Most people are troubled. It's called "LIFE"!
The way you deal with life defines you. Unfortunately, it is the plight of most people to struggle through life. That struggle can cause many ways to cope or not cope depending on the person and the situation. One may suffer depression, anxiety, paranoia, elation, euphoria, and any number of feelings. One of the most desired feelings is one of inner peace. This is desired because it is a coping mechanism that is sustainable. How does one obtain it?
The christians will lie to you and tell you through christ and that is as far as it gets. You can ask a multitude of questions hoping for tangible answers but you will never get anything. They will tell you that you need to have a relationship with a person that died over 2000 tears ago if he lived at all. Then they will tell you if you pray your prayers will be answered. Both are total hogwash. There is NO FUCKING EVIDENCE anywhere that ANY FUCKING PRAYER has been answered let alone granted. You may as well rub a fucking lamp. The only difference is that with the one you actually end up with a shiny lamp.
So you don't achieve inner peace from any religion no matter what anyone says or claims
The truth is that "Inner Peace" is a personal decision. You have to decide to just not take everything seriously, to not panic over anything and just deal with things as they come up.
Take an experienced airline pilot or even better a fighter pilot.
He/she is flying along and all sorts of lights and buzzers go off. Do they panic? Do they automatically eject? No, they isolate the problem and deal with it accordingly. They have confidence that they can overcome any emergency. Their confidence gives them the inner peace that they need. Those that can't achieve inner peace don't have confidence in themselves. They are insecure and afraid of failure. So they are afraid that an emergency will arise in the first place.
There are ways to deal with this insecurity but achieving inner peace always starts with deciding to do so.
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Inner peace is not a personal goal of mine. I enjoy an inner struggle. A sense of unease is motivational to me.
I go for inner peace. Simply because there is not enough of it in life. I do not need inner peace full time, but the ability to at least at times, be at peace with yourself I think can be a very valuable place to be in.
To me it also helps with suppressing the faster and more powerful emotional brain, and bringing the logical, thinking brain forward, which frequently results in better decision making.
*edited to include a missed word: ("not".)
I think one’s route to inner peace (I’m not really sure what inner peace is though), if that’s what they want to go after, must be of their own design. If someone thinks they can get there by contemplating their navel, then good on ‘em.
Okay CberLN YOU understand that it is a personal choice.
Yes, I do. And I also think that if one wants it, they can find it wherever they choose, including in theism.
No, theism is a false hope. People that seek inner peace through a god don't achieve it because of that god. They inadvertently achieve it because they choose to find it falsely attributing it to their faith just like they attribute everything to their god. Like a surgeon that has a successful operation and then declares that "god" guided his hands is just as wrong.
Well, how would you demonstrate your claim that someone who believes they have achieved something as squishy as inner peace doesn’t actually have it?
And really, I don’t give two shits how they think they got it.
For inner peace you just need a high-fiber diet.
Sat, 04/07/2018 - 13:39
CyberLN "I think one’s route to inner peace (I’m not really sure what inner peace is though), if that’s what they want to go after, must be of their own design. If someone thinks they can get there by contemplating their navel, then good on ‘em."
Sadly that navel gazing comes with a lot of baggage, some of it quite pernicious.
Well, all sorts of things have baggage. To further explain what I said earlier, I don’t care how someone arrives at something so personal as inner truth (whatever it is, I’m just not sure) as long as it doesn’t effect me or anyone else less able to ignore them.
CberLN this thread isn't about ignoring things. Why the fuck do you have to be so fucking negative? This is a discussion not a fight over an issue. It is basically a non-issue. It is just a simple discussion.
Inner peace is elusive. The faith sellers say that it is easily obtained through faith, that is a total lie. There are all sorts of snake oil salesman selling "inner peace" by various means. None have the key. You can't force people to make a personal choice. You can only show them that they have that choice.
To actually obtain inner peace you have to do several things. The first thing is to surrender. That is to say that you can't win everything, maybe nothing. Inner peace is accepting the situation no matter what it is and the fact that you may not have any control over it. It is releasing that control.
