THE PATH TO PEACE

Last night i had the pleasure of going to see The Chinese State Circus. As i was sitting enjoying everything about the show, the performances, the story, the colours, the sounds, the atmosphere, the audience, the stillness, there was both a Kung Fu and Lion Dance performance. I became aware whilst watching these acts of a sentimental feeling arising within me.

Now i don't have much use for the past, but let me for a moment use it to explain something. I used practice, perform and teach traditional Chinese Kung Fu and Lion Dancing. But more importantly than that was that i was very passionate about it, I immersed myself completely in the tradition and culture, i trained relentlessly and pestered my Sifu on a constant daily basis, until he told my to go away, i would and come straight back. I committed my soul to what i was doing.

As i came back to the present moment i was left with a realization, one probably everyone and i have read about many times, but this was deep and profound striking to my very core.
Everything , all forms, all experiences, every single 'thing' changes , evolves and falls away, are all ultimately an illusion. Trying to find happiness and peace in 'things' 'experiences' ' people' , 'the world' as Buddha pointed out thousands of years ago all lead to suffering. Whatever brings us happiness outside of ourselves and we become attached to that as our source of happiness also already contains within it our suffering and unhappiness as everything is fleeting temporary and subject to change. What we do is of no real importance, but How is.
My time practicing Kung Fu and Lion Dancing came to end to make room for something else to manifest.

True peace, true joy is within us, it has no opposite, it needs no outside condition to be, it is a stillness that cannot be moved and at our deepest level, is us, everything else is just on the surface.
You might be thinking , well if everything is fleeting and temporary, if anything we ever do ultimately means nothing, will fall away then whats the point in doing anything?
When you stop looking to things outside of yourself to bring you peace, joy and a sense of self, when you stop looking outside to answer 'who is this me?' Then any doing happens for two reasons which are one and ultimately the same. One is to bring consciousness into this world, to awaken yourself and others, the other and same thing is for the pure joy of it. When you stop looking for salvation in things, when you become detached from the need for any outcome to feel whole, you are completely free to enjoy all the fleeting experiences of this world, to honor everything fully, to do everything you do with complete passion and with no fear, because there is nothing to gain or loose, no place to get to, just the sheer joy of creating. You don't need anything, yet enjoy everything.

I believe everything 'thing' in this world, any and every experience you have is a gift from God, is God, and ultimately then is YOU. Confused?? Good, because this isn't something the mind can understand, it can simply make it into a concept, much like my words are now, they are only pointers to the truth.
That doesn't mean you go through life never really committing to anything, ditching one thing for another as soon as you get bored, sorry bub your still looking for salvation in things, looking for situations and experiences to bring you fulfilment and when something fails to meet your needs , you go straight onto the next thing, full of enthusiasm- but its short lived.
To honor something fully is to do exactly that, honor it fully.

Choosing which path to walk in your life is one the most courageous thing you can ever do, knowing fully any path you can walk will never bring you to peace, but still to dedicate yourself to it entirely is courage. Its also to realize fully that true peace is here, now, dependant on no-thing. Any path walked seeking happiness and peace as an end as a destination is doomed to fail- I don't mean you wont wont achieve your aim, you may, but you wont find happiness and peace there.
Choosing to walk a path in peace is to set off as yourself, be yourself every step of the way, at at the end be greeted by yourself. Then you can see, there is no path, only you every moment. All the beautiful experiences, all the amazing things you've seen all along the way all exist inside you.
How do you know what path to choose? Become quiet enough , become still enough and IT chooses all by itself.

As all this realization came to me in an instant i heard something echoing through me that someone very wise once said to me, it affected Me deeply when they first said it, but even more so this time, i am grateful for them having said it.....

'You are a blank sheet, an empty vessel, you are not attached to anything, yet find the joy in everything. Seek no longer to find the truth, seek no longer to experience your true self, it is your natural state. Instead seek to create yourself, who will you be in this lifetime?'- Haydn Ellis

Maybe only now i realize the true significance of those words

The adventure awaits......

David Kelso