Picture: The Calm in the Storm
A weekend with a house full of children and Family Day on Saturday is a reminder of a life of constant activity, children full of life-energy, having multiple things going on at the same time—in other words, what is more or less organized-chaos.
I have certainly lived with this fulltime at earlier times in this life, and while I feel joy in such circumstances, I realize that it can make finding quiet times a challenge, especially for busy parents. Then, there is the problem that such noise and life-energy all around you can be so stimulating, that though you may dream of peace and quiet, the moment you can have it you find things to do to get things going again—there can be an addictive quality to being rajasic, always being stimulated.
To find a quiet-center-place within you, to be an observer and a witness to the play, all the while being a participant in life and playing the role you have been assigned gives you internal balance. This quiet in the storm connects with your breath and the heart. Anxiousness and desire-nature disturbs this equilibrium, and your task is to learn to attune mind and body to an inner-steady-calm. This should not be imagined as a season-less life, that knows no ups or downs—if that were the case then you would not be participating in life, only observing it. But, you find a place inside that is the calm center even as events are churning all around you.
This requires real spiritual practice. In moments while meditating you find it, then it begins to generalize to when you are participating fully in the world. At such times a sudden feeling of peace fills you, and you realize, “This is one of those magic-moments.” Love fills your heart and overflows to all the world. At such times as these you touch the hem of God—fears and craving-desires subside—life is perfect.
Ah, to be in this state always is a dream come true. And, this is the promise of the spiritually illumined: the world is created out of the fabric of bliss, and it is also part and parcel of your innermost nature—it is yours to discover if you but make the effort to do so.
You need this balance in life: to be in the still-static-state of inward calm, and to be an active participant. In the stillness you know your eternal connection with pure Spirit, God. From that oneness with God you express God’s fullness of Spirit in thought, word and action as you move from moment to moment in your life. That is why you put God first, because when you create in life as God creates, you begin by being ensconced in Spirit, then Spirit flows naturally as creation. When creation has fulfilled its purpose, then all form is withdrawn back into the Infinite.
One way to think of this: you begin your day in meditation, focused on God until you make contact. Then you enter into your day feeling that peace and joy in activity. At the end of the day you meditate on God, withdrawing all the day’s activities back into God-consciousness. In this way you replicate in a micro-sense what God does in the macrocosm.
You need not despair that you live in organized-chaos, rather you need only find the balance in life that anchors you in the Divine; giving your life a higher meaning and an inner source of joy that is not dependent on there being smooth waters around you. It is veritably God living His life in your form, and He loves the life He creates; for at each stage of creation He pronounced, “It is Good.” To truly know this you must, of course, be in harmony with His will. As you thus harmonize, you will find that you are truly made up of the fabric of God, and it is so woven into your being that you and He are inseparable–even in the midst of organized-chaos.