Philip Pegler - Quiet Courage of the Inner Light: Finding Faith and Fortitude in an Age of Anxiety

I have not previously placed on record my indebtedness to more than a few good teachers, from whom I have been fortunate to receive detailed spiritual instruction. I gladly do so now, remembering with gratitude the contributions that Hugo Maier, Douglas Harding, John Garrie, Joan Cooper, Irina Tweedie, Peter Goldman and Francis Lucille have made to my understanding and overall welfare.

Here is clearly the place too to thank those of my friends, who have offered sound advice and feedback relating to this new book. My grateful thanks for the care they have taken on my behalf, goes accordingly to the following: Colin Oliver, Chris Quilkey, the Rev. Neil Broadbent, Elizabeth Medler, Stephanie Sorrell, Charles Becker, Muz Murray, Mike Jenkins and Iain Colquhoun. It is easier said than done to remain objective concerning ones own work and so I appreciate the opportunity given to me by fellow writers to hone my skills in this respect.

The photographic portrait of Sri Ramana Maharshi was taken by the intrepid Swiss explorer, Ella Maillart in around 1943. This photo (copyright: succession Ella Maillart et Musee deLElysee, Lausannne) is published by kind permission of Anneliese Hollman and Musee dElysee, where her archive is kept.

The two stanzas by Ramana Maharshi, in praise of Arunacala, which are quoted at the beginning of the Prologue and Epilogue, are taken from Five Hymns to Sri Arunachala, published by Sri Ramansramam in Tiruvannamalai, South India. Grateful acknowledgement is due to the ashram authorities for their inclusion.

I would finally like to thank the team at John Hunt Publishing for the time and trouble they have taken with production and for generously allowing me extra time to develop the themes contained in this work.

It may need just a small gesture of faith an honest attempt to surrender self-will at the start of a new venture. Then, when the task of writing is offered up to the immediacy of present experience, seemingly from nowhere can occur the closing of a crucial gap between intention and action.

We have no idea just how it has happened, but suddenly our faltering attempts to communicate are rewarded as our creative energy goes full circle and we find the flow. A broken circuit seems to have been restored, so that the words and ideas flow with far less hindrance. At last we feel unified with an incisive clarity that speaks of joy.

For once we know quite clearly what we need to say in the here and the now and we can express it more succinctly too simply because we are at one with what we are doing. I feel firmly that this is how any book on practical spirituality needs to be written nowadays if it is to prove effective in conveying a dynamic message of hope and reassurance to a troubled world.

And that is also how personal life should be conducted with integrity. It should be lived in strength and dignity within the greater light of the totality of the universe, as we begin to recognise that we are not separate from ultimate reality and never have been.

Such recognition is immensely important, for it is the sense of alienation from oneself and others that causes the greatest suffering and nowadays this gulf of loneliness and distrust urgently needs to be bridged by far greater understanding and compassion.

There is a precious secret well hidden in the present moment, you see and we will need to come upon this wondrous discovery of oneness eventually, if ever we wish to be truly satisfied with the life we are living.

Unless we ourselves are established in some degree of deeper and more harmonious understanding, we can never hope to be of real service to the wider community, so often afflicted by uncertainty and turmoil. Yet when we do happen upon this transformative mystery of the One in the many, we will at least be enabled to point out the way to that profound insight that can bring release from conflict and an enduring sense of peace.

The rest is up to the reader, one might say, but only to some extent because effort can only go so far; the eternal presence ever exists at the heart of our being but can never be grasped by dint of striving.

Awareness of the presence of God comes by what is usually known as Grace, but the action of that grace is mysterious past human understanding. Perhaps it is best to speak mainly of receptivity to suggest that the ineffable divinity is drawn to us by heartfelt sincerity, but only perhaps when we are open and ready to receive Its gifts.

Courageous integrity is the light that leads us on, before finally revealing the hidden doorway into the depths of our true nature. It is then that firm faith in Supreme Reality begins to form and take root within us and this conviction that we are on the track of truth will provide the strength necessary to encounter darkness and turbulence in the outer world.

Enough strength to cope with our responsibilities always comes just when we need it, provided we remember that negativity in its manifold forms is an important part of existence which we have no right to evade. We are an expression of the world in all its beauty and sorrow and have a duty of care towards the earth upon which we live.

It is no small privilege to be able to knowingly fulfil this duty as a citizen of the world pointless as it may seem in a worldly sense for most ordinary individuals with little influence to wield. Our own contribution may appear to us to be insignificant, but every jot of kindness counts in a world inclined to cruelty every positive gesture is of value in a society so accustomed to place emphasis on what is negative. It is vital that we reflect on these things at the outset.

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This book is concerned with the nurturing of courage and the exercise of higher reasoning, but it is also all about genuine faith written for those people who need courage and faith most of all. It is a work written most especially perhaps for those who are teetering on the brink of a hesitant spiritual commitment, or who feel convinced they have no faith at all to turn to and have no idea either where to find any.

I want to reassure any readers who find it difficult to trust in a supreme power, which they cannot visualise, that the kind of universal faith I have in mind is entirely natural. It is a faith already inherent within them and does not need to be made. It insists upon the use of no particular name to cause division or offence, although it answers to many beautiful names God, Truth, Reality or Love amongst them.

Such universal faith is utterly non-violent and all-inclusive in its concern. It cannot possibly threaten anyone and belongs to all mankind, yet it cannot be commanded and therefore it remains free to be of service to anyone who needs it.

I have the deepest respect for anybody of any colour, creed or culture who ventures to give courageous expression to an authentic faith of this kind for they are the light of the world.

When you abide in such a profound faith, you yourself become open to receive wise and reliable guidance from the source of your own being. You may be sure then that genuine spiritual guidance from within will lead you unerringly to the supreme love, which will forever keep you enfolded in safety.

That great love too is inside oneself a jewel to be cherished but only when we continually celebrate its beauty, may it become our constant companion.

When all is said and done, this is a book that dares to consider and thus honour the very essence of life, while leaving dogma and creed largely aside just for now. To honour spiritual essence is to bear witness to the Greater Life within our mundane affairs; it is to aspire to approach that great mystery, which is transcendent, through the immanence of all created things in their wonderful multiplicity.

When through prayer and reflection we draw near to our own soul, we find the deep truth we really need is already there to welcome us.