I know that you like to try and attempt to sabotage my threads. You seem to get a great deal of pleasure from it. My inner peace comes from knowing I can't do anything about that. I can't change your attitude. I don't even attempt to. I just accept you for who you are. Just like I can't keep Breezy from being a malcontent. He loves the irony that he plays a devil's advocate on an atheist forum.
Sure there are some theists that have inner peace, but it has absolutely nothing to do with their faith. So you don't fucking care how someone gained their inner peace. Well, I don't fucking care that you don't care. It's obvious that you only replied to this thread to disrupt it or try to end it with the "I don’t care how someone arrives at something so personal as inner truth (whatever it is, I’m just not sure) as long as it doesn’t effect me or anyone else less able to ignore them." What a condescending statement. It is saying "You shouldn't have even started this thread because YOU CberLN have decided that it isn't worth discussion ( probably only because I started this thread). If you ignore this "non-issue" then why the fuck didn't you just ignore the thread? I don't know what your problem is but you definitely have one. I hope you get over it because then YOU might find some inner peace!
So noted.
@mykcob
You know, as I read your comment here I was getting so worked up. Just ready to reply to this, but then as I read further I couldn't help bursting into laughter. I am actually shaking from laughter. I don't mean to be rude, but you are hilarious. Just go re-read your comment. Listen to yourself. Why do you act this way? Why are you so angry?
@ UmmHurayra
It is never a good idea to poke a tiger.
@id man
I am not poking at anyone. I merely express my opinion and everyone here has equal right to express themselves. No one here has the right to shut anyone else up. Where is the freedom of expression the atheists here talk about? Why is it one person must dominate a thread, and the moment another (albeit another atheist) questions the topic in a way which doesn't suit the creator of the thread, then sparks need to fly? That's not very matured is it? Ironically, the topic here is inner peace. What a joke. I don't fear any man/woman, and I most certainly don't correlate anyone here with a tiger. They can keep dreaming.
@ UmmHurayra
My, we are in a feisty mood this morning!
Just to get back on thread, amusing as it is for me watching you attempt to provoke actions and reactions to your jibes.
I am not sure of the definitions of "inner peace" are universal to all mankind.
I certainly achieve clarity and calm by practicing various zen exercises and meditation. I have achieved the state of 'no mind' in combat where mind and muscle are combined in one exquisite sensation of 'now'. It is unforgettable.
I've decided I rather like your style, even if I disagree with your position on certain topics. I hope you stick around. You're pretty cool.
@UmmHurayra
Don't mistake my manner for anger. You'll know when I am angry. You don't know that history that I addressed. You are new here. You don't know what you are talking about.
@mykcob4
1. The Christians are not lying to you. Their path to peace involves "Turning Everything Over to God and just praying about it." Obviously time will change most things. So the Christian mind simply accepts the change as coming from god, regardless of what that change is, and then say, "God works in mysterious ways." Peace comes from pretending they have no control and everything is up to God. This ACTUALLY IS a way to INNER PEACE. Just don't worry about life.
2. I would not assert that inner peace means not taking everything seriously.
Some life events are serious. "A Buddhist monk was walking up to the monastery. He passed a field of corn and saw that the cows had broken down the fence and were munching on the delicious golden ears. He noticed the world around him and remained in the moment, noticing one step at a time on the dirt path. He remained peaceful and calm. Then he got to the monastery and told the master of his journey. "You idiot." Cried the master. "That corn is all we have to eat for the winter." Then he picked up his staff and ran down to the field to chase the cows from the corn.
Inner peace is not a feeling of 'PEACE." It is a feeling of "ACCEPTANCE." I am angry when I am angry and greedy when I am greedy and loving when I am loving. Peace is not seeking out nature and pretending I am meditating. It is accepting the traffic in the streets, the sound of construction, the screaming and yelling that occurs and getting that all of this is me. I am at peace when I am angry, hungry, sad, etc.... These are human emotions and I have them just like you and just like everyone else.
