Love and Gratitude
Friday, February 5th, 2010Here 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.
Spirit is the foundation. Spirit brings us past the sensible form we are used to thinking of as “reality,” and into the hidden energetic realm within all forms and beyond all forms. Spirit is the essence of matter, of all things. It is the ocean of vibration, the waves that continue despite our attempts to particularize, to define, to control and limit. Our access to spirit comes most fully through the practice of meditation, as meditation trains us to go beyond habitual boundaries of thought, emotion, language and action; to taste oneness firsthand, and to dwell within it.
Nature is the sensible and material realm we live in, despite our persistent attempts to wall it out, to tame and exploit it for our private human benefit. Though we have taught our kind to fear it, to escape it and to master it, Nature remains our constant home, our ever-forgiving Mother. Perhaps the chief characteristic of our true and sustainable relation to Nature is a sense of belonging. Only with the attitude of belonging can we heal our dangerous split with Nature and begin to resurrect the symbiosis that all life shares, by practicing survival strategies grounded in respect and care of the Nature that sustains us.
Culture is the outer layer of skin on the earth, the sum of practices we bring to our biological and psychological survival. Human culture, though in large measure it appears to have divorced itself from underlying Nature, is itself but a phenomenon of Nature. The social animals, whether termites or lions, provide a clear example to us that to survive and flourish in a state of Nature requires cooperation and bonding within one’s own species. Our practice of culture, whether “primitive” or “civilized,” entails the honing of craft … making arrows or learning piano scales.
To ground our scattered contemporary lives more fully in these essential realms – Spirit, Nature, and Culture – requires first of all seeing the necessity of all three in a healthy human life. Lacking sufficient connection with either one results in the impoverishment of our health and quality of life. Yet we are programmed from birth (in modern Western society, at least), to discount spirit in favor of material values; to spurn Nature in favor of the clever works of man; to enjoy culture as passive consumers instead of creative participants.
