Achieving Ataraxis (Peace of Mind)

For clarity, I have chosen to use the term ataraxis instead of the term enlightenment. Enlightenment is defined as (1a) the act or means of enlightening (1b) the state of being enlightened; (2) capitalized: a philosophic movement of the 18th century marked by a rejection of traditional social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism – used with the; and (3) In Buddhism: a final blessed state marked by the absence of desire or suffering.

The Buddhist definition is close to the definition for ataraxis (the absence of stress or anxiety; serenity) but implies more than just serenity or peace of mind (perhaps even a mystical “blessed” state). In addition, the existence of the other subordinate definitions of enlightenment create more confusion about exactly what is meant than the relatively simple term ataraxis. 

Also for clarity, I have chosen to avoid using conscious/unconscious and have stayed with aware/mindful and unaware/mindless. While the terms conscious, aware, and mindful are synonyms, conscious has multiple meanings (a kind definition “baggage” I would prefer to avoid). This becomes important when trying to distinguish between being aware or mindful and being unaware or mindless. After all being unconscious can mean being asleep or “out” – something quite different than being unaware or unmindful.

Finally, I use the phrases “staying in the present” or just “the present” repeatedly. In each case and perhaps obviously, the “present” is what is happening “now” not what will happen or what has happened.

The primary advantage of “staying in the present” is staying aware of what is happening. Staying aware allows you to observe as much as possible of what is occurring “now” within and to you, within and to others, and in your surroundings. Your observations are the feedback you need to make decisions about what about you needs improvement and what is fine. For example, if you put a “spin” on some information you have, how does distorting the information make you feel and what do you notice about the reaction of others? You may need to process or “digest” your observations during a moment to come but without observations in the “present”, you will not have answers to the questions.

In addition, staying “present” opens the way for you to redirect your actions as they happen – it is where (and when) the action is. After all, you cannot change what is in the past and you only can change the future by acting in the present. You may rehearse your future actions but you can only act in the present. The importance of staying “present” is hard to overvalue.

Key Skill – Faith

The second key skill to master when seeking a state of ataraxis is faith.  Most people do not think of faith as a skill even though they may refer to practicing it.  To avoid a semantic discussion, grant me the license to state that faith is a skill and you must work at it to get better at having it.  Perhaps the faithful are born but they can also be made.

Why is faith important in the journey toward ataraxis?  Because it is a challenging journey full of uncertainty.  Faith is the only antidote to the doubt that is bound to arise.  Faith is a key skill to practice and master.

You practice faith by repeating to yourself, as often as necessary, the script:  (1) the goal is worthwhile, (2) I am doing my best at all times (under my particular circumstances), (3) the challenges I face make me stronger and better able to continue, and (4) the universe (or a greater power than you of your choosing) is life affirming.

The linchpin of this script is the life affirming nature of the universe.  If you believe it, everything else falls into place – it becomes obvious that you are meant to do your best as a human being including working toward achieving the goal of ataraxis.

If you do not believe that the universe is life affirming, please consider this observation:  all living things affirm living.  In the right environment, any living thing will flourish and attempt to maximize its potential.  If the environment is not “right”, any living thing will attempt to adapt so that it may achieve a state of affirming life.  It could not be otherwise for living things to have come as far as they have on this planet or in this universe.

Affirming life and maximizing potential are the organizing principles of living things.  It does not take any thought or intelligence for an organism to possess this capacity – it is “built in” to all living things from the least to the most complex life forms.  You can count on a life affirming quality being built into you and that this quality drives you toward maximizing your potential as a human being including your potential to achieve peace of mind or ataraxis.

You may ask, if a life affirming quality is built into all living things, including human beings, then why do non-life affirming things happen (like illness or accidents or natural disasters) or why do I or other people do non-life affirming things (like wage war or destroy the environment or steal from a neighbor)?

The answers are:  (1) because we are not able to control all events and (2) many individuals are disconnected from themselves, others, and their surroundings, particularly if the others and their surroundings are not “in their own backyard”.

The non-life affirming events outside your control, like illness and accidents, are unfortunate but also have the potential to make you stronger, wiser, and better at affirming life, even as the same events can bring great suffering and/or an end to life for some.  You can choose to see these non-life affirming events as opportunities to improve, to reaffirm living.  That’s what most do automatically (rallying against illness or injury without having to think about it).  Or, you can give up and succumb–as long as you are willing to work at giving up, because it is against your life-affirming nature to do so–it can be done but it is not easy.

The acts of others or groups of others that are non-life affirming seem to be part of the process of evolving as humans, mistakes that future humans might avoid out of respect for themselves, each other, and their surroundings, including the natural world.

At the current level of evolution, most people seem limited in their respect of others and nature.  Any respect they have decreases as time and distance away from others and surroundings increases.  In other words, their disconnection from others increases with time and distance.   Most would never do to them selves, their family members, or personal property, what they do or sanction being done to others, the property of others, or the natural world from a distance.

It was not always the case that human beings respected their immediate vicinity and neighbors.  Human beings have had to learn not to engage in warfare with their close neighbors or to not to pollute their own backyard to avoid the negative consequences to themselves of such actions.  We have yet to learn these lessons on a global level, however, even though we are starting to see global consequences of our collective actions.  The effects of air pollution and toxic waste, armed conflict, deforestation, global warming and the consequences for life as we know it, are all not so subtle hints that we are a global community and have the potential to bring about our own destruction if we do not evolve to the point of respecting all others and the natural world.

The fact that there are worldwide efforts to reduce the harm we do to others and the natural world is further evidence of the life affirming quality that is built into all of us.  Even if it is only starting to apply itself on a global scale.

Be confident that human beings will learn to better respect others and the natural world or cease to exist in the process, only to be replaced by another iteration of intelligent life that will learn from our mistakes.  More importantly, have confidence in your own life-affirming quality and its role in striving for ataraxis.