Ben Stein - The Gift of Peace

Also by Ben Stein HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE
(also available as an audio book) HOW TO RUIN YOUR LOVE LIFEHOW TO RUIN YOUR FINANCIAL LIFEHOW TO RUIN... Book Collection
(comprises the three titles above) All of the above are available at your local bookstore,
or may be ordered by visiting:
Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House South Africa: orders@psdprom.co.za Copyright 2005 by Ben Stein Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc., P.O. Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100 Phone: (760) 431-7695 or (800) 654-5126 Fax: (760) 431-6948 or (800) 650-5115 www.hayhouse.com Publishedand distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd., 18/36 Ralph St., Alexandria NSW 2015 Phone: 612-9669-4299 Fax: 612-9669-4144 www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdomby: Hay House UK, Ltd. Unit 62, Canalot Studios 222 Kensal Rd., London W10 5BN Phone: 44-20-8962-1230 Fax: 44-20-8962-1239 www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd., P.O. Box 990, Witkoppen 2068 Phone/Fax: 2711-7012233 orders@psdprom.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast 9050 Shaughnessy St., Vancouver, B.C.

V6P 6E5 Phone: (604) 323-7100 Fax: (604) 323-2600 Editorial supervision: Jill Kramer Design: Amy Rose Szalkiewicz All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stein, Benjamin, 1944
The gift of peace : guideposts on the road to serenity / Ben Stein.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-4019-0514-5 (hardcover)
1.

Peace of mind--Religious aspects--Meditations. 2. Affirmations. I. Title.
BL627.55.S74 2005
204.32--dc22 2004014140 ISBN 13: 978-1-4019-0514-9
ISBN 10: 1-4019-0514-5 08 07 06 05 4 3 2 1
1st printing, March 2005 Printed in the United States of America For the men and women of Spiritual Search,
Point Dume, Malibu, 19881994...
my apostles on the road to peace.Contents In the late fall of 1987, I lost my way badly. I started hanging around with the wrong companions.

I started taking too many prescription drugs (although always far less than the murderous amounts prescribed). I was frantic with anxiety about eating too much and about my disastrously poor family relationsand I had the sickening sense that I was the villain, not the hero, of my life. To make a long story short, two wonderful friends, Victoria Sackett and John Mankiewicz, suggested that I start going to meetings of various 12-step groups. I did, and they were a miracle. In particular, one meeting I went to in the Point Dume area of Malibu was a lifesaver. It was at noon in a disused school that had been converted to a community center.

Day after day I sat in that meeting and learned more about how to live my life than I had ever learned in college; in law school; or even from my brilliant mother and father, my incisive sister, and my close-to-perfect wife. As I listened to the sharing by my brothers and sisters in that room, thoughts of peace and hope began to replace the hopelessness that Id felt. I began to write down what I heard, and then, very soon, my own thoughts in similar veins began to come up, and I wrote them down as well. My problems had never been entirely about medication or alcohol or food. They were about very confused and self-destructive thinking: believing that I was in charge of my life, that I was on trial all the time, and that God was an afterthought. The sincere feelings I heard being expressed in that roomand in many other like-minded roomsmade me realize that I had it all wrong.

I was a tiny little bit player. God ran and does run the show. He doesnt want money or fame or success from me... just peace... and this is what I must want for myself if I have any sense at allor even if I dont. Without realizing when it actually happened, I began to become what I should have always been: a spiritual being having a human experience instead of the reverse.

Little by little, a little bit of peace, and then more peace, came into my life. Its still incomplete. Im a work in progress. I make a huge number of mistakespersonal, moral, and every other sort. I am a sinner in every possible area, and I torment myself and others still. God is far from finished with me yet, as the saying goes.

But when I am on the road, when I am at home, when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am scared, when I am confident, I read these thoughts that I started to hear in the Point Dume meeting every day, and without fail they give me peace. Therefore, I am duty-bound to share them. I get most out of what I give away. Without further ado, I offer the thoughts that I heard mostly at that noon meeting in Point Dume, and also in other similar rooms, many of them thoughts I heard in my own little head. I believe that taken regularly, they lead to what The Ancients called the greatest of all gifts: peace. It is very possible that some of these thoughts have already appeared in printed form, were read by someone at the meetings and repeated, and then I took them down as original.

I apologize in advance if I have written down what someone else already did. I also mention that there are a few lessons here that I consider so important that I have repeated them. To make sure that others can receive this gift, Im going to give all my proceeds after taxes and commissions to 12-step programs. They deserve it. Good luck, and peaceful reading. 2 Fear underlies all my problems,
and my fear is a measure of how far
I am keeping myself from God. 3 I may not be much,
but I am all that I think about. 4 My real dilemma:
I can never get enough of what
I dont even need. 5 Nothing fails like excess. 6 My life is and always has
been unmanageable by me.
But its childs play for God. 7 If it can be fixed with money,
it is not a big problem. 8 I am a person made of the seven
deadly sins, and I always will be.
Im not surprised by it.
Its called being human. 9 If I have any sense at all,
I have to realize that I have what I need,
even if I dont have what I want. 10 Fear has been my Higher Power
for too much of my life.
Prayer is better. 11 One day at a time is the
answer to everything. 12 Luckily for me,
God works by mercy,
not by justice. 13 God lives in the results.