless opponent of religious bigotry and narrow-mindedness all my life, and I am not about to stop now. Too many so-called Christians preach a ‘gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ’ – their commonly used expression – which, with its butcher-shop theology, is about as far removed from the ‘gospel of God’ (cf Mt 1:14) proclaimed by Jesus as you can get. They have a religion about Jesus as opposed to the religion of Jesus. The latter is the religion Jesus taught and by which he lived and died. That is the true Christianity.

The essence of the 'gospel of God' -- the real good news of the kingdom -- preached by Jesus at the very beginning, and right throughout the entire period, of his public ministry is encapsulated in this verse from the New Testament: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel.’ (Mk 1:15). The nature and substance of God is love. Where God rules in peoples' hearts and lives, love rules. That means there needs to be an inward change of mind, affections, convictions and commitments -- a complete turnaround in one's life (repentance, to use a Biblical word). And what of 'faith' -- faith in God? Put simply, faith is the living and lived response of a person to the revelation of God as love in the person of Jesus. It is not something intellectual. It is something lived out in one's daily life. 'Do this and you will live' (Lk 10:28).

When you come to experience the fullness of life in a truly selfless, self-sacrificing way – living deeply and mindfully, and loving and growing spiritually more and more with each passing day – you are then living in the kingdom of God. In the words of theologian H D A Major, the kingdom is 'the summum bonum [that is, the highest good or ultimate goal] of the individual' (The Mission and Message of Jesus, Book I, page 37).

The kingdom of God is a way of being and living – a state and tone of mind. So is mindfulness. Both are in the world but not of the world. Both can be yours – right now!

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MINDFULNES IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION – Part 2

HOW TO CALM THE STORMS IN YOUR LIFE

‘There is a spiritual giant within you, which is always struggling
to burst its way out of the prison you have made for it.’

Dr Norman Vincent Peale. 

We all have ‘storms’ in our lives from time to time. Of course, I am using the word ‘storm’ largely but not entirely metaphorically, because many people have to endure storms in the literal sense as well. We hear about that all the time.

A ‘storm’ may take many forms, for example, sickness, death of a loved one, loss of a job, financial woes, emotional upsets (eg fear, anxiety, anger and hatred), and so forth. In fact, any of the problems and stresses of life is a ‘storm’, metaphorically speaking. Now, I am not advocating a simplistic, one-dimensional solution to ‘storms’. I try not to dispense cheap optimism. Life is very tough, and quite unfair at times. Depending on the nature of the storm, professional assistance will often be required to overcome the storm or simply 'ride the waves'.

The Bible is a collection of books on the subject of human psychology—both ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’, as we used to say—containing numerous stories depicting the human condition in all its many forms, some of them sordid and others quite lofty. All of the stories, and the events depicted in them, graphically depict various phases of human experience—the so-called human condition—as well as states of consciousness occurring or capable of occurring within our own minds. Those who seek to interpret the Bible otherwise, that is, literally, are, with the greatest respect, gravely mistaken, but that’s for another day.

Now, the story of Jesus calming the storm is well known, even to many not familiar with the Bible. The story is an allegory—never forget that. For starters, we have a storm over a lake. The reference to ‘storm’ is fairly obvious, but what about ‘water’, in this case, the Sea of Galilee where storms were, and still are, known to arise quite suddenly and unexpectedly from time to time? Well, in scared symbology ‘water’ is a symbol for, among other things, mental movement and, in particular, the emotions. In some contexts, water is a symbol of the human soul. Then there’s the ship, which may be seen to be a symbol of the human body. And we have a voyage or journey in the nature of a trial or tribulation. So many ancient and modern stories and myths involve a journey of discovery—self-discovery.

The story goes like this. Jesus had been teaching near the Sea of Galilee. Afterwards, he wanted a respite from the crowds so he decided to take a boat with the disciples to the opposite shore where there were no large towns. The Bible reports that not long after they sailed, Jesus fell asleep and a storm arose. Now, as already mentioned, the Sea of Galilee was known for its sudden raging storms. We read:

‘The waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion’ (Mk 4:37–38).

