I've been reading and listening to certain 'Eastern themed' works lately. And they have completely changed my outlook on life. Will tell you about them later.

For me, the lessons are so MASSIVE that I consider them the most important things that has and will ever happen to me in 'my' entire life. There's now a level of clarity that puts every thing in it's proper perspective.


My motivations, the things I now consider valuable, the things I now hold to matter, the things that can no longer affect me.

Below, I will share with you some of the key concepts that I learnt. And I just hope that this benefits you, even half as much as it has others.




Everything is unstable...

6,000 years ago, we had some very powerful rulers who lived in absolute splendour...and had magnificent empires. Well, they are GONE. With just a handful of dilapidated pyramids and a few artefacts left to show for it.

For all his reported magnificence, today, King Solomon of the Bible barely has any archaeological evidence for his existence.


So looking at 'life' on earth today, what is most notable feature of our physical reality?...IMPERMANENCE.

5 years from now, 30 years from now, 500 years from now - the laptop you are currently using to read this would have been melted into a plastic bottle or a spoon. The clothes you are currently wearing would have been discarded and probably buried deep down in the bowels of the earth.

The house you're in right now would have been knocked down. And your nice, succulent, beautiful body - that means so much to you right now, would have turned into dust. All the things that are now 'yours' will no longer be 'yours'.

Let's face it. You could die today, you could get HIV, you could lose your job, you could be bedridden, your investment could be lost. Anything you consider 'bad' could possibly happen to you at any moment.

For example death is an inescapable certainty. Yet we are constantly in RESISTANCE to the fact that it will happen. We live daily with the background terror of it happening.

Your job is impermanent. Your health is impermanent. Your social status is impermanent. Your body is impermanent. EVERYTHING you know and see is impermanent - this is the absolute nature of things.


'Suffering' comes from RESISTANCE to this glaring, inevitable & inescapable reality. From trying to make, what by it's very nature IMPERMANENT to be permanent. By trying to make the unstable, stable.

Peace on the other hand arises from a state of ACCEPTANCE. And this acceptance sets you free.




Peace vs Happiness...

Happiness is short-lived and fleeting. And is dependent on unstable 'external' factors. If you buy a pair of shoes today or a Rolls Royce, your happiness jumps up a bit. And a few days down the line it disappears from you like a ghost in the night.

Your team wins the Champions League this year and your happiness goes up. The next year comes around and it's as if last year never happened.

You become like a speck at the mercy of the turbulent waves of the sea.

(Inner) Peace on the other hand is of a deeper dimension. A state of tranquillity and serenity. And is not dependent on anything outside of yourself.



Non-resistance.

This is really BIG. All unhappiness, all discontent, all worry, all 'agitations' come from a state of RESISTANCE to what is. From wanting this moment to be different.

From resisting the isness and the suchness of a situation (The Buddha called this tatata). It is what it is.

Peace comes from the the inner space of: "I don't mind what happens".


An example would be NEPA strikes and takes your light, you go "No wahala". Your house gets burnt to the ground, you go "Cool". Your car gets stolen, you go "OK".

Now, how could the above possibly change anything? Good question. Agitating yourself over the fact that the light is off will not change anything. It will not replace your house or bring back your car either.

It is just like hating someone. St Augustine once said "Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person will die".

So what should you do instead?




"Stick to the facts ma'am"...(Sherlock Holmes)

NEPA taking the light or your house getting burnt is not a problem...it is a situation. Handling the facts additionally motives your brain to action.

Wishing that what has happened didn't happen creates massive amounts of negativity within you.

You can't change the fact that NEPA has taken the light, but you can turn on the generator or use a hand fan. You can't sorrowfully regret yourself into a new un-burnt house. You can temporarily move your family to a friend's or relative's.

Accepting whatever form the moment takes by not resisting it creates a space between you and the situation.

Jesus even teaches this so many times in the bible but we seem to miss what he truly meant. He said: "If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to him the other", "Do not resist evil", "Love those who hate you", etc.


Worry and regret are also forms of resistance to the present moment. We regret because we want the moment to be different, and we worry because we are resisting the form the next moment will take. "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life" said Jesus.


Peace or what we could also call lasting happiness comes from non-resistance and accepting what is.

Nice!! I'm putin on my smilly face on

This is a great lesson

I knew it! When I started reading this article I kept searching for the word 'Buddha.' When I found it, I stopped reading - Mission Accomplished.

Very pragmatic, love dis

Nice write up. That's why y'all have t̶̲̥̅̊ơ live every moment as Ÿ̲̣̣̣̥ø̲̣̣̥Your last. Eat desert first. Fly first class or Ÿ̲̣̣̣̥ø̲̣̣̥Your heirs wȊ̝̊̅ℓℓ. i.e. If ♈☺ΰ knw watta mean.

soldierAnt: I knew it! When I started reading this article I kept searching for the word 'Buddha.' When I found it, I stopped reading - Mission Accomplished.

♈☺ΰ nor sEe jesus?

soldierAnt: I knew it! When I started reading this article I kept searching for the word 'Buddha.' When I found it, I stopped reading - Mission Accomplished.

