Just stop. Please. It's really not necessary. Closing your eyes for peace would truly do nothing. However, what you can do is open your eyes and find ways to offer your heart and your giving hands. You can march for peace, feed others for peace, and find more avenues to serve humanity. But meditation? No, that's not the way.

There is no such thing as ‘Peace of Mind.' Mind implies motion, movement, and, in some cases, conflict. As within so without. You can't pacify your mind by making it into an enemy. With endless attempts to shut it down. You will, eventually, give up. It will be you lifting the white flag, giving in, and following its every whim and desire. In a way, your mind is a defense mechanism. A very efficient and resourceful one. The mind constantly scans for evidence. It looks for reasons to protect its habitat, whether its dangers present themselves in physical, psychological, or social forms.

The mind is taught to be useful. To have a purpose. Almost everything we have around us serves a purpose. We learn to interact with each other and with the world around us in a practical way. In our relationships, we need to know we are valuable to one another. When choosing our careers and life's direction, value and worth are always terms we have to explore. This behavior is a direct result of our psychological need to survive. We learn how to perpetuate our existence and support our livelihood by being useful tools and instruments for society.

We learn, almost directly, that being an artist, a poet, a dancer, or a dreamer would not be an easy way to survive. We are taught that the creative process, which truly serves no purpose, will not pay our rent or bring food to our tables. By and by, we pedestaled the notion of productivity and turned ourselves into a product as well. We are, almost all the time – on the market. Therefore... the main question our mind often poses is – 'What for?'. What is this for? What can you do with this product? What is its value?

Our mind, frantically, is looking for ways to increase our value. To matter to someone. To be shiny enough so that some consumer overlooking the counter will see our greatness, realize how useful we are, and decide to take us home. The process of supply and demand, increasing our value, and attracting potential buyers is extremely tiring. In a way, it's an endless process of flexing a muscle. Eventually, it would become so tired it would literally beg for relaxation. Either by being so painful or even getting damaged – both are nothing but signals for us to stop.

We have learned that one of the ways to help our mind relax. To ease this process of frantic thinking is meditation. But alas... we still ask – what is this for? We sit to meditate, not as a process of relaxation but as another attempt to produce results. We expect an outcome from our relaxation. Seeking for some kind of a mystical experience that will grant us a higher value. But then... if that is what we try to achieve, meditation becomes just another one of our frantic tools to create more tension. Another means to an end. Another process where what matters most is not where we are but where we should be. What should happen, and what effect should this practice bring about to our lives.

Meditation is nothing more than letting your muscle stop its flexing. Allowing your mind and your thoughts to be more like a painting. An artistic expression. A reflection of life's beauty as a creative illustration within your soul. Meditation is absolutely useless. There's nothing to gain, and nothing to do. Meditation only happens at this moment and has no effect neither on your past nor your future. There is no such thing as a good meditation or a bad one. In the exact same way, there is no good or bad cloud. Those just float, move from here to there, carried by the winds of change.

If you meditate <em>for</em> something, you are directed towards the future. Meditating <em>for</em> love implies love isn't here right now. If you are meditating <em>for</em> creativity, you basically express that this moment, this instant, isn't creative. If you meditate <em>for</em> peace, rest assured -- that would not be a peaceful act. If you are directed towards the future, you are postponing your capacity to open up to the present.

When you'll sit to close your eyes for no purpose at all, that moment will lose its purposefulness but will gain a profound meaning. Your presence, who you are, the way life pulsates within you, your feelings, emotions, and yes, even your thoughts will be nothing more than a reflection of the absolute mystery we call life.

So... yes... please... stop meditating for peace. I beg of you. Try for a day to be utterly useless. Create your art, sing your song, and dance your dance. Offer your beloved your incompetency. Tell them, ‘Oh my dear, I am good for nothing'. Paint on their souls, create music with their bodies and form sculptures with their silence. And I promise you, when you do, you'll find out that peace has suddenly appeared by its own accord.