The first point to note, other than the fact that Jesus needed to rest just like the rest of us, is that Jesus’ sleep was deep and sound, even through the storm which was ‘already filling’ the boat. Yes, Jesus was asleep on the cushion in the stern of the boat. The disciples were filled with fear and apprehension, but they were smart enough to awaken Jesus. I will have more to say about that matter shortly. So, the disciples woke Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Peace! Be still!’ We read in the Bible that the wind immediately died down, the storm subsided and, what’s more, there was a great calm. Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’

The word ‘faith’ is much abused. I am not in favour of ‘blind faith’ or some sort of ‘leap of faith’ into the unknown. In a practical sense, faith, as I see it, means acting with courage, confidence and perseverance despite what may be going on around you or inside of you. Faith refers to a special kind of knowledge (no, not intellectual knowledge) and understanding that one can ‘ride the waves’, no matter what life dishes out. No wonder Jesus reportedly said, ‘You will know the truth and the truth will set you free’ (Jn 8:32, emphasis added). Faith is not synonymous with mere religious belief. I have seen many people of great faith, in the sense in which I am now using the word, who have no religious faith at all. True faith is knowing the truth about any given situation, and understanding that there is always a solution to any problem that may beset us. Faith is not wishful thinking. It sees the real and the ugly but knows that the power to overcome or rise above whatever may be the problem or issue is always available.

Now, within each one of us is something that the Quakers refer to us ‘peace at the centre’. Quakers cultivate such peace. We all should, whether or not we are Quakers. The ‘peace at the centre’ is calm and tranquility, even in the face of the worst storm imaginable. When a storm calms, say the words, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Saying those words will not make the storm away, but it will help you to get in the right frame of mind to respond appropriately to the storm, whatever it may be. Unless we are still, our response to the storm will be all wrong.

Know this—there is, within each of us, a ‘sleeping giant’. When we awaken that sleeping giant, we find the power to respond appropriately to any storm. This giant of which I speak is an inner potentiality. It is a power and a presence, the very presence of life’s self-expression in and as you, the person that you are. Here’s something else—this presence and power manifests itself as peace and calmness, even in the midst of trouble and turmoil, that is, in the storms of life.

You may not know this, but every character in the Bible—even the person of Jesus—is you, yes, you at some stage or other of your life and psycho-spiritual development. That’s right. Every character in the Bible, whether a real, historical person or not, represents a condition of consciousness and a quality—good or bad—of character or personality. And that goes for the person of Jesus as well, for he is the representative human being par excellence. He is every man or woman on the path of life—well, every man or woman who knows how to master the storms of life. The ‘Christ’ is symbolic of ‘peace at the centre’, the peace that passes all understanding, and the power that makes all things new. The ‘Christ’ is not a person but a principle, a state of attainment, and a presence. The ‘Christ’ is the perfect idea of what a man or woman can be and in truth really is. As such, it abides within each one of us as our potential perfection as well as inner peace and power. The New Testament speaks of ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27). Esoteric Christians refer to this inner presence and power as the ‘Christ within’, for it is not to be found afar off. Now, when we combine ‘Jesus’ with the ‘Christ’, we have a fully functioning man or woman under full sway of their inner potentiality and vital powers—the perfect human being in actual expression. No, I am not talking about accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and that sort of thing. That is a gross carnalization and literalization of what is otherwise a very important myth as well as being a misrepresentation and distortion of the true metaphysical position. We are all Christs in the making.

To find ‘peace at the centre’ is more than just finding inner peace. One finds power as well—yes, the power to triumph over any adversity. I will use another analogy. I live not far from the beach on Sydney's wonderful Northern Beaches and I love bodysurfing. I try to bodysurf as often as I can, even though I'm not that great at it. Now, some waves are fairly small such that you can just go over the top of them, as if you were a bobbing cork. Others are bigger, and you must go through the middle of them in order to avoid being dumped. Still others are even bigger, with some being so big that all you can safely do is to go right under the water and head straight for the sandy bottom. There you find stillness and calmness. You can see and sometimes hear all the turbulence above you, but you are safe at or near the bottom, and you simply wait until things calm down before you surface again. Then there are other waves which are just perfect for bodysurfing. Life is very much like that. One wave after another. The important thing is to deal with one wave at a time. Of course, the waves sometimes come in very quick succession. Life is also like that.

Bodysurfing at Warriewood, on Sydney's Northern Beaches.

Yes, there is peace and harmony at the centre—and power, too. To use one final analogy, it's the power to climb over any mountain, or go around that mountain if need be, or simply go straight through the middle of the mountain. In order to know that peace, and find and use that inner power, you must awaken the ‘sleeping giant’ within you. Then you will have the power to overcome any adversity. Not only that, but the storms of life will not overwhelm you anymore.

‘Peace! Be still!’

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