Guided Meditation for Expanding Consciousness.
This meditation is based on Ken Wilber's model of the four stages of consciousness.
These stages are called egocentric,
Ethnocentric,
World-centric,
And cosmocentric.
Let's start by closing our eyes and breathing deeply in and out,
All the way down into the lower belly.
Relax your shoulders,
Allowing them to droop downward.
Relax your body and let it sink into your chair.
Feel the heaviness in your feet as they are planted firmly on the floor,
Connecting you with the energy of the earth.
As you continue to breathe in a natural and relaxed way,
Notice the flow of energy in your body.
You may feel your hands growing warm and tingly.
Now as you focus on your body,
Contemplate your existence as a mortal human being.
This is your egocentric self.
It's the part of you that has a separate body with separate thoughts,
Feelings,
Needs,
And desires.
Notice the boundary of your body that separates you from everything outside of you.
At egocentric,
Your primary concern is physical survival.
You need to feed and clothe yourself.
You need to defend yourself from anything that might be a threat to your survival.
You notice that other people can sometimes be a source of stress.
Sometimes it feels like life is a never-ending struggle.
Sometimes you feel alone in the world.
As you identify with the egocentric self,
You realize that your life is your responsibility.
There are many skills that you need to develop in order to take care of yourself.
As you develop these skills,
You become more independent.
So there's a certain type of freedom associated with the egocentric self.
But there is also some stress.
Take some time to experience the feelings of the egocentric self.
You Now we are going to shift into the ethnocentric perspective.
At ethnocentric,
You identify yourself as part of a group.
Your identity comes from being a member of a family,
A nation,
Or another group that you belong to,
Such as a religion,
A school,
Or a company that you work for.
You are now part of something that is bigger than the individual self.
Notice how your ego boundaries have expanded to include other people.
You identify with the beliefs and attitudes of the group,
And you feel a certain pride in your group.
You notice that there are other groups that are different from yours.
They have different beliefs,
Customs,
And rules.
There is often a sense of competition between different groups.
You may feel the need to defend your group from the others.
You are also willing to contribute some of your time and resources to support your group,
And you feel protective towards the other members.
Take some time to experience the feelings of the ethnocentric self.
You Now imagine that your identity is expanding and becoming even larger.
At some point in our development,
We may notice that we are not completely comfortable being confined to our own group.
We may begin to identify with perspectives that are outside of what the group considers to be right.
This can happen when we make friends with people of other groups,
When we read books,
Travel to new places,
And learn about other cultures and belief systems.
We may begin to feel dissatisfied with some of the answers that our group gives us,
When those answers fail to solve all of the complicated problems in our lives.
So we search for answers elsewhere.
The boundary around our group,
Which used to protect us and make us feel safe,
Now feels too limiting.
So we cross that boundary and enter the larger perspective of the world-centric self.
At this stage,
We identify with all of humanity.
We are aware of the situation on the whole planet and the problems of different people around the world.
We feel compassion for all human beings.
The differences are not so threatening anymore.
We still see the differences,
But we are more interested in learning about them,
Rather than fighting against them.
There's a greater desire to look for similarities and find common ground.
At World Centric,
We develop a concern for the global environment.
We care about the health and welfare of all the people on earth and all the animals on the land and in the ocean.
Let's sit for a while in the expanded feeling of the world-centric self.
You Now it's time to expand our consciousness to the cosmo-centric self.
In this state,
The boundary between self and other completely disappears.
There was a boundary around the egocentric self.
There was a boundary around the ethnocentric self and the world-centric self.
But now there is no boundary.
There is only pure awareness without limits.
In this state of awareness,
Time drops away.
There is no beginning and no end.
We have a sense of always existing.
The cosmo-centric self encompasses everything that ever existed or ever will exist.
It encompasses all opposites,
Including male and female,
Life and death,
Form and formlessness.
There is nothing outside of us in the whole universe.
It is all one.
It all goes together in perfect harmony.
Notice the feelings of peace,
Contentment,
And gratitude that spontaneously arise as you allow everything to simply be.
Feel the freedom and expansiveness as you breathe in and out,
Relaxing into the flow of all that is.
Let's sit for a while in this state of awareness.
You Now,
As you continue to sit as the cosmo-centric self,
Look at the world-centric part of you,
The human being on earth,
And notice how it appears from your expanded perspective.
Feel the compassion that arises for this part of you.
You Now look at the ethnocentric part of you.
Notice the new understanding that you experience as you contemplate the ethnocentric self.
You Finally,
Look at the egocentric part of you.
Feel compassion for the egocentric self,
And consider the ways that you can take better care of your body as you honor this part of you.
You As we expand our consciousness at each stage,
We don't leave the other parts of ourselves behind.
Each stage transcends and includes all that went before.
Now it's time to come back from the meditation.
Breathe deeply and feel your body.
When you are ready,
Slowly open your eyes.
Stretch,
And come back to the present moment.
