Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Restlessness is unpleasant. It’s a feeling of not being able to catch your breath. It’s like gluttonous eating, only to be left empty and wanting more. The notion of resting in peace is often a concept for the dead; but why would the dead need to rest in peace? They’re already dead.
Resting in peace is for the living. But we often erroneously postpone eternal rest until after our last breath. But the moment after your last breath, you’re gone. Does that mean we’re trapped in restlessness in this life? But wouldn’t you love rest now?
In Psalm 37 we hear the words, “O rest in the Lord.” If “the Lord” is anything outside of you, it’s not rest at all – it’s concept. I cannot rest in death. That concept lies outside of me. I cannot rest in my bank account, those are numbers are conceptual digits on a computer screen. I cannot rest in other people, they will inevitably do what I wish them not to do, or be taken away. I must find rest somewhere. Surely, it cannot reside in concept alone.
While sleeping, I rest, but I am no longer aware, so I can’t really enjoy it. I enjoy its aftereffects, but I seem never to be able to rest in peace, now. When I am awake, I’m restless, which is a way of saying I’m still sleeping. You can be at rest while awake if you become more awake. Get into what you’re doing, now. This mind, body, and spirit unity is called yoga. From within this vivid focal point, rest occurs.
You are the epicenter – the eternal rest of the eternal now. This is lux aeterna. Requiescant in pace. Light eternal. Rest in peace. In the center of you lies the peace which surpasses concept. In the cessation of thought, you merge into now, and “The Lord” appears.