Inner Peace

I've searched for a post similar to this one, but didn't find anything. I apologize if I over-looked something I could have simply read here.

My questions are based on personal opinion, not scientific fact, or what anyone else has told you. I want raw, honest answers, please.

1. What is inner peace?
2. What does inner peace feel like? or.. how do you imagine it to feel?
3. How did/will you gain inner peace?


And I know most of you like quizzes so here's one just for fun: http://health.ninemsn.com.au/quiz.aspx?quizid=4847

1. To me inner peace is a feeling of complete contentment with myself and my life at this moment.

2. Regrets about the past and worries about the future no longer stress me out as I do not concern myself with them because they cannot touch me NOW. I feel happy and relaxed and as if I could deal with anything that comes my way.

3. I gain inner peace through living in the moment, not worrying about the past or the future and accepting my current situation whatever that may be. I place my trust in the will of the Force and know that everything that happens has a purpose, I just have to figure it out.

Quiz result:

Mostly Bs: Great balance, but let's not get complacent.

MTFBWY

My result was; Mostly Bs: Great balance, but let's not get complacent.

1. as oppossed to outer peace, perhaps the first thing is to understand what think the word peace means. I'd guess it means lack of conflict.

2. calmness can be either alert or sleepy for me, so real lack of conflict (peace) for me is actually not the lack of conflict, but the complete reversal of conflict into supportive accumulation and integration of my energies into a synthesis of understanding and positive energy.

3. I try to connect to nature in a respectful way and meditate on my place in the universe to feel part of something larger. By working on connecting to the Living Force through my whole body then I can find my body responding with an overall inner joy.

Reliah,good topic!

Inner peace is so elusive for most people, including myself. In my life I have had flashes of inner peace, but can tell you it is fleeting and hard to hold on to. The world around us makes it so difficult because of commercialization and the bombardment of advertizing on our senses day and night. We must find a place within ourselves that knows no want or desire. It is fulfilled and our whole being is quenched of "need".

I have been reading a lot of Buddhist texts and there is a whole section on the suffering of man. It says that until we embrace the suffering and accept it as a part of our lives, we will never be rid of suffering. It is in the acceptance of suffering that causes it to not be suffering. In this context we will never find inner peace until we conquer suffering.

Ouch! Its hard stepping down from this soap box...

OK here is my take on "Inner Peace"

1. What is inner peace?

Inner peace is the feeling of complete acceptance of yourself wholly and without reservation. The inner peace we are looking for has nothing to do with the outside world other than the fact that it exists and we are a part of it. What happens in the world around us is as it is and we accept it as it is.

2. What does inner peace feel like? or.. how do you imagine it to feel?

I would imaging inner peace feels like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Your feet just inches from the vertical drop of 2000 feet. Your heart is racing and your eyes are open wide. Such beauty unimaginable that it takes your breath away. This is how I felt when my eyes were first opened to the girl that would become my wife. Complete knowledge and understanding that she was the one. I knew, my heart raced, it was like standing at the edge of a cliff, breathtaking, no one else on the planet but us. The first time I felt inner peace. :blush:


3. How did/will you gain inner peace?

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Grrr...I had a great response (well, a response at least) and then I lost my post...this happened yesterday.

I'll try to recollect my thoughts and try and post them later. But I WAS thinking about it, haha.

MTFBWY,
LTK

[meditating]
Shifu: Inner peace. Inner peace
[suddenly we hear Po approaching loudly in the background]
Shifu: Ahh! Inner peace.
Po: Master Shifu? Master Shifu? What have we got? Pirates? Vandals of volcano mountain? Whatever it is, I will take them down. Cause I am in a mood. I need to get somethin' done. You know what I mean?
[Shifu ignore Po and continues meditating with his eyes closed]
Po: Uh..what are you doing?
Shifu: One of master Oogway's final teachings.


[as he carefully handles a water droplet and lets it go onto to a leaf intact]
Po: How did you do that?
Shifu: Inner peace.
Po: Inner peace. That's cool! Inner peace of what?
Shifu: It is the next phase of your training. Every master must find his path to inner peace. Some choose to meditate for fifty years in a cave just like this, without the slightest taste of food or water.
[Po's stomach makes a loud growling noise]
Po: Or?
Shifu: Some find it through pain and suffering, as I did. Po, the day you were chosen as Dragon Warrior, was the worst day of my life. By far, nothing else came close. It was the worst, most painful, mind destroying, horrible moment...
Po: Okay.
Shifu: ...I have ever experienced.
[he shudders at the thought of it]


Shifu: But once I realized the problem was not you, but within me, I found inner peace. And was able to harness the flow of the universe.
Po: So that's it? I just need inner peace? My innards are already super, super peaceful. So all I need to do is just get this thing going. Inner peace? You're goin' down! Now show me what you were doing there with your feet? I saw you do sorta fancy foot thing?

I sincerely appreciate all of your thoughts and that you took the time to do so.

Adder wrote:
1. as oppossed to outer peace, perhaps the first thing is to understand what think the word peace means. I'd guess it means lack of conflict.

Adder hit the nail on the head IMO - Being in control of emotion, free of internal conflicts like guilt, indeciveness, or worry. The eyes, ears, heart, mind and spirit are in sync rather than at odds.

#2 - I don't think there is a direct answer. How it feels is subjective or as Joseph Campbell puts it, it transcends thought and cannot be told. Someone could use metaphors in an attempt to describe it but even with a common frame of reference it could have totally different interpretations. The sound of the evening tide under the setting sun is peaceful to me. To someone else it could be just the end of the day or even be scary.

#3 - I will look within, take control of what I see and go forward. Study to increase my knowledge, commit to the teachings and choose to apply them in practice, every day.

Inner peace is the comet that flies over the celestial canvas. It is the sound of the water being poured into the glass and the sound of the glass receiving the water.
it is the sound of the predator feasting upon it's prey and the sound of the prey at the hands of it's attacker. Inner peace is letting the wind play with your hair and letting the earth feel the roughness of your feet, it is looking at the sky and being in touch with your own ancestral origin.

Inner peace is the moment before you fall asleep and you think of the one you loved, it is not forgetting who you truly are , it is being true to yourself. Inner peace is a light feather whose bird has elevated to higher lands and has left hope for you cling on , a Pandora's jar if you will.

Inner peace is you and me , it is the sound of the mother soothing her child , the sound of the child sleeping under the care of her maternal gaze. Tell me now if you think these are not elements of inner peace, what are?