You may have heard the concept of no self.
What is no self?
No self is also described by Thich Nhat Hanh as interbeing,
No separate self,
Interconnectedness with all things.
When we look into the nature of anything,
Including ourselves,
We notice that that doesn't exist without relying on many other things that support it and create it.
Our food.
Our food would not exist without the work of the farmers,
Without the life in the soil,
Without the sun in the sky,
Without the rain from a cloud,
Without all the people who drove it to our grocery stores and the grocery store clerks.
If we took away any one of these links in the chain,
We would not be able to eat our food.
And we can do that with anything.
We can do that with ourselves.
If our ancestors had not existed,
If our parents had not existed,
If the food we eat had not existed,
If all of the books that taught us how to read and how to understand these concepts,
All of the things that brought us to meditation,
If the earth did not exist,
The sun did not exist,
Then we would not exist.
And if we take us away from any of these things,
Those things also don't exist.
So that is the concept of no separate self.
But insight is non-conceptual.
So we'll practice now with a four elements meditation to greater understand and embed this wisdom inside of us.
So I invite you now to get comfortable in a standing,
Seated,
Or laying down position.
And close your eyes.
If you're choosing to do this as a walking meditation,
Don't close your eyes.
Just be mindful of your surroundings and let them inform your contemplation.
Together,
Let's take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
And let that out.
One more time,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Grounding ourselves in this space here in this time.
Right now,
There's nothing else that you need to do,
Nowhere else that you need to be.
Allow this to be a gift to yourself.
And may our collective practice increase understanding and compassion in the world.
Bring your awareness to your body.
Bring your awareness to your body as a whole.
And identify the earth element within your body.
Your bones,
Your teeth,
Earth element in your body.
Everything that your body is made up of will one day return to the earth and has been made up of earth element.
Bring your awareness to the water element in your body.
Saliva,
Tears,
Fluid between your joints,
Digestive fluid,
All made up of water.
In the body,
Bring your awareness to the air element in your body.
The breath that fills your lungs and any other air that moves in or out of other places and organs in your body.
How the air passes in through your nose,
Traveling through the throat,
Nasal passages,
The mouth.
You have whole tubes that are made just for air to pass.
Air element in the body.
Now bring your awareness to the fire element in your body.
The fact that your body is keeping a stable temperature that is warm.
The digestive fire of the body.
The energy of movement in the body.
And any heat in particular due to inflammation or stress.
The fire element in the body.
And we'll bring our awareness to the earth element outside of our body.
The soil,
The trees,
The plants.
All earth element outside of the body.
Water element outside of the body.
Rivers,
Lakes,
Streams,
Ocean,
Rain,
Cloud.
All water element outside of the body.
Snow.
Water element.
And the air,
The air element outside of the body.
Wind,
Storms,
Space,
Sky,
Gentle breeze.
All air element outside of the body.
And fire element outside of the body.
The sun,
The stars,
Air,
Heat,
Water,
Energy,
Electricity.
All forms of fire element outside of the body.
We can contemplate how all of these are connected.
How the earth element,
How plants would not be able to pollinate without the wind element,
Would not be able to grow without the water element.
How they're turned into energy by our bodies through the fire element.
How the sun grows the trees that help us breathe air element.
Contemplate how all of these elements are connected.
How they don't exist without each other.
How we don't exist without all of them.
When we look deeply,
We see much more than what we thought on the surface.
We are all connected.
Let's take a deep breath in.
And let it go,
Giving thanks.
One more time,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
And bring your gentle awareness back into your body.
Bring some movement,
Some fire element.
To your earth element bones.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes full of water element.
And see deeply.
See with new eyes the world around you as not separate.
May this practice ripple out understanding and interconnection.
Thank you for your practice.
