Tranquil

"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom."-
James Allen

I have read a number of books on spirituality and tranquility trying to find peace in a very chaotic existence. Don’t get me wrong here, I am not apostatizing. Spirituality is not something that I think we as members of the church have a monopoly on.

Quite a few years back, My Father had a guest come for Christmas Dinner. I’m not sure of her name but she was a princess from Burma and in her life she had witnessed the exiling of her family from her home and the assassination of both her father and brothers. She was currently touring the world looking for aid for her improvised country.

I have often said my Father expected us to have compassion and to have an understanding of the world’s events and not just those in our own backyard. He had taken this opportunity to introduce his family, all 30 something of us, and for her to see how a family works here in Canada.

I thought it a tad ironic since in most Mormon circles we would have been considered highly dysfunctional but in the real world we represented a pretty normal if not highly dedicated group of people.

What I remember most about her was grace and dignity and as she told the stories, even the younger grandchildren were transfixed. She spoke of her loss and her longing for the conflict and destruction to end in her country that she loved so much but mostly she was peaceful and without guile.

I have often heard of men in the church being described as "without guile" and I think that, of the ones I knew, not even close. This woman was tranquil and though these military forces and people of her country had turned their backs on her family and murdered them her primary concern was for those who brutalized her most. She was inspiring and she left a mark on me that remains today.

I continually search for finding the peace my soul so desires. I know that peace is attainable only through the atonement and the calmness of a settled and "at one" mind. I get glimpses of it now and then and it is enveloping. My search for inner peace will be complete when hate and confusion and caring of what others think is lost to me. It may take a lifetime, but it is my goal.

There are laws, irrevocably designed to follow the laws of nature that are not partisan to religion. All faiths believe in inner peace because it is a law of science and science is God’s laws. When you meet a soul who has transcended hate, envy, spite, jealousy, all of the world’s vices, and they have found within themselves an actual inner connection to all that is good and right, it moves you. It makes you realize that it is possible.

My Mom got it, just before she passed. I used to spend hours with her and though, at times, she was scared, I think she truly understood the purpose and meaning of life and she was comfortable with how she had lived hers. She would spend hours speaking to me about the answers to the questions of; "what are you going to do when?"

There are so many times when I face a time in my life and the answers are there because Mom and I had discussed the what if’s and I had decided already a course of action. Her wisdom and thoughts are the first to ring through when something comes up that we had discussed and even when we hadn’t, because of the talking we did, I have a good gauge on what she would advise me with. This was the greatest gift she gave me, I can’t thank her enough.

So, what am I on about?

Peace and all that it offers not just to each of us as individuals but as complete families, teams, units, societies.

Can you imagine just how harmonized our world would be if all of us just had a grasp on inner peace. Inspiring I am sure!