In God Makes the Rivers to Flow; An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose, Eknath Easwaran has included a selection from the Tao Te Ching and entitled it “Holding to the Constant.”  I have written the following poem-like reflection inspired by this selection.

Eternal Now

Break into the peace within,
Hold attention in stillness,
And in the world outside
You will ably master the ten thousand things.
—Lao Tzu

Breaking and entering is permissible if you are breaking into peace.

The peace within you is impossible to steal.  For it has no limits.

The limits you put upon your peace are illusions.

Sit still.  Sit still and focus on a breath, a word, a phrase, a passage of peace.  Focus for a long time.

Come back to stillness every day.

Make a commitment to your chair, to your place of being and becoming.

You will come to a door in consciousness.  Your focus will be the key.

Behind the door you will find a large room.  At the other end will be another door.

You will have the key.

And you will find an even larger room.  With another door.

Put your key in the lock.

An even larger room appears.  Another door.  Your key.

You will pass through many rooms, all larger than the one before.  You will pass through many doors.

And as you progress, the silence will grow larger as well, larger and sweeter.

Until you open the last door, and enter a vast forest, with a floor so soft you can’t even hear your footsteps.  And there will be silence and there will be exquisite music.

And as you walk through your life, you will carry that silence within you and that music.

And obstacles will no longer be obstacles, chores no longer chores.

Ten thousand things will be one thing after another, handled with total focus and grace.

And your peace will be indistinguishable from joy and love.

In the stillness within, you will touch the Eternal Now, the Way, the Tao.