How to get to Peace

March 10, 2024

by Rev. Mumtaz Kammerer, Siraj – Universal Worship, Baltimore PA

Let’s think about going on vacation – or a journey – or a trip – or a pilgrimage.

First, we decide on the destination: where we’re going and what we’ll do, see, and/or visit there. Next, how are we going to get there? What’s our conveyance or transportation? Will we be walking there, riding a horse, driving a car, or taking a train or plane? Will we need a map? How do we prepare for traveling? What do we need to pack? Will there be stops along the way? Do we need to bring food and water? What do we think it will be like once we reach our destination?

Let’s take this model of a journey to consider “How to get to Peace.”

First, decide on the destination: Peace. What does that mean to us? As seekers on the spiritual path, as mystics, as students of the esoteric, as worshippers, peace can mean experiencing the Divine within and without. As Inayat Khan tells us:

“Peace is not a knowledge, peace is not a power, peace is not a happiness; yet peace is all these. Besides, peace is productive of happiness, peace inspires one with knowledge of the seen and unseen, and in peace is to be found the Divine Presence.”

That sounds like a nice vacation spot. Let’s go there.

How we are going to get there is the next bit of planning we have to do. What’s our mode of travel and do we need a map? What do we pack for the journey? Our conveyance is our whole being, body, mind, heart, and soul. We have to be totally engaged for our trip to Peace and open to the possibility of Peace. The map comes from the scriptures and inspired teachings. In the Upanishads, we’re told the journey takes us to the “lotus of the heart” where we connect with Brahman, the all in all, action, knowledge, goodness supreme, the imperishable; “adorable is he.” Then, we’re given these metaphors of bow, arrow, and target:

“Affix to the Upanishad, the bow incomparable, the sharp arrow of devotional worship; then, with mind absorbed and heart melted in love, draw the arrow and hit the mark—the imperishable Brahman.

“OM is the bow, the arrow is the individual being, and Brahman is the target. With tranquil heart, take aim. Lose thyself in him, even as the arrow is lost in the target.”

That could be our map.

And what do we pack for the journey? We take our practices, meditation, contemplation, concentration, prayer, study of the scriptures and inspirational teachings. They will sustain us on the journey.

“O you who believe,” it says in the Quran, “O you who believe, keep your duty to Allah, and let every soul consider that which it sends forth for the morrow, and keep your duty to Allah. Surely, Allah is Aware of what you do.”

On this journey to Peace, we let every thought, word, and deed bring us closer to the destination: “let every soul consider that which it sends forth for the morrow.” We are traveling toward the One, the Author of Peace.

The Christian scripture helps us with what clothes to pack:

“…You should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love.”

We’ve chosen our destination, made some plans on how to get there and what to pack. Now, what do we think it will be like when we get there? The Jewish scripture gives us some idea.

God is speaking through the Prophet Isaiah. God says Its inspiration flows like rain and snow to water the earth and make it fruitful.

“So shall My word be,” that’s like the nourishing waters, “So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, except it accomplish that which I please, and make the thing whereto I sent it prosper.”

This is the Divine Intention: “It shall not return unto Me void, except it accomplish that which I please, and make the thing whereto I sent it prosper.”

And then God says, “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees shall clap their hands.” That’s what the destination of Peace will be like; joy and peace such that even all of creation rejoices.

While Inayat Khan may say Peace isn’t a happiness, though he does teach that God wants us to be happy and one of the Sufi Message volumes is on “The Alchemy of Happiness,” in the Buddhist scriptures we’re told “there is no happiness higher than peace” and that Nirvana is the highest happiness. Nirvana, which is realization and enlightenment, must be Peace.

Paul in his letter to the Colossians writes, “…may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body.” The term Christ comes from the Greek meaning “the anointed one,” the one who is with the One (also consider how Isa [Jesus] in Islam is called Ruhullah, the Spirit of God). If we have “the peace of Christ” reigning in the heart it connects us with the One, the Beloved, whose beautiful names we hear in the Quran to help us understand the Divine, but who, as the Upanishads tell us, is “beyond the ken of the senses,” unfathomable, yet always available.

Can we arrive at Peace?

Yes, we can in those quiet moments when we give ourselves the gift of pulling away from the world to commune with the Beloved. We build on those moments of Peace. Breathe in Peace; breathe out Peace. Let Peace become part of us. Let it reign in our hearts. “There is no happiness higher than peace.”

We can become Peace.

“We live happily indeed,” says the Buddhist scripture, “though having nothing our own! We shall be like the bright gods, feeding on happiness!”

We can establish Peace within. “Lose thyself in (Brahman), even as the arrow is lost in the target.” And that Peace can radiate out from us.

For peace on earth, that takes a different kind of journey. Each of us can pursue the path of peace on earth. We start with establishing Peace within. Pray for peace; that works. Support groups which promote peace, whether that is through active involvement or participation, or helping finance the work. We can speak up for peace where we see injustice, oppression, violence, or anything that is counter to peace. Always speaking “clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience.” “Over all these clothes…put on love.”