White flowering plants fill the foreground with a village and distant mountains in the background under a clear sky.

How to reach Peace? A crucial question, a simple answer.

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“It is the harmony of the differences
Which is the richness of Life”

The last few months, since the release of the last journal, so many things have happened that it seems impossible to share a glimpse of the richness of events. Talking about it, writing about it, would be merely surface sketching, which feels like giving just an all to poor impression.
Yoginâm writes in the introduction of Abbah Unveiling:

“We are the creators of our human world of living. We are an infinity that creates the existence that it is becoming. Our activities, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, ideals and opinions are the tools with which we create.”

Elderly woman with white hair in a white outfit, barefoot, looking at a smartphone beside a stack of folded white linens on an ironing board in a closet/laundry area, with a wooden wardrobe nearby.
Smiling man in a beige hat and sunglasses stands beside a woman in a floral dress, holding a large leafy bouquet in a kitchen.
Smiling woman wearing a head scarf and red apron sits at a kitchen table, cutting herbs while a boot casts her leg in a wrap.

Imagine the reality, the beauty and the vastness of this and you will get an idea what living in the Garden of Nâm is all about. How do you live that, carry that, manage that? The living of Nâm is not about doing meditations, hosting guests, maintaining a garden and organising events. These are just the daily activities with which we shape our Human way of Living. What really matters are the attitudes and the behaviour with which we aim to live optimally, with which we shape our lives and ultimately ourselves.

Peace

For instance, we hosted a Peace Festival. A beautiful event with so many different human beings. People from all ages and walks of life gathering together to celebrate, remember, find and create peace. It was new for us to host a festival. We never had so many people staying all at once in the Garden for 4 days. Half of our staff was disabled because of various reasons. A very interesting situation! The theme of the festival made me wonder…

Two men recording a podcast in a home studio, with microphones, laptops, and audio gear, a guitar in the corner and a TV on an ornate cabinet behind them.
Group of adults in a living room doing a balance exercise, holding hands while standing on mats; barefoot, wearing white outfits.
Purple ixora flowers with glossy green leaves; a dark insect is visible on the left.

How about peace?

In Fragments of Voice Yoginâm writes: “If you want Peace, make Peace!” Although it sounds a little harsh, a very useful advise. For how often do we not try to find peace in ways that do not actually lead to peace? By quarrelling, by pleasing, by judging or by searching satisfaction? Making peace is about becoming a peaceful human being. Aiming to do that, to understand that and to really feel that requires time and effort. For this LivingNâm provides tools and optimal environments; in order to explore optimal living for yourself.

A family music session: a man holding a young child sits with two women on a beige carpet, with microphones and a guitar nearby, smiling at the camera in a simple room.
Stone-paved garden path beside a gravel bed with yellow and pink roses, and a stone wall on the right under a clear blue sky.
Person in sandals creating a flower garland on a wooden outdoor table with stems and greenery nearby.

Snoring

I remember one day discovering how beneficial this can be. Yoginâm was visiting Asharum Amonines in Belgium. So many people came together and there was by far not enough space to provide everybody with a room. Many brought a mat and sleeping bag to find a spot on the floor in the meditation room. One night a huge obstacle appeared in the shape of a skilful and dedicated snorer, laying next to me shaking the rafters. I noticed getting deeply annoyed. However, being irritated in a meditation room had something inconsistent. So I tried to put into practise what I felt that the Asharum was all about.

I realised that it was my attitude towards the snoring that disturbed me and that I needed to make peace with the phenomenon. So in stead of looking at it in a hateful way I could try to find in it something that I could accept. Contemporary classical music came to mind. Earlier I had learned to appreciate experimental art music that sounds so very different than the famous compositions of before.

So I decided to listen as if I was in a concert-hall discovering new harmonics, rhythms and melodies. And then the funny thing happened, next morning I woke up completely relaxed and with a feeling of contentment. In the years that followed I enjoyed some more snoring concerts and was able to assure the snorers that they were doing me a favour.

Group of people in white robes seated on cushions in a bright room, practicing meditation or ceremony.
Man with long hair wearing a striped shirt plays a Roland keyboard outdoors in sunlight.
Group of smiling people waving from a garden with tall cacti in foreground and a white modern house against a blue sky.

In that special situation and in that special environment I started to discover what Yoginâm may mean with “peaceful acknowledgement”. An attitude of affirmation that actually enables ´doing peace´. It is like saying ´Yes!´ while jumping into a river in order to swim. It is the attitude of living life optimally as it manifests itself.

It was a poem that inspired me at the time to make peace with the snoring, simply by changing my attitude towards it. To conclude this months journal I would like to share it with you. Not as a truth to believe in but as an invitation to explore. For me, in this poem, ´He´ and ´You´ are unknowable totality or life itself. And ´Abbah´ an anchor to relate to the vastness and intimacy of that.

Come whatever is Your will

Yes, I said to him, Yes, Come!
Come Whatever is your will

What do my opinions matter
Then He took me by the hand
And led me step by step to His realm

It was my delusion that questioned me
Is this good? Is this bad?

But come, come whatever is Your will

And He took me up, oh so gently
And I entered paradise

I went through lanes of trees
Clapping joyfully their hands

Arcades of yellow and red roses

Everywhere I saw great Lovers
United in Your light

I saw Jesus, Buddha and Junayd
Dancing together in great circles

Planets joyfully celebrating Your sun

What any longer is the use of religion and theology
What purpose lies in ´this or that`

I circled with them for a lifetime
All my nonsensical thoughts I chased away

Henceforth and from all mountaintops
My arms spread out wide, I ceaselessly sing

Oh great Love, come, yes, come
Whatever is Your will

Oh Abbah

(from: Yoginâm, 101 mystical poems)

Older woman sits on a wicker chair, crafting a flower garland on a wooden bench outdoors by a white wall.
Older man sits at a wicker table outdoors, threading flowers with string and a focused expression, with a metal bowl and greenery on the table.
Baskets of bundled lavender with purple blooms tied with string, arranged on a terracotta floor.
Close-up of a fluffy white dog lying on a brown concrete surface, nose near the ground.
Orange pumpkin resting on dry soil among green pumpkin plant stems in a field.
Tabby cat lounging in a woven wicker chair outdoors with greenery in the background.
Close-up of brown eucalyptus seed pods (gumnuts) on a green needle-like branch with a blurred background
Ripe pomegranates hanging on a branch, one split open to reveal bright red arils against green leaves and a clear blue sky behind.
Cream-colored spherical flower head on a tall stem in front of a dense green shrub with small round fruits.
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