I had an interesting discussion with someone the other day about Serenity. What it is and how it is achieved seemed to be the topic, but I realized quickly how much our own perception of the definition of the word played into our own views about serenity and our attempts to achieve it for ourselves.
The word tranquility kept coming up during the discussion. But that word threw me off for some reason. I think of tranquility as more of a short-term state of peace of mind. Tranquility and sereneness may go hand in hand, but serenity itself seems to my mind to imply long-term sereneness. In other words, serenity does not come from momentary sereneness and tranquility. It comes from being in harmony with a long-term belief in a right outcome. Faith, in other words.
Tranquility; sereneness: They sound like nice states of mind to be in – and I’m sure they are- but somehow to me, they do not imply anything lasting – as does the word ‘Happiness’, also. Short term peace of mind is not the goal. Finding a way to have peace of mind in all things, seems to be a much more valid goal. I believe serenity is the state of mind that you acquire, once having achieved that goal. To my mind, tranquility and sereneness are what you achieve while staring into a tank full of tropical fish, or sitting out in a well groomed English garden and watching the little birdies flutter about the rose bushes. Serenity, on the other hand, is what you have while waiting in the hospital for the test results, or being at the funeral of a close friend. Even though you may feel anxious for those results, or sad for your friend, you still retain your serenity because serenity is a mental state which is based on the long-term, and you know that you know that the long-term picture is taken care of. And you know that because of your Faith in God.
As a Christian, I cannot see how anyone could have serenity without Faith in God, because it is through this Faith that we understand and believe that the future is taken care of to our benefit – even to after death and beyond. It would seem to me, that without this Faith, I would not be able to believe in a future that was going to work to my benefit to any degree at all. But having Faith in a God of Love and Grace, gives me the ability to hand over my doubts, fears, worries, anxieties etc.. to a greater power than myself and therefore let go of them. Since my ‘Joy is in the Lord’, I can be joyful all the time- even in times of troubles. If you do not have faith in God, then your joy must be found in each situation, and since situations can quickly change, you will then have no real lasting joy. Without joy, you can not have peace of mind, nor any kind of lasting serenity. You can only have periods of tranquility or moments of sereneness.
Therefore,the definition of Serenity to me is a long-term harmonious state of mind. Harmonious with my surroundings, and harmonious with my Faith. Without one there is no other.
I used to take the view which I now find is more common, in that being in a position [mind-set] of serenity, meant the absence of problems or tribulations. Sort of skipping along in life with everything going along just fine, thank you. Although that may very well be the definition of tranquility, it does not fit with my view of what serenity is. To be harmonious with my surroundings is to recognize that this world is always going to present me with trials and tribulations. To expect anything different would only cause me to be anxious and upset every time I ran into a new challenge or situation which seemed to possibly have an outcome different from the one I desire. Life is not going to be without challenges. At least that is my humble opinion brother! Serenity comes with knowing that life is full of adversity and yet, despite these challenges, we can move on to higher ground. At the very least, they are learning experiences, at their best, they create a positive change to occur in our lives. Learning to view new trials not with fear, but with Faith that our Creator ultimately has good things planned for us, enables us to keep our serenity in spite of any challenging situation that arrives unexpectedly at our doorstep. They may not promote tranquility at the time of their arrival, but they should promote serenity in the space of our endurance of them.
The claim of authorship to the Popular Serenity Prayer is by the theologian Dr. Rheinhold Niebuhr, who wrote:
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can change,
And wisdom to know the difference."
The longer version of this prayer is as follows:
"Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen."
I like the long version. It tells me to look for a longer lasting reward than mere tranquility or sereneness can give.
For more study of Dr. Rheinhold Niebuhr, click on this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr
September 5, 2009
Rick Mortimer
