Buddha said “peace comes from within. Seek it not from without.” Avenues for the internal peace he described are scarce. Peace cannot be delivered, only derived from what is already within. For this discovery to occur one must take the initiative to peer into the depths of their soul. Meditation is an avenue that I can attest to, as it enables one to do so. 

Meditation is often disregarded as the mumblings of a bunch of tree huggers but in actuality is has deep roots in many religions. Whether or not you think the fact that Buddha swore by this practice legitimizes its power, meditation is still revered by many others.

My initial gravitation towards the practice was actually brought on by the testimony of my friends. I had always felt obligated to stand by my family faith so at any temptation to diverge from its teachings I quickly diverted my eyes. However at some point I realized that the mere urge to discover oneself could by no means be considered a betrayal of faith. If anything, it would only serve me to connect with God in a more intimate way. 

Long since early adolescence I had felt that my soul (if you believe in such a thing) was tethered to something burdensome. I felt this disabled me from connecting with both God and those around me. At the time I did not know exactly what it was, but the older I became the more I felt its weight inhibit me. I was desperately seeking a way to somehow ascend in spite of it, but I had not considered that before I could do so, I needed to cut the ties between it and me.

Meditation is the breaching of three barriers: physical, mental, and spiritual. In order to resolve the conflict of self, I needed to follow this path. 

The path is definitely not smooth, and I’d be lying if I said it was short, but the destination will finally bring you to peace. You must begin by eliminating physical ties. They are those that we experience on the surface and are, in other words, the human in us. 

While our humanity is one of our defining characteristics, I do not believe it solely constitutes a human. Rather, it is the soul that we all yearn to connect with. In pursuit, one will also encounter a mental barrier. This varies from person to person, but with ample care I assure you it can be navigated. 

The journey may be slow but as Confucius said “it does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.”