Amid the chaos of the current global health crisis, Philip Pegler writes about the upcoming publication of his latest book:

Quiet Courage of the Inner Light ~ Finding faith and fortitude in an age of anxiety.

He reflects how a shift in our response to threatening circumstances can provide a firm foundation of resilience, peace and courage that can transform our experience of adversity.

Publication of this volume is due just as the entire world is engaged in a fierce struggle to respond to the most terrible pandemic for years. In these dire circumstances my original book title (chosen several years ago) could hardly be more apposite – and at least it can be regarded as suggesting a positive way forward, enabling us to draw some important lessons from apparent catastrophe.

Perhaps an overwhelming medical emergency such as the current crisis represents was bound to come at some point in a world that has, for many years, been under intense pressure to sustain humanity. There are some commentators already beginning to look at the opportunities the crisis presents our global cultures to learn from past mistakes, to cooperate in a spirit of friendship for the common good and to let go of ways of living that no longer serve us and the planet that gives us life. The scourge of what has become the Coronavirus Pandemic may simply be Nature’s grim way of restoring the balance.

I personally find it helpful to look at things in that way and perhaps an insight like this might enable many different people of goodwill to come to the most helpful conclusion of all – that we do indeed need to radically change our ways if mankind is to survive and prosper in the
long term. The Coronavirus crisis could be regarded as a cloud with a silver lining – even if the blessing has been concealed in a fearsome disguise.

If we can only learn to adopt a positive attitude in the midst of all our difficulties, our own experiences can become transformed in the most profound way. After a lifetime spent in the quest for authentic spirituality, I am convinced that good things can emerge from the worst of afflictions. It is a liberating thought that sheds unfailing light on the path.

When we face the hammer blows of misfortune in a spirit of fortitude, something dark and rigid shifts deep within us. Gradually to our surprise and relief, we may find a more enduring peace of mind and a stability that cannot be so easily shaken. It is kind of alchemy – the transmutation of lead into gold.

 

Quiet Courage of the Inner Light

An excerpt from ‘Quiet Courage of the Inner Light’ by Philip Pegler
The world is evidently in crisis – and it is above all an existential crisis of perception. It constitutes a kind of entrenched misunderstanding, related to widespread confusion about human consciousness and identity, the true nature of which has not yet been apprehended by mainstream society.

 

Available at Amazon