Climbing Mountains for Inner Peace

Every day I climb a mountain at dawn and I always think how marvellous it is, climbing to meditate. One day someone said that they wanted to go with me to enjoy the landscape and feel alive. On the way up, my companion said: “This mountain looks dried out and without vegetation, it’s not as I had imagined”. I replied: “keep going and appreciate the landscape with every step you take, the scents, the pure air, the singing of the birds, the dawn light, the range of colours, your breathing and the silence. Enjoy the moment”. He kept on complaining, however, and wanted to reach the summit so as to descend as soon as possible. He constantly looked at his watch to see how much time was left. On arriving at the highest point, I sat down in the lotus position to contemplate the dawn. My companion said to me: “What an uncomfortable position! From here the landscape looks different but it’s dull and cold; I don’t see the beauty you told me about and the way down is going to be worse”.

It does not matter how high you climb, the important thing is to enjoy the ascent. The easiest and shortest route will never lead you to the summit. When you become one with the mountain and harmonise yourself with everything around you, you feel that the mountain is within you. Feeling that you are part of the cosmos is not the same as becoming aware that that cosmos is inside you.

Through meditation – which does not mean searching, but instead producing the conditions required to receive the gifts that life gives us – we learn to focus and centre our attention. Without concentration, inner peace is impossible.