Nonviolent Cow | DiaryOfAWorm / Peace of Mind

St. Seraphim of Sarov

For our Faith In Recovery meeting after church today I picked for a reflection words from St. Seraphim of Sarov, a nineteen century saint, which I had read in the Orthodox Peace Fellowship magazine In Communion. Part of the reflection reads like this:

One must by every means strive to preserve peace of soul and not be disturbed by offenses from others; for this one must in every way strive to restrain anger and by means of attentiveness to keep the mind and heart from improper feelings. And therefore we must bear offenses from others with equanimity and accustom ourselves to such a disposition of spirit that these offenses seem to concern not us, but others. Such a practice can give quietness to the human heart and make it as a dwelling for God Himself. (Little Russian Philokalia, V. I)

I have read similar advice to bear offenses from others kindly from Gandhi, St. Ignatius of Loyola and others. Judith Brown in her book on Gandhi defines his Satyagraha or nonviolence as “striving nonviolently to the point of sacrifice rather than fighting to attain one’s vision of truth.” St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, asks us to pray to Jesus for a deep desire “to be with you in accepting all wrongs and rejections” (SE #98).

However, in light of our faith sharing this morning this re-statement of a fundamental principle in attaining peace of mind really struck home. Hopefully this time I can practice this belief.

At the heart of a good garden there is a deep peace of nature. At the heart of peace of mind there is an acceptance of wrongs, rejections and offenses without fighting to attain our “vision of the truth.”

A seed must die to rise again as a plant. The quiet death of bearing offenses is necessary to find true peace of mind.

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DiaryOfAWorm: Peace of Mind

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