The insights that allow us to experience equanimity or “heaven on earth” are universal and are found within our True self. The two sources below, the first from the East and second from the West–separated in time by centuries–serve to illustrate our point.
EAST (the 7th century CE)
“To detach both kinds of sense-organs–those of perception and those of action–from objective things, and to withdraw them to rest in their respective centers–this is called self-control. True mental poise consists in not letting the mind react to external stimuli. To endure all kinds of afflictions without rebellion, complaint or lament [reaction]–this is called forbearance [response].[i]
WEST (1975)
“When your Conscious-awareness watches your own body and mind [including reactions] and all the people and things in the world around you from a deep, calm place inside you, you will find there intuitively wells up within you everything you need to understand. You will have insights that yield exactly what you need to do to flow with the river of life around you.”[ii]
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Supplemental Reading: Vedanta, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 2
#70 Mental Poise
[i] Johnson, Clive [ed.], Vedanta. An Anthology of Hindu Scripture, Commentary, and Poetry. New York: Bantam, 1971, p. 131.
[ii] Keyes, Ken. Handbook to Higher Consciousness. Berkley, California: Living Love Center, 1975, p. 21.
