Guided Meditation on Impermanence.
In this meditation,
You will visit Arches National Park,
Where you will meet someone who will help you to appreciate impermanence.
Let's begin by closing our eyes and focusing on the breath.
As you relax and observe the breath,
Notice how it naturally deepens.
Notice the muscles of your face and neck.
Allow these muscles to soften and relax.
Notice the muscles of your shoulders and arms.
Drop your shoulders and breathe down deeper into your body.
Feel your hands growing warm and tingly with the increased flow of energy.
Feel your legs growing heavy as you ground yourself with the energy of the earth.
As our story begins,
Imagine that you are on vacation in Arches National Park.
Over the last three days,
You've gone on several hikes around the park to look at the beautiful rock formations.
As you are walking along a trail leading to another arch,
You decide that it's time for a rest.
You sit down in the soft sand next to the trail.
It's a pleasant day,
And you can feel the warm sun on your shoulders.
The blue sky contrasts beautifully with the reddish color of the rocks.
You look up at the arch,
And you see a large brown lizard slowly climbing up the side of the arch.
You notice a crack in the arch,
And it reminds you of something you saw yesterday.
It was a sign at the side of a trail where there used to be an arch a few years ago.
That arch had eroded over many years and then collapsed.
You remember how you felt when you realized that the arches,
Which have been here for thousands of years,
Are not permanent.
It was like a feeling of grief as you thought about the frailty of these beautiful rock formations.
You look again at the lizard,
Who is now partway up the side of the arch.
You hear the sound of footsteps behind you,
And you turn around to see a man approaching.
He is an older man with a weather-worn face.
Something about his appearance reminds you of a shaman.
The man smiles and greets you,
Saying,
It's a beautiful day.
You nod and agree with him.
Then he says,
Isn't it interesting how solid yet fragile these arches are?
You are surprised by his remark,
And you reply that you were just thinking the same thing.
He continues,
It's funny how we judge everything by comparison.
We look at the clouds,
Which are constantly shifting,
And we look at the rocks,
Which appear to be solid.
But in the grand scheme of things,
Rocks are no more permanent than clouds.
Long after the rocks have dissolved into sand and then become dust in the wind,
The clouds will still be drifting through the sky,
Endlessly reforming in new patterns.
There are no outlines in nature.
He pauses.
Then he says,
May I sit beside you?
I'd like to take a minute to meditate on the arch.
Sure,
You reply.
The two of you sit silently for one minute.
After a while,
You tell the man that thinking about impermanence makes you feel sad.
He says,
That's understandable.
We become attached to things that we enjoy,
And we don't want them to end.
We think that we would be happy if there was something we could count on to always be there.
Something stable and unchanging.
But would that really be a good thing?
If there was something that was permanent,
Wouldn't that thing eventually become a prison?
Look at this desert wildflower.
It began blooming this morning.
By tomorrow,
It will be withered and gone.
Impermanence makes the flower beautiful.
He stops talking,
And the two of you go back to meditating in silence for another minute.
The lizard has crawled almost to the top of the arch.
You ask the man,
Isn't there anything that lasts?
He looks thoughtful,
And then he replies,
Look inside.
Go deeply into the indestructible core of your being.
What is this core?
It is the one energy of everything,
The ground of being,
Pure awareness that is beyond space and time.
This energy is whole and unchanging.
Close your eyes and focus on your core.
Go deeper and deeper beyond all layers of thought,
Feeling,
Images,
And sound.
Experience the one energy.
Do this for three minutes.
When you open your eyes,
The man is gone.
You look around,
But there's no one in sight.
You smile and say to yourself,
Well,
All things are impermanent.
Then you look for the lizard.
You see his tail disappearing over the rim of the arch as he begins to crawl down the other side.
You realize that it's time to go,
So you stand up,
Brush the sand off your clothes,
And continue along the trail.
