Do you really think you have peace because you're in a forest?

Hey Jim

Rightly said. It shouldn't matter where we are, peace comes from within. Easier said then done though.

Rich

I can't even comment on this, it's so true for me.

thank you, Jim.

When I was feeling down my mother said to me, do something to enjoy yourself, like go on a holiday or see places. I said, mum happiness comes within. I could travel or go on a walk somewhere and still not be happy. I have to get myself feeling better.

Sally

I feel conflicted about this blog. On the whole, yes, being in a forest and in nature doesn't mean you have to have peace. On the other hand, the focus on the fact that you are a bad person, a bad friend, a worm of the earth etc disturbs me.

When I think of myself as a horrible person, I feel bad. There is no push within myself to change myself, because I feel evil and nasty and vile and I sink into that.

On the other hand, when I try and acknowledge that I deserve happiness and joy and love, I can feel it, I can give it to others and there is a much greater drive within me to move past the negative. Being in a forest may not give me peace, but I can try for it, and feel at one with nature and the earth.

If birds and beasts deserve a place called home, why not man?

I suppose what concerns me is that sometimes, gnosis seems to shift from moving towards the good, to being focused on the BAD, on how horrible we are, the evil within, the abyss, going to hell etc. Living like that makes me miserable.

I was wondering what do you mean by this talking about the forest?

"You are stealing peace, and leaving stench in its place."

Being in a forest doesn't necessary mean you will have peace most of the time but for me being in a forest helps me to open more to my senses.

For example when I was at one retreat and I had a hard time internally it is when I felt the presence of God and the love and the peace. I didn't make any effort to feel this, it was just there. It was calming and inviting. Do you think God will make you steal peace if you wrote it in this context? 

I agree with Ahona that thinking of myself as just a worm doesn't make me feel any better. For me it is the contrary that the more  I find out, learn and feel about this connection with God and everything, the more it makes me/ invites me to change.

Saint Kabir (a Hindu / Muslim saint) says, "In searching for The Guest (what he calls enlightenment) it is the intensity that does all the work. Look at me, you will see a slave of that intensity."

Hi Ahona,

I was reading your post yesterday, and related to what you were saying about how you feel when you focus on the horrible within.

Then last night, we were watching the video of the Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I'd read this book as a kid and really related to it then, as I was raised a Seventh-Day Adventist. But even with that background, I was totally unprepared for how the sacrifice of the Lion moved me last night. How completely unselfish an act it was, how completely undeserving was the recipient, but how it fulfilled the law and the need for justice. Although I'd learned about all these things growing up, it was like I was learning anew and it hit me very deeply. I understood in an instant my complete unworthiness, and my thankfulness and awe at the act of sacrifice that was made on my behalf, as well as all others.

Something I've learned recently also may be relevant here... Research into people's motivation to achieve goals has shown that we divide into two broad categories - those who are motivated to achieve a goal by fixing their sights on the goal - they are motivated "towards"; and those who are motivated to achieve a goal by avoiding an alternatively bad consequence - their motivation is "away from". It appears that the majority of the population achieves goals through an "away from" type motivation, and so that may help to explain why we find in gnosis that there can be a focus on the horrible within us, in turn motivating us to want to move towards our goal of transformation into a divine being.

I guess in the end, it is up to each of us to find our own motivation for doing this work of transformation. But whatever it is that motivates us, in the end we must all do the same work, and use the same 3 keys to achieve our goal.

All the strength everyone with finding your motivation, and then using that to do the work!

Regards,
Vicki