False peace

Even when we have been on the path for some time, it is very easy for us to slip into some form of selfdeception or self-indulgence. What John Cassian called the pax perniciosa, what he also called the lethal sleep, is something that people can remain in for many years, or slip into. We all perhaps are familiar with it. You find, sometimes, the mantra guides you into a state of peace, tranquillity, harmony and a deep sense of well-being. And at that point, many people say, “The mantra now is no longer necessary. I no longer need to let go because I’ve been given what I have been looking for, and I don’t have to let go of this because this is the very thing that I’ve been trying to acquire.” We have to remember that the poverty of meditation, which we accept in our fidelity to the mantra, has no limit. It goes all the way. So the danger of the false peace in fact, is only really overcome by reminding ourselves of the wonderful and absolute quality of poverty which the mantra invites us to and which we freely accept by saying it.

( Aspects of Love 1, by Laurence Freeman )