Journal of Sacred Work

"As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." – Marianne Williamson

Morning Sea 2 – Erie Chapman

   Your deepest wisdom whispers to you that peace without comes from peace within. Where is the portal to this peace?    

   My three-year-old grandson found an answer in the Star Wars myth. Darth Vader is the one others fear.

   "How do you defeat him?" I asked. "The Force," he announced.

   "Where is The Force?" I asked.

   "Here!" he trumpeted, touching his chest. 

    Did you ever meet a "Darth Vader" at work? One Chief Nursing Officer told me, "I want my staff to fear me. Then they will do what I say."

   Another executive attempted to hide her use of fear by feigning disbelief that her reported "enemies lists" scared staff.  "I tell people not to fear me."

   If a "Darth Vader" appeared before you saying, "Don't fear me," would you believe him?

   How do you respond?

   You cannot stop outside forces from threatening you. But. you can grow peace without from seeds of peace planted within. 

                                                                                         II.

   But, hold the phone, is it realistic that inner peace can protect you from the core worry of every employee, being fired? Peace won't pay the mortgage or cover the car payments. 

   Still, as you grow your sense of peace your perspective rises. Things that once seemed terrifying may begin to loosen their grip. 

   Rilke is only one of the poets who offered the location of inner peace:

"…a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead. 

   Centuries earlier, Rumi articulated the same concept: "Why do you weep?/ [The] Source is within you,/ and this whole world/ is springing up from it."

   The Bible is a book of peace and love. Do you sense the presence of this peace within? 

   The hardest life practice is to stay centered in peace. And it is the most worthwhile.

   Between the clouds and sea within you lives the light of peace. Find your portal to this peace and enter it. 

-Erie Chapman

[Note: Too deepen your sense of peace today you may now wish to listen to a lovely rendition of an old song about peace sung by Johnny Mathis. Click on this light gray print>>>: 13 Deep River (Album Version)]