The Inner Peace

It has become the daily life menu of everybody that life is never absent of problem. When family problem solved, then office call telling that something need further decision. If the relationship with spouse recovered, children waiting for another help. Thinking that children school life is smooth, suddenly a teacher calls that she needs your help to lessen school burden created by your son.

Problem, problem and problem. Without giving any chance to run away, problem keep visiting everybody. The poor think that the rich have no problem, but in reality many well off people even face much complicated life than the poor. The rich who have been very boring with many complexities of being rich are jealous with those who they think enjoying simple life, but in fact these followers of simple life are also do not enjoy problem free of life.

Problems as Vitamin

In the light of this understanding, it might be wise to stop dreaming of enjoying life which is only happy without any sadness. No matter how rich you are, how powerful some one, how famous a star is, problems is always appear like sun rise in the morning. No prayers that can prevent the appearance of obstacles.

Deeply realizing this, any one who want to grow spiritually need to change the standing point of viewing problem. To less succesful inner traveller, problem tend to be put as poison. That’s why many people fail to gain inner growth. As has been taught by many life of the masters, they all grow because of obstacles. In the beginning of journey, they also run away, but as soon as they realized that life is an opportunity to grow then they begin to treat problem as vitamin. Surprisingly, problem then become a strengthening factor.

That’s why we in the east call masters as Mahasidha (people who had passed through extraordinary trials to achieve profound understanding). Look at the story of Jesus Christ, Jalalludin Rumi, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha Gautama, they all grow because of facing great obstacles, learn from it, the most important thing let problems strengthened their life.

Flower Blossoming because of the Sun

Pema Chodron in her enlightening book When Things Fall Apart, is an inspiring example in this case. After serving life by being a good house wife for more than twenty years, suddenly divorce made her life fall apart. Because of this, she came to meditation center. Years later, she did not just being facilitated by meditation, but also become one of a well known and well respected meditation master in North America.

In meditation centers, students start the journey by following many codes of conduct. In Sanskrit they call it sila (power that makes someone cooler and calmer) consist of rules suchs as not to kill, not to steal, not to commit any sexual misconduct, not to lie and not to eat or drink any thing that can cloud awareness. The combination between following codes of conduct and the serious practise of meditation bring student to experience samadhi (concentration). Any one who reach samadhi very often, they open the cool door of wisdom. In the home of wisdom, everything is teacher who lead us to grow. Not only the succes is a sign of growth, the failure is also a sign of growth. Since failure gives us feedback on our true capacity. Not only the rich life is an improvement, the poor life is also an improvement because being poor is a golden chance of being humble.

Borrowing the logic of gardening, most flowers finally blossom because of the hot sun shine. The same thing also happen to those life who entered the home of wisdom. Problems are like sun shine, the wise is similar to flower that is ready to blossom. When the two meet, that is the beginning of beauty.

In the language of a wise Guru, life is consist of both flowers and garbages. Any flower will become garbage in the following day. Organic garbage (as long as you are able to manage it) can become flowers. The lesson then, when life is full of flowers (by which read: rich, famous) don’t forget that any flower will become garbage. If life is full of garbage (obstacles, challenges, down fall), please remember to process it into flower.

In the golden light of this understanding, problems may arise any time, but since we’re well equipped, then any thing (obstacles, challenges, opportunity, enemy) turn into flower. This is inner peace. Every direction appear to be the direction of peace.