The peace that passes all understanding - please share!

[TheFlyingMan]

Hey guys, have any of you ever experienced this peace? I'm very curious as to what you guys have, if anyone could be bothered to type in a description; what it felt like, what led up to it and so on.

I'll start with mine; I've had a few feelings of peace ever since I started spirituality and meditation a few months ago, it's mostly a general feeling of calm (mostly from the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, I find he's one of the best out of all I've tried)...but this peace does get disrupted sometimes when trouble pops up at work, for example an obnoxious client gets to me. It affects me much less then before though.

The one time I think I felt this peace was strangely enough during an argument with my (now-ex) GF. We were going through a very rough breakup, lots of arguments and yelling. Of course I childishly thought I was innocent and it was all her fault.

We were arguing over the phone for weeks and reaching the breaking point. I had lost my temper quite a few times and yelled. (It takes a lot for me to yell in anger in an argument.) Then one night she called to pick another fight, again insisting that she was right and I was wrong. But I just felt so peaceful. Nothing she said could affect me. I responded to everything she said with calm love, I felt so good and so loving from inside and outside. All the petty things that a day ago caused us to shout and scream meant nothing; I felt no anger and lost no pride in letting her win all the arguments, in admitting I was wrong even when I was right, in nothing. In fact nothing was right or wrong, it didn't seem to matter. What happened just happened, there was no right or wrong, nothing to defend, nothing to attack. It was as close to unconditional love as I have felt.

She responded to it with a few minutes of egoic posturing, then she became loving and peaceful. I actually thought to myself "Wow - is this what Tolle was talking about?"

The next day I lost that peace, the pettiness returned slowly, and we slid back into another 2 weeks of arguing before we finally cut all communications.

I think Tolle mentioned that when all the structures that hold up your ego collapse, you suddenly come to that space where you realise nothing really matters and it was all an illusion; that was the time you just Be and not Do. And that is when you access the peace. Try as I might, nothing since then has come close to that feeling. Like I said, meditation has gotten me a bit closer to that state in general, but it's not unshakeable like that night was.

If anyone has any similar experiences, please share!

[Megan]

TheFlyingMan, well, I'm sorry about the difficult time you've had, but wow, what a neat experience to have under your belt!

I've seen a pattern in my life and other people's lives that when you start out on the spiritual path, the Universe, God, whatever you want to call it, will send these delicious experiences to sort of whet the appetite for more, and serve as a guiding star when things get rough.

And then, poof! Where did all the wonderfulness go?

It's easy to get discouraged and think the Universe has played a fast one on you when you can't seem to "get there" again at will.

But once you know that such peace exists, you'll never again be satisfied at lower levels, so...the deed is done, and now you've got to get in the yoke, and do the work to be actually able to "live there" and not just "visit."

I wish someone had told me this long years ago. It would have spared me all kinds of grief and disillusionment.

As the saying goes, "The truth will make you free, but first it will make you miserable."

And yes, I remember one morning standing in a snowy meadow at sunrise with the Cascades mountains all around, and knowing, in the depths of my being, that in just the same way the sun makes everything on earth grow, so God will make me grow.

It's been a touchstone experience for me through many trying times.

Best wishes!

[TheFlyingMan]

Thanks, good luck on your journey too!