By Zile Singh

               A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so. Nothing is good or bad but mind makes it so.

We are passing through a critical phase of our lives.  COVID-19 has made the world to kneel down.  All are grappling with physical as well as financial insecurity. Employees are losing their jobs. The economic indicators are frightening.  The stress level is increasing.  The two most important factors to remove stress – the social contacts and the places for prayer and worship are out of bounds.  Where to look for peace of mind?  In this situation,  “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself”- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Early years in my life, one day, sitting in the  library, I came across a sentence in a book written by Thomas Carlyle which says, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” This single sentence remained one of the strongest weapons on my side to navigate through a long successful career in the government service, which was full of sweet, salty and zigzag paths. This can apply to each of us in this fast- changing world infected with COVID-19.  To quote from his book, “I have a message that may be helpful. It is not philosophical, nor is it strictly moral or religious …. And yet in a way, it is all three. It is so simple that some of you may get rid of your disappointment and stress.  My message is but a word, a way. The way of life that I preach is a habit to be acquired gradually by long and steady repetition. It is the practice of living for the day only, and for the day’s work, living in “day-tight compartment”…. The chief worries of life arise from the foolish habit of looking before and after. So, do not live either in the past or in the future. Do each day’s work with your full interest, energy and enthusiasm. The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today’s work  well. Today’s work done well will become a memorable past tomorrow and will lay a good foundation for the future. Most of us have heard about the “Hourglass”. Life is just like an Hourglass on your table. Through a thin tube connecting the bowl at the top with the bowl at the bottom only one grain of sand passes through at a time. Slowly and slowly, the upper bowl empties and the lower bowl is filled. The example of the Hourglass, with its grains of sand dropping one by one, has shown thousands the way to great peace of mind and has helped them to achieve a more poised and restful mind. Though it is a bad time, it shall also pass. 

Plato said that nothing in human affairs is worth any great anxiety. With the presence of mind you will have a peace of mind. If you believe in God, then for God’s sake leave the future to Him.  Peace and God are synonyms. Where there is Peace, there is God, because God is always peaceful. A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so. There is nothing good or bad but mind makes it so. 

Fear, anger, depression and insecurity roam the mind day and night. In ancient Indian scriptures, the mind is compared to a wild elephant. To calm the mind is like tying the elephant to a stake. In the case of man, the  stake is nothing but the present. Therefore, tie the mind to the present to gain a peaceful state. In Buddhism, the mind is compared to a monkey. Monkeys are impulsive and fickle by nature, liable to jump here and there. Buddhist philosophy does not aim to tame the monkey-mind. It says that accept it as it is and transcend it to a higher awareness. This higher awareness is nothing but to be ‘in the present’. Another example is of an Oak tree. The greatest Oak tree was once a little Nut, who held its ground. This also means that the little nut held itself stuck at a proper level beneath the ground to flourish and to get its awesome height. Had the nut been at the surface level or too deep  below in the earth, it would not have even sprouted and seen the light of the day. The nut neither remained on the surface, i.e. in the air (future) nor did it go too deep down (past) in the ground.

In meditative terms, to make mind peaceful, make it a practice to withdraw your attention from the past and the future. This practice will unfold a unique experience where you will be surprised to know that it is very difficult to draw even a thin line between the past and the future. In an nth fraction, the time is either the future or the past. That nth fraction of time is the Present time which is an abode of Peace. To brood over the past gives you an identity and to roam into the future gives you a sense of anticipation in various forms. But, both are illusions. The Present is the only reality. Therefore, the more you focus on the past and the future, the more you will miss the Present and the peace of your mind. Focus on the present and start living a fruitful life.  

Zile Singh is a well respected Columnist, Writer, a Vipassana Meditator and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights.  He can be reached at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca