Peace be with you!

Over the last few weeks I have been talking to our students about peace. 

In that time I have introduced our “we have two minds” exercise (and have been very proud of the serious way they have worked at it).

The key quote for me, and shared with them, has been Jesus’ promise Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give it as the world gives: do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. John 14:27.

The world sees peace as the absence of war – or at least the absence of noise: to be in a place without noise, trouble and hard work. That is the best most people can do when they seek peace. But that is not the way the world works. I believe that when Jesus said that he left a different kind of peace, he was saying that we can be surrounded by noise, trouble and hard work – and still be at peace in our hearts.

This distinction between peace in our heads and peace in our hearts is what Jesus was talking about. The peace he gives is not the world’s peace – he says not to let our hearts be troubled – not to let fear into our hearts.

When I wrote about our two minds I drew the same distinction. Our brain has evolved to help us survive. It does not handle peace well – it is too suspicious and fearful. Even when we are on holiday in tranquility, our minds still try to worry about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future. We work hard to quieten it: the holiday is pronounced as "good" if we gained some success.

The urgency of our brain will always dominate unless we develop some serious strategies to quieten it.

Our hearts do not deal with past and future – only now. And right now, this instant, is a little oasis of peace if we want it – if we dare to believe it. Jesus told us not to let our hearts be troubled. He had faith in us – in our ability to control our fears and anxieties and resentments. He had faith in us. He needs us to have faith in him.

For the last 2000 years people have retreated from the world to solitude, to silence, to mind-numbing repetition, looking for God – looking for peace. These all work. But there are other ways to open our hearts to peace. We have lives to live, we have growth to accomplish, we have responsibilities we cannot ignore. If we seek peace as well, we need to look for it in the midst of noise, of busy-ness, of troubles and expectations and work. We will not find it in a mind that evolved to gauge and eliminate threats, that looks for attack in every word, a mind that suspects everyone.

If we sincerely seek peace we will find it only in the peace Jesus offered: do not let your hearts be afraid. In this very moment God is with us. We just need eyes to see it.