How can we be really present amid the stresses of life and the sufferings of the world?
The Torah says ki teitzei la'milchama,
When you go out to battle,
V'shavita shivyo,
And you capture their captivity.
On the surface it's talking about laws of war,
But we know that life can sometimes seem like a battle and we can be captured by our problems.
How do we get free?
There is a hint in this strange construction,
V'shavita shivyo,
Capture their captivity,
Meaning you're able to capture their captivating power because you are far more vast than any stressful experience.
You are the open space of awareness within which this experience now unfolds.
Just let your feelings be as they are and come into your senses.
Feeling the texture of this moment,
The sense of mood,
Emotional vibration,
The presence of thought,
Memory,
And the falling away of thought.
And bringing your right hand to your heart,
Adopting an attitude of lovingly offering your attention as you would offer a gift to a friend.
Offering your awareness as a gift to the fullness of this moment as it appears,
Not thinking about another time or another place,
But fully giving yourself to this moment.
And also bringing left hand to your belly,
Letting awareness pour down into your body,
Feeling down into your inner body,
Awareness permeating your organs,
Recognizing the gift of this temple of the body supporting our consciousness and our lives in this world.
Awareness flowing down from your belly through your legs to your feet and toes,
Filling the lower part of your body with consciousness and letting it rise up.
Chest,
Upper back,
Shoulders,
And neck,
Arms,
Hands,
And fingers,
Taking a nice conscious breath.
The movement of the breath drawing awareness more deeply into your body,
Feeling into your face,
Facial muscles,
Brain and nervous system,
And bringing a little smile to your lips,
Being the loving,
Benevolent,
Indwelling presence,
Life in the body.
And now bringing one hand to your forehead,
Lightly touching your forehead as your awareness reaches out,
Shining outward like light into the space around your body,
Letting your awareness rest on whatever it meets,
The sounds vibrating in the air,
The feel of the space,
Objects,
Beings,
Whatever is present,
And recognizing that your experience of the outer world together with your experience of the inner world of thoughts and feelings are all part of one experience,
The full texture of this moment arising within awareness.
And what does this awareness feel like?
Does it have a shape?
Does it have a form?
Or is it simply an open space,
A vastness,
A spaciousness within which this moment is unfolding?
And just resting in your breathing,
Coming into the stillness.
And closing the meditation.
May we find again and again this path of presence,
Of making peace with reality,
Harmonizing ourselves with what is by opening to the truth of what is present now.
Amen,
Amen.
