Hello,
And welcome back to Luminous.
Meditation 7.
The recognition of our shared being.
In the introduction to this series.
I suggested that the essence of all the great religious and spiritual traditions can be distilled into a single sentence.
Namely that peace and happiness are the very nature of our being.
And we share our being with everyone and everything.
In the previous meditation.
We explored the first part of this statement.
Discovering the peace and quiet joy that lie in the depths of our being.
Behind and independent of the content of experience.
In this meditation,
We'll explore the unity of being,
That is,
The fact that our being is shared with everyone and everything.
Just as there is one physical space in the universe that pervades all buildings but is not limited to them.
So there is one infinite and indivisible Being.
That pervades all people.
But is not limited to them.
There is one infinite being,
Clothed in many human experiences.
That is.
There is One Being.
From which everyone derives their apparently independent existence.
This being is utterly intimate.
And yet at the same time impersonal and unlimited.
Just as the numerous characters in a dream.
Are all manifestations of the dreamer's mind.
So,
In reality,
All people and animals are manifestations of the One Infinite and Indivisible Being or Consciousness.
Just as the same actor.
Plays different characters over a period of time.
So unlimited being plays numerous people and animals at the same time.
In other words.
The unity of being.
Appears as the multiplicity and diversity.
Of people and animals.
The Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi said.
Flow down and down and down.
In ever-widening rings of being.
That is.
Turn your attention away from the content of experience.
And sink deeply into your being.
As we sink deeply into ourself or our being.
We let go of all the experiences that define or limit us.
Our thoughts,
Images,
Feelings,
Sensations,
Perceptions.
Activities and relationships.
Sinking into our being.
Is like falling asleep.
While remaining awake.
As we fall asleep at night.
We let go of perceptions and sensations and,
As a result,
Our experience of the world and the body disappear.
Leaving us in the dream state.
We then let go of thoughts,
Images and feelings.
Which leaves us in deep sleep.
Imagine now that you are falling deeply asleep.
As you remain awake.
Let go of your focus on perceptions of the world.
Sensations of the body.
And all of your thoughts,
Images and feelings.
Simply be.
What remains of our self.
When we have let go of everything that can be let go of.
The fact of simply being.
Being aware.
Or awareness itself.
When we let go of everything that we can let go of.
Our essential nature.
Or being remains.
Shining quietly by itself.
As our being is divested of the qualities that it derives from the content of experience,
It loses its limitations and at some point.
Stands revealed as utterly intimate.
But unlimited,
Infinite being.
Intimate.
Infinite.
Impersonal being.
We do not suddenly become our naked being.
We are always and already utterly intimate.
Infinite.
Impersonal being.
But at times we overlook,
Forget or ignore this.
We allow ourself or our being to become so thoroughly mixed up with the content of experience.
That it seems to acquire its qualities and,
Therefore,
Its limitations.
Infinite being.
Becomes a temporary finite being.
I am becomes I am this or I am that.
The true self.
Becomes the separate self or ego.
Meditation is simply the reversal of this process.
We let go of everything that previously defined or qualified us.
And our true nature.
Of simply being.
Being aware or awareness itself.
Whose nature is peace and quiet joy.
Stans reveal.
All people and animals derive their apparent individuality from this One Being.
This recognition of our shared being.
Is the experience we refer to as love.
After all.
When we love,
Do we not feel to a greater or lesser extent that we are one with the Beloved?
In other words.
The individual does not love.
He or she is dissolved in love.
That is why the experience of love has a melting quality to it.
Love is not a relationship between individuals.
It is the dissolution of everything that seems to divide or separate us as individuals.
And the revelation of our prior unity.
It is the recognition of our shared being.
This is what Rumi meant.
When he said,
True friends never really meet.
They are in each other all along.
