An Antidote for the Violent Side of Life
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Last Friday, flying at 35,000 feet, I signed up to learn Transcendental Meditation (TM). I've been thinking about doing this for 10+ years, and was finally nudged off the fence by their special $480 (50% off) offer. You can find it here.
Two days later, someone forwarded me a copy of Maria Shriver's latest newsletter. She was part of Meditate America's initiative to promote the TM offer I just mentioned.
Interesting coincidence, and I pay close attention to coincidences.
Her issue was very closely related to our Meditate for Peace community. Here's some words she shared in her newsletter.
In his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Thomas Merton wrote:
“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activity neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."
Maria then observed, "It’s a game changer to think of the pressures of modern life in this way. To think of them as a form of violence that we actually bring upon ourselves. We are not here to inflict violence on ourselves or others, and yet here we are, blindly engaging in lifestyles that harm our inner wisdom and destroy our longing for peace and love."
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That's where meditation comes in. It's a tool to bring us inner peace, and inner peace is the only way to bring peace to the world at large.
My TM course starts Thursday, and I'll write about it in a few weeks, after I gain some experience with it.
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I hope you enjoy this newsletter, which thanks to your support has over 82,000 subscribers. Please continue to forward it to everyone you know who needs more peace in their lives. They can sign up here.
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I am the founder of Bend Reality and Meditate for Peace.
You can find more of my work at Kasanoff.com.
HARP Care Manager at Sun River Health
3moVery informative article. Thanks for sharing
Absolutely! The chaos of everyday life can cloud our peace. Meditation is truly the antidote we all need. Bruce Kasanoff
Co-Founder at Kampur Travel Diaries Senior Travel Curater and Head of Sustainability at Kampur Travel Diaries NLP Practitioner IANLP
3moWhat an amazing view on how to look at everything we feel we need to achieve, quite often brought about by our self-expectations (and often doing things we think others expect of us, without us actually knowing if they truly expect that). I don’t think that they are ever coincidences in life and when our energies are aligned to something, then what comes to us is the natural flow/result of that (whether good or bad). Meditation and mindfulness for me is key in getting the “good”/“flow”. Totally see the huge difference on a daily basis when I do meditate and when I am ‘rushed’.
Clinical Pharmacist, Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist
3moBruce Kasanoff , I love this comparison of making too many commitments or when I don’t learn how to say “No” to certain projects, then I can’t practice mindfulness and find the inner peace. Thank you, Bruce for always lifting our spirits up and sharing your insightful posts.
Chief Copywriting Officer & CEO of CaringMessenger Copywriting/Christ-Centered/Upside-Down Eternal Lens Leadership| Foodie for Fun #YDHTCIA (you don't have to carry it all)
3moI pray that you have revelation and come to know and understand the peace that you seek, Bruce🙏🏻 God bless you. Crises can be opportunities. Life’s pivots happen FOR us, not to us. I don’t believe in coincidences either Bruce Kasanoff .