When I try to be "AT PEACE," while also being angry, sad, upset. etc... I create an extra layer of friction between myself and my emotions. I am telling myself not to feel this way or that way and to be at peace instead. This leads to the same peace the Christian has. Like the Christian, I am simply ignoring my emotional states and turning everything over to this "Being at Peace idea that I have." I am fighting my natural inclinations. Peace is not the choice to be at peace. Peace comes from observing reactions and not from suppressing them. Peace comes from expressing reactions in peaceful ways. Being able to have the awareness to tell someone, "I am feeling really angry right now." Is much more healthy and more peaceful than punching them in the nose. It is also more healthy than ignoring and pretending at this thing called "being at peace" when obviously I am not at peace. Being in a plane that is going to crash, feeling like you are going to die, accepting that and still doing all you can to prevent it, is what pilots are trained to do. No "peace" required. Just a lack of emotional response. Whether they yell before they hit the ground, feel at peace, or pray is only how they deal with their imminent death. There is no confidence in imminent death. You accept it, you reject it, you fight it, you pray about it. How you check out of existence is up to you. You are just as dead no matter what you do. Getting this is "Inner Peace."
EXACTLY COG. Don't get me wrong I don't think that inner peace actually means not taking anything seriously. And your characterization of how theists describe inner peace was what I was trying to say. They attribute inner peace to their god but it is the actual action of surrender and realizing that one cannot control everything.
Take a field action. The goal is to dominate the situation and control the environment but that never happens. There are things that are completely out of one's control. So you affect damage control and work for the best and most effective outcome. Panic is a liability that prevents one from doing that.
Or take a baseball game. A player makes an error. If he dwells on it he'll make another error and maybe lose the game over it. Accepting reality, situations, and the course of events that you cannot control is the surrender I speak about. It doesn't mean that we abandon our natural way at all.
My 'inner peace', as you call it, comes from the analysis of my surroundings. An unexamined life is not worth living, for me. When life deals you lemons, analyze the source of the lemons and what makes the lemons undesirable, and decide whether you should divert the flow of lemons or simply adapt. And along the way, learn a thing or two. My moments of peacefulness come mostly from problem solving and learning.
I think that gay men have to deal with far more than people even realize. Learning to adapt is the biggest success for all gay men I assume and I admire that capability.
Thanks, it means a lot.
mykcob4
Yea, sounds better put that way. Our nature is our nature and peace actually comes from knowing who I am and not from pretending that I am not the jerk that I am. If I deny it, I create distance between my actual self and my imagined self. If I admit it and recognize it, I can choose to work on it, use it to my advantage and even control it by expressing it in peaceful ways.
@Cog even though I totally disagree with you politically I usually totally agree with you philosophically. This one of those times. Inner Peace is the calm of confidence over the fear an panic. Inner peace never changes who we are only how we are. My inner peace doesn't erase my fear it gives the courage to deal with it.
@mykcob
Hmmm.... From one perspective I see what you mean. From another I want to assert that with inner peace there is no fear.
The best I can describe this is when fighting. There is a place where there is no pain. Coaches in sports are good at getting their athletes to this place. They push them to the point of breaking and then things become automatic and brainless. Moving meditations also work on this philosophy. It is a place where life and death have no meaning at all., There is just the thing you are doing. (Does that make sense?)
You are in the here and now.
I know nothing about politically so I must claim ignorance. At the same time I am not talking necessarily philosophically. This is real and it is experienced in things like "runner's high, forms of meditation, and in some cases daily life with people who have practiced.
Having confidence in oneself is a crucial component of achieving inner peace. This confidence can come from developing and honing one's leadership skills, providing a sense of control and mastery over one's life. Like a pilot, a good leader can confidently assess and handle problems without becoming overwhelmed by panic or insecurity. By prioritizing personal growth and cultivating Leadership skills, individuals can gain the self-assurance they need to achieve inner peace and successfully navigate life's challenges.