HALF MAN, HALF BEAST

 

Statue of a satyr, half beast and half man, looking down on humanity, with a pitying yet calculating eye.

 

I am a satyr, half man, half beast. I feel my man as a beast. I am tied to it, yet I long to be free of it.  I long to be untethered from its galloping goatish legs, its lusts, its desires, its ridiculous tendency to take offence, and worry, and be afraid, and try to control outcomes and protect its poor self. As much as I feel the emotions of my man part flow through me, so much more quickly do I wish to be rid of them. I want no more time for guilt, or jealousy, or any little subtle gradation of fear.  I want none of it.

 

Figure of a man, hand to brow, deep in thought.

 

Half human

 

Is there a way to live in a human body, in time, and to be at peace?  Is peace possible? That is the question.  Is it conceivable? Let us start on the level of personal experience, because what else is there? So, in my experiential world, is peace possible?

 

A night scene of islands in the ocean, underneath constellations in the heavens.

 

Do you think you can imagine something that couldn’t exist?  Are you more than God? What is not possible that you can think of?  If you can imagine it, it exists.

 

Infinity is all around, in directions you don’t even know of.  Peace, of course, exists.

 

A mother duck with her six downy chicks in a row alongside of her, all contemplating the water. A picture of contentment.

 

How do I manifest peace?  Because that, really, is the question. What else would I want to know? With peace, comes everything else I could desire: a sense of completion, of rest, of having no more desires, of escaping time, of releasing outcomes, of surrender.  With peace, there is nothing more to want.

How does one have peace?

 

Mahatma Gandhi in old age, with a smile on his face

 

By choosing it over every other thing. By refusing to pay attention to complaining, to superficial matters, by refusing to spend time arguing about details, by refusing all forms, however subtle, of ego and fear. You have fought with them long enough, and they have decimated you. Now lay down all your weapons, leave the battlefield, and from this moment forth, become peace.

 

I will fight no more forever

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

 

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, in ceremonial dress, hand over his solar plexus and serious, faraway aspect in his face.

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