Episode Transcript  

One

The Good of Inner Peace 

Have you ever watched any Kung Fu movies or shows? It hardly matters which one. It could be that old seventies show with David Carradine, or the new franchise of Kung Fu Panda movies. One thing they have in common (in addition to the fighting, of course) is the focus on “inner peace.” The warrior-in-training, in addition to learning the actual skill of fighting, has to learn the discipline of inner peace, which always ends up being the hardest part. 

Now, Kung Fu movies are generally pretty silly, but actually, we have a pretty clear confirmation these days that inner peace is a critical part of human flourishing. We have that confirmation precisely when we look at how many people don’t have inner peace and how desperately they’re trying to figure out how to get it. 

Our society is absolutely flooded with a demand for therapeutic services and drugs. The sheer volume of people seeing therapists or taking some kind of prescription drug for mental or emotional issues is utterly astounding and would have been unthinkable just a generation or two ago. We are shot through with inner turmoil, inner angst, inner dysphoria. We can’t get comfortable, we can’t get right with ourselves. We can’t get peace. We’re tensed up, strung out, in perpetual crisis mode, and looking for some kind of relief.  

So what does inner peace actually look like, and how can we get it? 

Two

Inner Peace = Inner Integrity 

The idea of both peace and conflict is an idea that presupposes complexity. There can only be peace or conflict when there is a multitude of something. Peace is when that multitude is in harmony, when all the different elements are integrated. Conflict is when the elements are clashing, each with the others. So the basic thing to understand is that the human person has a lot of elements. We are composed of many different faculties.  

So, for instance, we have an intellect, by which we think. We have a will, by which we choose. And we have passions, by which we feel. And inner peace just means that our thoughts, our decisions, and our feelings are all in line with one another, that they’re all directed to the same goal, pulling us towards the same thing, our ultimate destiny. 

So what’s the most basic way we achieve inner peace? Simple. By mediation and resolution. 

Three

Thinking and Acting Changes Feelings 

Feelings and emotions are good. They’re gifts from God. But they were never meant to be in charge. Thinking should direct our actions, not feelings. Emotions make good servants, but very bad masters. The only way to have inner peace is when right thinking, not unstable or wrong feelings, governs our behavior. 

So how do we change our feelings? By changing how we think and how we act. This begins through daily meditation, and it only bears fruit when we end that meditation with a concrete resolution. Consider what happens in meditation: We reflect on the life and teaching of Jesus, the saints, or the Church. As we think about it, we see a gap between how we think, feel, and act, and how we are called to live. That gap reveals where our thinking needs conversion. 

It also shows where our behavior must change. Then, through our daily resolution, we make a choice, a small, practical game plan to live the truth we’ve just seen. That decision begins to reshape our actions. And here’s the surprising part: When we think rightly and act rightly, our feelings begin to follow. Right thinking and right action bring our emotions into harmony. When mind, heart, and will become integrated, the result is inner peace. But this transformation doesn’t happen automatically. It requires both daily meditation on the Word of God and a daily resolution to live it out. Without both, our thoughts run wild, and our emotions stay untamed. 

Four

Unbreakable and Unstoppable 

In the classic Kung Fu movie genre, inner peace is indispensable for becoming an effective warrior. And of course, if we understand inner peace as virtue, that makes sense. Inner peace, organizing all the faculties of the soul and launching them in the same direction, causes us to barrel through life at full speed and full strength. In other words, it makes us unstoppable. And inner peace, bringing all the parts of the soul together neatly, like sticks tightly bundled,that means each faculty of the soul draws resilience from the others.  

In other words, it makes us unbreakable. That’s why the saints, who achieved the highest level of virtue (i.e., inner peace), were unbreakable and unstoppable. Because they knew the goal, and they disciplined themselves until their faculties were organized and pointing at heaven. A lot of therapists won’t talk about the ultimate goal, and they can’t give you virtue, so they can’t give you inner peace. Drugs certainly won’t tell you anything about the ultimate goal, and they can’t give you virtue, so they can’t give you inner peace. But we already know what the ultimate goal is. And we know how to meditate and form resolutions. And that will, eventually, give us virtue and inner peace. 

Five

The Restlessness that Remains 

Like all the basic goods, we won’t get inner peace fully until Heaven. That’s because, even if we have integrated all our faculties and pointed them in the right direction, they’ll still be pulling towards something they don’t yet have. So part of the right way to deal with our lack of inner peace is to recognize that, to some degree, it’s an unavoidable part of the human condition. As St. Augustine so famously said, because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. 

But if you’re getting your thoughts and images and feelings and decisions in line, through daily meditation and resolution, that means you’re on the right path to peace.   

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