Can you please tell me why you wIll not listen to what Buddha said?

Beautiful

I THINK I HAVE FOUND PEACE

OP, everything said is right. the practicality is the issue. let's agree, with training, u can hit off your toe on a rock and simply smile. yea.

ї nїd PEACE

nice write up. weldone, OP.

@op : all you wrote is true and applicable in all aspects of our PHYSICAL life in this world.


but the problem is that 'IF YOU EVER MAKE A MISTAKE OF HAVING THIS MINDSET IN NIGERIA EHNN . . . HUNGER GO KILL YOU'

LOVELY PIECE!

Jesus even teaches this so many times in the bible but we seem to miss what he truly meant. He said: "If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to him the other", "Do not resist evil", "Love those who hate you", etc.

But I am yet to see where Jesus said in the Bible that we should not resist the Devil.

James 4 verse 7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Erm...
You got to fight to live in this present age.
I don't know which Bible told you "Do not resist evil",.
The Bible i know says 'Resist the devil and he will flee', 'Fight the good fight of faith', Even loving your enemies takes a massive fight of resisting the impulsive natural revenge instincts.
Accepted that one has to know when to let go, but then docility is never an option i'll wish on an enemy.
You will only get smashed like a floating glass on a violent wave, if you tow this passive line of living.
Even the spermatozoa that fertilized the egg to produce you had to out muscle other millions of hard fighting cells in order to hit the bulls eye.

Op, am with you on this. Yesterday I came across a saying by confucius, it said,"life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated". We see that Jesus lived a simple life, He didn't even resist arrest. He never worried, He simply took action. All those who gained enlightenment never resisted life, but went with the flow of it, example, Jesus,buddha, confucius, abraham, etc.

Wtf is buddah?hope say no be buddhism u dey preach @op

@Op,nice one.although in this world where physical appearance and separate forms prevail,the mind is no longer a tool but an oppressor.You can't work on ppl,ppl work on themselves.tnx alot

Yeah man! Nice one. I'm always guarded by the philosophy, "Nothing last forever" and so have fully accepted the fact that que sera sera. That is why I am living the "hakuna matata" kind of life.

I find several loopholes in your reasoning. I'm a Christian and have no apologies for being one.
1. You said the peace and tranquility is dependent on yourself. I say No. Jesus said "my peace I give you" and that God's peace passeth all understanding. Why? Becos the Christian believes that whatever happens to him is allowed by God for his good.
2. You said Jesus flowed with the current. Wrong! He showed anger when people didn't do things right, he wept at a burial and wept even more at His impending death in the Garden of Gethsemane
3. The applicability of your logic. Who loses a son and doesn't mourn?Whose house is burnt down and the fellow shrugs it off? Anything less doesn't make us human. When undesirable things happen, we go through the normal cycle of Shock, Anger, Rejection, Acceptance and Hope(SARAH). It is better for our eventual healing that we go through these phases.
My own recipe for peace and tranquility: a simple child-like faith in God who rules the universe and rules my world!

Sounds like you need acceptance in your life Jesus said in my fathers house many mansions Judgement is the number one block to peace

soldierAnt: I knew it! When I started reading this article I kept searching for the word 'Buddha.' When I found it, I stopped reading - Mission Accomplished.

Heck: OP, everything said is right. the practicality is the issue. let's agree, with training, u can hit off your toe on a rock and simply smile. yea.

Yes . Maybe something like that.

Actually, your reaction will be dependent on 'where' you look after you hit your toe.

You could choose to be grateful that you have toes that you get to hit on stones once in a while.

About 5 years ago, I went to the hospital and passed by a young dude like myself with a freshly amputated limb; from just above the knee.

He was singing "Am a basketball player..."

Am certain he wouldn't mind hitting his toe on stones and stumps from time to time. I'll never forget that day.

BarryX: Nice reading a post that erupts critical thinking
My inference from your submission lies in the real-life application of some of the stated points. Judging from what obtains in the typical Nigerian society., i think worry should be used as a therapy of some sort in driving at the inner peace that we so desire because seperating 'worry' from a typical Nigerian is like telling a Nigerian to be dumb or simply don't talk. I think we should re-focus our worrying energies or better put our agitations into better causes such as the bad leadership and how we can rid of these recycled corrupt lots.

Worry is not Nigerian. It is just a symptom of the human condition.

Non-resistance doesn't mean you won't do the 'right' thing. It just means you don't resist the outcome of your action.

"You are entitled to the action, but not it's fruits".

i-smoke-weed:
@op : all you wrote is true and applicable in all aspects of our PHYSICAL life in this world.


but the problem is that 'IF YOU EVER MAKE A MISTAKE OF HAVING THIS MINDSET IN NIGERIA EHNN . . . HUNGER GO KILL YOU'

Lol, how?

Let's say you just got fired from work. You take 'right action'. You get off your bum and start applying for new jobs...BUT you don't generate needless anxiety and frustration. That won't change anything.

The ONLY positive thing you can do is try to get a new job. The negativity you create by worrying will only drive you into depression.