By Gerad Kite
On the morning of my 50th birthday and at the tail end of a 5-day silent retreat in Cornwall – the penny dropped. I had been staring out of the window, clipboard on lap poised to write another plan for my future, when a gentle inner voice said, “What you’re looking for – simply isn’t out there”. And because it was the voice of truth I put down my pen and sighed. “If not out there – then where?” I asked, and in that moment I ‘knew’ in my heart that the thing I was hunting for was inside me all along.
I already knew the theory. I intellectually knew it well. But until that moment I didn’t ‘know’ it as an experience and it was that experience that eventually led me to write my book Everything You Need You Have.
Fast-forward to recent weeks (almost 5 years later), what I’ve come to understand from my journey is that through an active process of encouragement and cultivating personal awareness, it is possible for individuals to take steps and wake up to the permanent state of peace that exists within.
My message is essentially a spiritual one – but it begins with the familiar – the mind. By shining a light on the character of the mind, then by gradually peeling back the layers of thought, we are able to reveal the natural laws that govern the physical body – and the brighter light of ‘spirit’ or intact Self shines through.
‘Knowing’ that we are all ‘OK’ or ‘at peace’– no matter what is going on with our mind or in our body, is revelatory but hard to accept. How could this be true? If I feel physically ill and I hate my life, my career is in crisis and I have no friends – can I still be ‘OK’?
This is a stretch for most of us. The suggestion that in spite of real suffering a state of inner peace remains intact is hard to accept – especially when the vicissitudes and chaotic nature of life dominate every corner of our consciousness. But this is what the spiritual path teaches us. Our sense of self as seen through our minds, our bodies and our daily activities is a far more superficial experience of our true Self and not the essence of who we truly are.
Discovering permanent peace – the true source of happiness in our lives, is hard when so much around us is designed to distract us from knowing that everything we need we already have inside.
Silence is the home of peace. Visit silence whenever you can. Turn away from the noise of your mind, the relentless chatter, the distractions of manmade machines, as well as your cherished beliefs and opinions. Do whatever it takes to find stillness and silence in your daily life until the day the penny drops and you find the inner truth – that you are permanently ‘OK’ and that peace survives all chaos.
Gerad Kite is an Acupuncture Master (ACM) with over 25 years clinical experience. He is a recognised leader in the field of infertility and an internationally respected prectitioner and teacher of Worsley Five-Element Acupuncture. Find out more here.
