My learnings about how to have peace in my heart began a few years ago.
Some time ago, I spent a few days learning to meditate with Buddhist monks in northern Thailand.
During that time, I was very curious to learn about other religions, so I took the opportunity to learn a little about theirs.
Dharmic religions including Buddhism and Hinduism have become very popular and have permeated Western society very rapidly in recent years.
This phenomenon is due to the fact that these religions focus their doctrine on the elimination of suffering and the pursuit of happiness.
In our current environment, our society is not exactly designed to be a haven of peace and light.
I think, on the contrary, you and I have experienced it many times, it is an environment that can sometimes move us towards confusion.
Its main premise, that of Buddhism, is: “existence is painful, we must free ourselves from that suffering”
I once heard that Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, thought that there is something called “the pain of living”.
An innate condition to existence that leads us human beings to seek constant and sometimes intoxicating distractions for our minds.
This, in order to escape for moments from reality and its pain.
Buddhist monks call it “the monkey mind”, a condition that, according to them, we all suffer from, and that is the fact that the mind is incapable of being happy at rest on its own.
According to them, if the mind is subjected to rest without training it, it suffers and quickly jumps into some thought or some activity.
They say the mind seeks happiness all the time in whatever it can find some pleasure.
The reason is that existence is painful.
Interestingly, this same idea can be glimpsed in other beliefs, such as Christianity.
I share with you one of those quotes that are related to that topic:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again: Rejoice!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
| Filipenses 4:4, 6-7
Christian scriptures teach that human beings were created in the image and likeness of God to live in his presence eternally.
That’s where we can have peace in our hearts.
However, because we have all transgressed the purpose of our existence, we have become increasingly removed from that experience.
Said by multiple belief systems, there is a place in the heart of the human being that is empty.
Personally, I am convinced that it is a place that only God can fill.
Human beings were created to live in the presence of God and in that sublime and indescribable experience to be filled with joy and happiness.
I once read about Dean Hamer, an important geneticist who did research on human genes and how they relate to spirituality.
His conclusion was that humans have a genetic predisposition to believe and accept the spiritual.
He called this “God gene”
Sometimes we do not have the opportunity to realize it, but there is a space in our heart that is broken, empty and that causes us pain.
A space that cries out every day for the purpose of living, for happiness, for eternity.
There is a reason why we humans seek alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling addictions.
A reason why we need to be constantly entertained by television, film, music, and the internet.
Why we desperately try to find affection in other people or indulge in our lowest passions to the point of even committing painful actions that appear in the news is because we are trying to find pleasure to be happy.
Christian scripture teaches that the cause of this is that we are disconnected from God.
But they also teach that there is hope.
Jesus.
He is “the way to truth and life”.
He is “the Peace that surpasses all understanding”.
Jesus being God came to earth to suffer the justice and pain that was ours so that through Him, we could return to be in the presence of God where we find true happiness.
For now, it’s not perfect happiness.
As long as we live on this earth, where there are so many who turn away from God, there will always be something external that bothers or hurts us.
But “we should not worry about anything; rather, on every occasion, (…) let us present our requests to God and give Him thanks.”
It is my personal conviction that Jesus has already overcome.
He already gave us access again to what we had discarded by violating the purpose of our existence.
That relationship with God who gives us the “peace that surpasses all understanding”, “that takes care of our hearts and thoughts” so that we may have joy on this earth of so much evil, pain, suffering, and death.
Only those of us who have experienced this reality know what this is all about.
I’ve experienced it, and I don’t want to trade it for anything.
He satisfies me, He is “the water of life from which those who drink are not thirsty again.”
I take this opportunity to invite you to come as well.
Invite so you that if you are suffering, you do not continue to do so.
What you are looking for is not in the temporary things in which you take refuge, nor can it be found simply meditating or giving yourself unbridledly to wrong desires and actions.
You should try.
It is certain that you will never regret it.
Are you looking into your heart? What is the circumstance you are going through? Let us know in the comments.
