The Island 

Peace is not a novelty. Peace is not a new thing. Peace is innate and necessary for our survival, for our well-being. We look at so many things, and sometimes we forget the very fundamental things.

There is a story of a man who inherited a beautiful island. And it was beautiful—beautiful beaches, trees, birds, flora, fauna. He could see the island, and his simple wish was to go to there, but he couldn’t swim. He tried to go by boat, but he couldn’t cross the reef. So he had a brilliant idea: “I’ll make a bridge.” He didn’t know how to make a bridge, so he went to college to learn how to build it. He studied and studied and learned how to do it.

Then he realized that he needed money to build this bridge and he didn’t have any. So he went back to school to learn how to make money. He went through a business management course, got his degree, and started one business venture after another to build the bridge with his newfound knowledge. Some failed, some succeeded. But by the time he had made enough money to build the bridge, he could hardly see the island.

The point of the story is that every human being wants to be content, wants to be happy, wants to feel peace in their life. It’s important. Excitement is fine, but there has to come a point when we can retreat within and feel the tranquility, the peace, and the joy in our lives.

If that one element is taken away, the person will ultimately stop enjoying everything. Success will look like failure. Failure will look like even a bigger failure. And everything that we are will come unglued.

I am here to remind you of something you already know—how important it is for all of us to be in peace. And yes, be in peace with all our differences.

That’s the challenge, because if we say, “Peace will come when all our differences have disappeared,” we’re going to get old fast, and peace is not going to happen. The idea of peace is not new. There has been an effort to have peace in every single civilization. The question is: Why can’t peace be in our lives now? The peace I am talking about is not a result of things on the outside; I am talking about searching for the peace that resides within.

What I really, really want is not somewhere out there, but within. I have to acknowledge my own thirst, my own feeling. I have to acknowledge what is knocking inside of me saying, “Be in peace.” Not tomorrow, not day after tomorrow, but now. I need to feel that feeling of being fulfilled—with or without all the things that are going on.

Is peace possible? Yes, peace is possible because peace begins with you. Nobody’s going to haul peace into your home. Peace is not pizza that can be delivered by a phone call. Peace is within you. It always has been. It’s going to take addressing the feeling that is within. That’s how peace is going to be felt.

Feel what is inside of you—the desire to be fulfilled. That is why peace is possible.