To live serenely is a challenge to many of us today. We surrender to the mesmeric influences of materialism as manifested by contemporary society and find ourselves hurrying to and from our places of business or employment, rushing to catch trains, planes, and buses—even hurrying to leave for a vacation spot where we hope to stop hurrying! We do this because we aren't sufficiently awake to the fact that disturbed or restless activity is the result of thinking based on material sense testimony.
"If I don't hurry," we say, "I'll be late." Or, "I'll miss the bus; the show will have started; the store will be closed; this assignment will not be completed." All this stems from the commonly held theory that we are a lot of limited mortals, each with a built-in mind, competing with time and each other.
Many people have turned to drugs and other material ways for release from the pressures of living, only to find that these means frequently intensify the sense of pressure and frustration. True peace is never passive; it is the natural consequence and condition of Godlike thinking and living. The mere suppression of feelings and emotions begets a counterfeit sense of peace. It is like sitting above a seething volcano.
