Peace

Hello, my name is Ben Cobb, and I've been invited by Tyler to write on this blog. I'm grateful that he has given me the opportunity to do so. Tyler and I spent some time together in India this past summer. During our time together, we had some great conversations and we learned a lot about each other. I hope we continue to spark great conversations through this blog.

There have been times in my life where peace is all around. Then, there are other times where its quite the opposite. Recently there have been some tumultuous things occur in my life, however, during this time I've been researching about peace, and I think that has changed my outlook on my surroundings. It has also allowed me to see spiritual and temporal peace as 2 distinct things.

What is the difference between spiritual and temporal peace?

In short, my spiritual peace is something I control 100%. My temporal peace, I like to pretend I can control, and a lot of things I can, but not all.

I define spiritual peace as peace of conscience, being in tune spiritually.

(Book of Mormon | Mosiah 4:3‎)‎

And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.

Spiritual peace is mine, no one can take that from me. The fruits of spiritual peace are: happiness, joy, calmness, charity, gratitude, and light. For me, it extends to the desire to do good, actively striving to be a better person, add value to other people's lives. It's being like my Savior, the Prince of Peace, bringing peace to others because He's at peace. No matter what's going on around me, I have the power to be at peace spiritually. It's a peace that is hard to describe, but every human being on this planet is searching for it, striving for it, it's something that is imprinted on our spirit from a time long forgotten. We know when it's missing, we know when we have to change to find it once again.

Temporal peace is having everything around me at peace. Family, finances, all my world in order. Things that occur to knock my temporal peace out of whack would be financial hardships, natural disasters, war, famine, pestilence. It is hard to control much of these, however, I can control the degree in which they affect me.

(Book of Mormon | Mosiah 10:1‎)‎

And it came to pass that we again began to establish the kingdom and we again began to possess the land in peace. And I caused that there should be weapons of war made of every kind, that thereby I might have weapons for my people against the time the Lamanites should come up again to war against my people.

During times of temporal peace, I must prepare for all types of temporal disasters that will occur. It's a matter of when they occur, not if they occur. I must shore up my chances of retaining as much temporal peace as possible during temporal upheaval. Saving money, food storage, eating healthy, exercising. When disaster hits, if I have not done all I could to prepare, my spiritual peace will suffer to a certain degree until I have repented. Meaning, as I strive to be a prince of peace, and I have not done all I could to prepare myself temporally, I have not kept all the commandments or principles necessary for the highest level of spiritual peace during a disaster. Now, the key is, done all I could. There are times, where disasters are so encompassing that there is nothing I could have done to prepare for it. However, during these times, if I'm at peace spiritually and I keep everything in perspective, it is bearable.

(Doctrine and Covenants 121:7‎)‎

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

Spiritual peace is what I want to strive for, to constantly have. Doing away with unbelief, and keeping the commandments I can maintain peace, always. When I'm at peace, I have no anxiety, my stomach is not tied up in knots, I am not nervous, I am focused, I am inspired and I strive for more and more peace. I always want to remember that as a son of God, I have a divine birthright, and I must feed my desire to constantly seek out greater happiness and peace and rest.

(Pearl of Great Price | Abraham 1:2‎)‎

And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.