The Seeker’s Manual

Here is a simple meditation to reinforce the power of two simple and all-important principles: Love and Gratitude.

On the inbreath, raise the hands to just above and in front of the shoulders, extended with palms facing somewhat out, somewhat up, as if holding a large earth balloon. The chest expands as the lungs fill with air, and the eyes are open to the wide beauty of the outer world, the realm of Nature. Experience Love, opening self to the gift of all that is.

On the outbreath, fold the hands one over the other, on top of the heart or at the center of the upper chest. The eyes are closed as the body relaxes, letting the air out of the lungs. Attention is drawn within, in a state of inner peace, to the realm of Spirit. Experience Gratitude, accepting self and the gifts received from all that is.

Most of our lives are spent in distraction from these primary outer (Love, Nature) and inner (Gratitude, Spirit) experiences, as we explore the web of social relations and react to cultural demands and opportunities. Culture is key to our existence as a social species. Yet we can become overwhelmed by the social world, internalizing its judgments and superficial priorities, and forgetting our primary place as children of Nature and the Cosmos, precious vehicles of spirit.

Take time out to walk or run or sit in Nature, and to sit or lie in stillness to allow Spirit to resonate within you. Suddenly the concerns of self and family, tribe and nation, lose their power as a greater power and peace open to you. When you return to choose and fill your social obligations, you will be more powerful and peaceful than before.

There are two kinds of happiness, and, for that matter, too kinds of sadness: big and little. The big kinds are existential; the little kinds are conditional. Small happiness over a good meal, ego-sadness over a failed opportunity – making ourselves feel good or bad depending on the circumstances of the moment. Existential happiness comes from a place beyond good and bad, a sense of being content with the overall perfection of balance, free from judgment. Existential sadness, like Satre’s “Nausea,” is really the ego or small personal self’s intellectual reaction to the proof of its own irrelevance. The emotional content is loneliness, in the void left as the imprint of the self-important vanishes. Is there another polarity between these larger forces of happiness and sadness with existence itself? Again, they are unequal forces to begin with, as the intrinsic state of perfection is happiness itself; while the affected sadness is but a remnant of the nostalgic ego, as it mourns its own passing. There remains a dual challenge, however: to disidentify both with the mournful ego looking for meaning or company, and the self-satisfied dweller in the Garden. It is a hidden secret of “The Secret” that if our desire to manifest our own happiness (or our success in doing so) leads us to feel proud and happy about our powers and good fortune, our opinion will change when our prayers go unanswered and our fortunes change; but the more genuine and lasting manifestation is neither a material prize nor a feeling of personal success. Rather it requires a humbler respect for the truer powers we may tap into once we let go of our conscious or unconscious agenda for social status and ego-gratification.