I'm not talking Miss Universe "all I want is world peace", although that would be wonderful..
The peace I'm talking about is the kind that lives within us. You can't buy it on eBay, it won't come knocking on your door and it doesn't come with your morning coffee (unless you're having coffee with The Dalai Lama...although I doubt he drinks coffee).
What you will find is numerous articles on the subject in various lifestyle magazines. If you're not a fan of the glossy magazines you can pick up one of the millions of self help books on the matter. You'll be surprised on how many things you are doing wrong in life, what you're eating but shouldn't be, what you're not eating but should be. What job to have, which city to live in, what clothes to wear, what yoga style to do, which religion to follow, what guy to marry, how many kids to have. It's all there, all the different recipes for happiness and inner peace. You just have to pick one. If you're trying to read too many self help books and life style magazines at the same time you might find yourself somewhat confused..and stressed...in short more frustrated than happy. And definitely not very peaceful. But if confused, fear not, we are blessed with all the wonderful researchers who have tested and researched what will make you happy. "Coffee is good for you", "Coffee found to increase risk of cancer", "Women in the city less satisfied in bed", "Women in small towns less happy in marriage".
Thank God for all this very vital information intended to make life easier.
So when you've half read a dousin books and realise it's going to take a bit more work than expected to find this much talked about peace, you start feeling scared. And let me tell you fear is big business. Fear breeds consumerism. All you have to do is turn on the TV or read a newspaper to be faced with a world of things to be scared of. Scared of being fat, scared of being too skinny, scared of not having money, scared of not knowing what to do with it if we have it, scared of getting sick, scared of staying sick, scared of travelling, scared of never leaving, scared of being alone, scared of being with the wrong person, scared of not being safe, scared of being over protected, scared of the neighbour, scared of the police, scared of loosing your job, scared of going after the one job you want, scared of living, scared of dying....what do we do to try fix it? We buy stuff...shit loads of it. As if buying that ridiculously expensive facial cream will make you look like Heidi Klum and cure you fear of ageing. You won't go to bed feeling any more peaceful. You'll just start thinking you should have probably got the toner to go with it.
And what do we do in our everlasting mission to create world peace? We go to war.
I'm not saying you can't find it. Peace that is. You just can't buy it. You can't walk in to Priceline and find a rose coloured bottle marked "Inner Peace" $10.99...
I'm trying as hard as the next person, and realised not trying as hard makes it all a bit less stressful.
Looking in the mirror is a start (Preferably with a candle next to you, everyone looks better in candle light..) You can probably find a candle named "Inner Peace"...but you don't want the $10.99 one...
More like $29.75...the more expensive the more peace you feel. Obviously.
Not quite as poetic as your last few posts, Camilla, but a nice attempt to give consumerism "the bird", and reflect on the constant obsession with finding inner peace. ;) Love your take on it though, and to quote Francis H. Bradley:
ReplyDelete"The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring."