{"id":1038,"date":"2016-12-06T00:32:19","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T05:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joshuastairhime.com\/?p=1038"},"modified":"2018-12-04T22:35:35","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T03:35:35","slug":"processing-internally-externally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.joshuastairhime.com\/index.php\/processing-internally-externally\/","title":{"rendered":"Processing Internally, Externally. (DOP #5 2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Potential reader, treat this post more as a diary entry than an attempt to convey a truth to you. \u00a0It began in my typical fashion, addressing a listener who may not be there, but quickly became a verbal processing of internal though. \u00a0 I do welcome your comments, as I fight to understand peace more completely.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 What connects with your spirit? \u00a0What thoughts\u00a0strike you as inaccurate? \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

As I pursue peace, I usually end up stopping to ask myself what peace really is.\u00a0 Obviously if I don\u2019t know what I am looking for, I will not know when or if I find it.\u00a0 As I look more and more deeply into the idea of peace, I seem to discover a new layer of meaning with each new look.\u00a0 If you had asked me two years ago how I would describe peace, I would have probably told you that peace is the absence of conflict.\u00a0 If you had pushed me to consider what self-peace was, perhaps I would have hinted at the idea of comfort.\u00a0 Being comfortable with who I am, and what I am doing could have easily been my description of peace.<\/p>\n

In some sense, both of the above descriptions of peace are correct.\u00a0 I\u2019ve discovered, however, that those descriptions are certainly not the whole story.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve wrestled with this in the past, and I continue to wrestle with it now.\u00a0 How can one live a life of peace, when those around us are in peril?\u00a0 My own mind is often drawn to the plight of others caught in a military conflict, but it is broader than that.\u00a0 Just like I have a personal self-peace, each of us has that same potential.\u00a0 So how do we live peacefully in a world where people are treated poorly because of their skin color, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs?\u00a0 What about people who are oppressed by their views of their own self-worth? \u00a0\u00a0What is my responsibility to others around me?<\/p>\n

Do I truly possess peace when others around me are living without it?<\/p>\n

Is living a peaceful life a life of ignorance, a life of ignorant bliss?\u00a0 How else could our spirits be at peace with the tragedy surrounding us in the world?\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to go far to find tragedy.\u00a0 Am I peaceful if I watch a child drown and do nothing to attempt to change the outcome?<\/p>\n

Perhaps I have confused peace with comfort.<\/p>\n

Comfort tells me to stay on the side of the pool, to not risk getting wet when I may not be successful in saving a drowning child\u2019s life.\u00a0 If I passively watch a child drown, will I not be haunted by my inaction?\u00a0 Would I rather live life knowing that I tried to save the child\u2019s life, but was unsuccessful, or would I rather live knowing that I chose comfort over action?
\nIf I approach peace from this perspective, where does my personal responsibility end?\u00a0 Or should I be haunted be each thing that happens, by each choice I\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n

I do not have answers, but I will keep wrestling until I have them.<\/p>\n

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