Becoming Eternal

In this guided Stoic meditation, Becoming Eternal, you are invited to explore the timeless wisdom of Stoic philosophy and reconnect with the part of yourself that is beyond fear, time, and change.

Inspired by the teachings of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, this audio experience offers a gentle journey inward toward a still, eternal presence that remains untouched by external events.

Use this meditation to cultivate inner peace, broaden your perspective, and remember your place within the vast order of nature.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Aidan.

In this meditation,

We journey inward,

Guided by the quiet strength of stoic wisdom,

Toward a part of yourself that does not change with the seasons,

With circumstances,

Or with time.

The Stoics taught that what is eternal is not far away,

It lives within you,

In your reason,

Your virtue,

And your capacity to choose how you respond to life.

As you listen,

You'll be invited to let go of what is temporary,

And rest in what is eternal.

Find a quiet space,

Let your breath settle,

And prepare to meet what does not pass away.

Let us begin.

Take a moment to settle into your posture and make yourself comfortable.

Close your eyes and relax.

Be aware of your breathing.

Notice the rhythm and pattern of your breath.

Do nothing for a while,

Just be content to contemplate your breathing.

More deeply.

Now,

Begin by paying attention to the whole of your body as one.

From the top of your head,

All the way down into your fingers,

And down into your toes.

Be aware of your body as one,

Every nerve,

Muscle,

And fiber.

Don't try to change anything,

Don't try to stop anything from changing.

Some things can change just by being observed.

Just be content to notice whatever you notice,

And feel whatever you feel.

Be a passive,

Detached observer.

As you continue to relax,

Turn your attention deeper within,

And become more aware of your body,

Until you can almost imagine how you look right now.

Begin to picture yourself as if seen from the outside.

Now,

Just imagine that you are taking a step back and looking at yourself.

It really doesn't matter how vividly you can picture yourself.

It's just the intention,

Just the idea that matters.

Imagine your body posture,

Your facial expression,

The color and style of your clothing.

Now,

Keep looking at the image of yourself resting there,

And imagine your own feet are gently leaving the ground.

You begin floating serenely upwards,

Slowly and continuously.

Rising upwards.

You rise.

All the while,

Your gaze keeps returning to your own body,

Now seated there below you as you rise above it.

Keep looking down toward your body as you float higher and higher.

The roof and ceiling disappear,

Allowing you to float freely upward.

Gazing down,

You see yourself seated comfortably below in the building,

Looking contented and contemplative.

You see all the rooms and any other people around.

As you continue to float gently higher and higher,

Your perspective widens more and more until you see the whole surrounding area.

You see all the buildings nearby from above.

You see the people in buildings and in the streets and roads.

You observe people far below working or walking along the pavement,

People cycling or driving their cars,

And those travelling on buses and trains.

You begin to contemplate the whole network of human lives and how people everywhere are interacting with each other,

Influencing each other,

Encountering each other in different ways.

Floating higher,

People become as small as ants below.

Rising up into the clouds,

You see the whole of the surrounding region beneath you.

You see both towns and countryside.

And gradually,

The coastline comes into view as your perspective becomes more and more expansive.

You float gently above the clouds,

Above the weather,

And through the upper atmosphere of the planet Earth.

Feel the gentle pull of gravity lessen as you float upwards.

The air around you feels cooler,

Lighter.

So high that you eventually rise beyond the sphere of the planet itself and into outer space.

You look toward planet Earth and see it suspended in space before you,

Silently turning,

Resplendent in all its majesty and beauty.

You see the whole of your home planet,

The blue of the great oceans,

And the brown and green of the continental landmasses.

You see the white of the polar ice caps,

North and south.

You see the grey wisps of cloud that pass silently across the surface of the Earth.

Though you can no longer see yourself from so far above,

You know and feel that you are down there on Earth below.

And that your life is important.

And what you make of your life is important.

Your change in perspective changes your view of things.

Your values and priorities.

You contemplate all the countless living beings upon the Earth.

The population of the planet is over 6 billion people.

You realize with warmth that your life is one among many.

One person among the total population of the Earth.

You think of the rich diversity of human life on Earth.

The many languages spoken by people of different races in different countries.

People of all different ages.

Newborn infants.

Elderly people.

People in the prime of life.

You think of the enormous variety of human experiences.

Some people right now are unhappy.

Some people are happy.

And you realize how richly varied the tapestry of human life before you was.

And yet,

As you gaze upon the planet Earth,

You are also aware of its position within the rest of the universe.

A tiny speck of stardust,

Adrift in the immeasurable vastness of cosmic space.

This world of ours is merely a single planet.

A tiny grain of sand by comparison with the endless tracts of cosmic space.

A tiny rock in space,

Revolving around our sun.

