Cultivating a garden of tranquillity, but I’m no warrior.
As the old Chinese proverb says, “it’s better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war”, but what if you are neither gardener nor warrior?
Sadly, I’m more worrier than warrior. I’m more psychologist than horticulturalist, choosing to deal in metaphysical gardens than actual ones. I’d rather plant the seeds of ideas in people’s minds and watch them grow through the watering of wisdom and the fertiliser of philosophy. Although, I very much believe you can create your own Eden here and now – Heaven is a place on Earth, after all.
It’s kind of an ironic statement, but I really can’t stress it enough the importance of inner peace and fostering calmness. Obviously easier said than done, especially in amongst the covid, climate and corruption chaos and craziness, but I still believe it is achievable and I’m doing my best to try and lead by example.
I like to think of my website (and associated YouTube channel) as one way in which I’m trying to elevate the level of peace and tranquillity in the world as well as reduce the amount of suffering. It is but a digital allotment whose produce manifests itself in the reader’s/viewer’s reality. In essence that is what I’m trying to do here, bring peace into people’s lives through insight and understanding – and E-space of equanimity.
“Your inner peace becomes your outer peace.”
I could write about topics that would generate more traffic, more controversy, more divided opinions, stir up more emotions, (artificially) inflate my online presence, but I choose not to. Why? Because I don’t wish to add to the chaos, pain and suffering of which there is already too much. People sometimes refer to the need to create more safe spaces for people, but I prefer to create sane spaces.
An article of mine which has recently received a bit of attention is the one which I praise the quiet life and talk about how the cost sanity in today’s society is a certain level of alienation. I still believe it to be so, and I’m glad others are starting to recognise this as well. It’s not about cutting yourself off from the world, it’s more about noticing what is real and what is not, taking part in and emphasising the true joys of life.
However, I’m still concerned with the fate and direction of humanity, like I said before I’m more worrier than warrior, so I try and provide the tools to help others navigate the difficulties of life and separate out some serenity in their current situation. “In sight of insight”, “making sense of nonsense”, these are not only ideas I have for possible new segments, but a general mode of being I try to live out.
“Peace does not come from ignorance. Peace comes from knowing.”
It is the acknowledgement, not denial, of the bad that helps us move towards the good. Towards peace. A number of my recent articles have been related in this regard; vulnerability and the fear of being yourself, it’s ok to be you, external validation and inner peace.
So, while it may be better to be warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war, inner peace in my own piece of Eden is what I’ll be nurturing.
Thanks for a great article. In the last few years (may be decades at this point) I've increasingly been trying to uphold a set of values for myself, including things like honesty and honor (yes, sounds a bit pretentious when putting it in writing lol). I think most bullying, gossiping and various other bad behavior comes from inner insecurities, or the lack of inner peace, if you will. I read about a science experiment a while ago that suggests that a higher level of testosterone in men increases their honesty (or rather, makes them less prone to lying to gain something for themselves). It was a small study and not sure any super clear conclusions can be drawn from that…