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Touching Peace
Feb. 26th, 2025 07:36 amToday I'm starting a new book by Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living. Not surprisingly, it starts out with mindfulness and the miracle of living in the present moment. It sees happiness as living in the present moment, not being consumed by worries about the past or fears for the future--if you can do this you will be joyful, even if, like the prisoner in Camus' The Stranger you are due to be executed. He talks about how he would like to create a holiday, "Today day," dedicated to living in the moment: "a day dedicated to touching the Earth, touching the sky, touching the trees, and touching the peace that is available in the present moment."
He spends some time talking about trees he planted and how touching them brings him joy. (Even hugging them!) He speaks about touching ourselves and others with compassion, in reality but also as a meditation practice. "touch your left hand with your right hand and, at the same time, with your compassion. Do you notice that while your left hand is receiving comfort and love, your right hand is also receiving comfort and love? This practice is for both parties, not just one. When we see someone suffering, if we touch her with compassion, she will receive our comfort and love, and we will also receive comfort and love."
Appreciating the moment also includes awareness of the blessings we have--that we can see, that we can breathe, that we don't have a toothache, that our heart beats and our liver purifies our blood. In moments of illness and pain, when we don't have those things, we come to realize how many blessings we have in our ordinary lives.
"We do not have to die to enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact we have to be fully alive. When we breathe in and out and hug a beautiful tree, we are in Heaven. When we take one conscious breath, aware of our eyes, our heart, our liver and our non-toothache, we are transported to Paradise right away. Peace is available. We only have to touch it. When we are truly alive, we can see that the tree is part of heaven, and we are also part of heaven. The whole universe is conspiring to reveal this to us, but we are so out of touch that we invest our resources in cutting down the trees. If we want to enter Heaven on earth, we need only one conscious step and one conscious breath. When we touch peace, everything becomes real. We become ourselves, fully alive in the present moment, and the tree, our child and everything else reveal themselves to us in our full splendor."
He spends some time talking about trees he planted and how touching them brings him joy. (Even hugging them!) He speaks about touching ourselves and others with compassion, in reality but also as a meditation practice. "touch your left hand with your right hand and, at the same time, with your compassion. Do you notice that while your left hand is receiving comfort and love, your right hand is also receiving comfort and love? This practice is for both parties, not just one. When we see someone suffering, if we touch her with compassion, she will receive our comfort and love, and we will also receive comfort and love."
Appreciating the moment also includes awareness of the blessings we have--that we can see, that we can breathe, that we don't have a toothache, that our heart beats and our liver purifies our blood. In moments of illness and pain, when we don't have those things, we come to realize how many blessings we have in our ordinary lives.
"We do not have to die to enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact we have to be fully alive. When we breathe in and out and hug a beautiful tree, we are in Heaven. When we take one conscious breath, aware of our eyes, our heart, our liver and our non-toothache, we are transported to Paradise right away. Peace is available. We only have to touch it. When we are truly alive, we can see that the tree is part of heaven, and we are also part of heaven. The whole universe is conspiring to reveal this to us, but we are so out of touch that we invest our resources in cutting down the trees. If we want to enter Heaven on earth, we need only one conscious step and one conscious breath. When we touch peace, everything becomes real. We become ourselves, fully alive in the present moment, and the tree, our child and everything else reveal themselves to us in our full splendor."
