How do you find inner peace?

Strive to silence your ‘inner noise’

Judy Roitman, a Lawrence resident, is guiding teacher at Kansas Zen Center, 1423 N.Y.:

Our minds are filled with confusion. We obsess endlessly. We anticipate, we regret, we brood and we scheme. We want what we don’t have, and we don’t want what we have. At times we feel under assault. At times we feel forgotten.

The Sanskrit word for this is dukha. It is often translated as “suffering,” but what is really means is pervasive, at times unbearable, dissatisfaction.

When we are aware of this inner noise, this dukha, we naturally want it to stop. We think there is some other state we should be in – calm, peace or even nirvana. We go looking for it. We try this and we try that, and now and then we do feel peaceful; we do feel calm. And it feels really good.

So we try to hold onto this feeling. We become anxious that something will interfere with our morning cup of coffee, our five-mile run. Which just increases our feeling of dukha.

It’s like the Gordian knot – you can’t untie it. But you can cut through it.

Don’t be distracted by inner peace. Don’t be distracted by anxiety. Don’t be distracted by anything. What are you doing right now? What is in front of you right now? Pay attention, see clearly and act correctly.

It’s simple, but not easy. Our delusions mislead us. Our thoughts and feelings control us. We don’t know who we are.

Some kind of practice, a daily practice over a lifetime, is necessary to cut through all this. And not in isolation, but within a community, to cut through self-absorption and delusion.

What kind of practice? It’s up to you. My great-grandmother davened (Jewish prayer) every morning. My mother-in-law went to Mass every morning. I meditate every morning. Find what fits. Then do it, if you’ll excuse the expression, religiously.

– Send e-mail to roitman@math.ku.edu.

Rhythm, routine and Christ lead the way

Joshua Bullock, a seminary intern at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1011 Vt., is a student at Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary in Nashotah, Wisc.:

I believe there are many ways to achieve inner peace. Having said that, I also believe the only way to achieve inner peace is to make sure Jesus Christ is at the center of the method. Through the years in dealing with the struggle between divinity and humanity – blessed souls in a fallen world – I have discovered that rhythm and routine are almost always necessary to reaching a place of inner peace. More importantly, there is the expectation that peace will come instantly. This is a lie. Peace must be worked at through an understanding of Christ in the situation.

When I lived in Africa, I found myself in a foreign culture surrounded by hope and devastation. Trying to find my place in daily situations was confusing and difficult. I began a routine of climbing up a large hill every morning, watching the exotic birds and monkeys, sitting on the summit and talking and listening to God. I began to find – in the beauty, in the quiet, in the presence of God – that I was very much connected to the Almighty and my presence was necessary in shaping the world around me, while being shaped by that world at the same time.

More recently, in the past year of seminary (another foreign world), I have discovered that daily prayer – morning and evening – contribute greatly to my stability within my chaotic academic surroundings.

Becoming a priest is something like adapting to being autistic. There are so many things coming at you from every direction, reaching all senses, and you have to be sensitive to all of it. There are times when it can throw your heart and mind into overdrive. But the constancy and consistency of coming before God every day in prayer, thanksgiving and confession allows me to steady my hold in the world and look onward and upward toward the next adventure.

– Send e-mail to office@trinitylawrence.org.