The sun itself,

Just one of countless billions of stars which punctuate the velvet blackness of our galaxy.

You think about the present moment on Earth and see it within the broader context of your life as a whole.

You think of your lifespan as a whole,

In its totality.

You think of your own life as one moment in the enormous lifespan of mankind.

Hundreds of generations have lived and died before you.

Many more will live and die in the future.

Long after you yourself are gone.

Civilizations too have a lifespan.

You think of the many great cities which have arisen and been destroyed throughout the ages.

And your own civilization as one in a series.

Perhaps in the future to be followed by new cities.

Peoples,

Languages,

Cultures,

And ways of life.

You think of the lifespan of humanity itself.

Just one of countless billions of species living upon the planet.

Mankind arose as a race roughly 200,

000 years ago.

Animal life itself first appeared on Earth over 4 billion years ago.

Now,

Contemplate time as it stretches before you.

Realize that if the history of life on Earth filled an encyclopedia a thousand pages long,

The life of the entire human race could be represented by a single sentence somewhere in that book.

Just one sentence.

And yet,

You think of the lifespan of the planet itself.

Countless billions of years old.

The life of the planet Earth too has a beginning,

Middle,

And end.

Formed from the debris of an exploding star unimaginably long ago.

One day in the distant future,

Its destiny is to be swallowed up and consumed by the fires of our own sun.

You think of the great lifespan of the universe itself.

The almost incomprehensible vastness of universal time.

Starting with a cosmic explosion.

A big bang,

They say.

Immeasurable ages ago in the past.

Perhaps,

One day,

At the end of time,

This whole universe will implode upon itself and disappear once again.

Who can imagine what,

If anything,

Might follow at the end of time?

In the wake of our own universe's demise.

Contemplating the vast lifespan of the universe.

Remember that the present moment is but the briefest of instants.

The mere blink of an eye.

The turn of a screw.

A fleeting second in the mighty river of cosmic time.

Yet,

The here and now is important.

Standing as the centre point of all human experience.

Here and now,

You find yourself at the centre of living time.

Though your body may be small in the grand scheme of things,

Your imagination,

The human imagination,

Is as big as the universe.

Bigger than the universe.

Enveloping everything that can be conceived.

From the cosmic point of view,

Your body seems small,

But your imagination seems utterly vast.

You contemplate all things.

Past,

Present,

And future.

You see your life within the bigger picture.

You see yourself as an integral part of something much bigger.

Something truly vast.

The all itself.

Just as the cells of your own body work together to form a greater unity,

A living being,

So your body as a whole is like a single body.

A single cell in the organism of the universe.

Along with every atom in the universe,

You necessarily contribute your role to the unfolding of its grand design.

Just as a wave rises up from the ocean,

So you emerge from the universe.

The earth is composed of stardust,

And so are you,

This stardust of the universe.

But a stardust that can look out and be conscious of the rest of the universe.

As if the universe has grown specific eyes and ears to be able to look out and experience itself.

And as you relax into the peacefulness of just being and contemplating,

You begin to sense and see that you are a part of everything.

Not isolated,

But connected.

Part of and connected up to the whole cosmos.

You realize you did not come into this world.

You emerged out of it like a wave from the ocean.

And you are not a stranger here.

You are connected to everything.

And so you relax about everything.

And trust your true nature,

Which is nature herself.

As your consciousness expands,

And your mind stretches out to reach and touch the vastness of eternity,

Things change greatly in perspective,

And shifts occur in their relativity.

The significance of your own attitude toward life becomes more apparent.

You realize that life is what you make of it.

You learn to put things in perspective,

And focus on your true values and priorities in life.

One stage at a time,

You develop the serenity to accept the things you cannot change,

The courage to change the things you can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

You follow nature,

Your own true nature,

As a rational,

Truth-seeking human being.

And the one great nature of the universe as a whole.

Now,

In a moment,

You are beginning to sink back down to earth,

Toward your place in the here and now.

Part of you can remain aware of the view from above,

And always return to and remember that sense of serenity and perspective.

Now,

You begin your descent back down to earth,

To face the future with renewed strength and courage.

You sink back down through the sky,

Down,

Down,

Down,

Toward the local area.

You sink back gently into your body,

All the way now,

As your feet slowly come to rest upon the floor once again.

Like a leaf returning to the calm water after a gentle breeze.

Now,

Think about the room around you.

Think about action,

Movement.

Think about looking around and getting your orientation,

Raising your head a little.

Begin to breathe a little bit more deeply,

A little bit more energetically.

Let your body feel more alive and ready for action.

Breathe energy and vitality into your body.

Breathe a little deeper and deeper again.

Until you're ready to take a deep breath,

Open your eyes and emerge from meditation.

Taking your mindfulness and self-awareness forward into life.

Entering the here and now with deep calm.

And serenity.