From the Buddhist perspective,
The delusion or illusion of separateness is the root cause of really the vast majority of our suffering in daily life.
Because we see ourselves as separate,
We often feel ourselves to be a small deficient,
Threatened self confronting a big world,
One that we feel somewhat cut off from.
So for this practice,
We're going to be turning towards really our shared humanity and really leaning into instead of kind of what makes us different or separate from each other,
Really what connects us.
Of course,
All of our differences are really important and beautiful and capture one truth.
And yet,
There is another truth that beyond all of our conditioning,
All of the appearances,
All of the ways that we're different,
There is a certain oneness that's at the core of our being,
Of every being.
So for this practice,
We'll be leaning into that and exploring this oneness a little bit directly.
So to begin,
You might just find a comfortable but also alert position.
And begin by taking a few conscious breaths.
Just allowing the mind,
The emotions and the body to land here.
Really gently landing.
And you might imagine for this period that the entire planet,
All 7 billion of us have decided collectively to take a moment to just sit together and see each other.
So with that,
We've all kind of jointly cast aside all of our judgments and our anger and our desires to hurt each other in all of the ways that we do.
And for this moment,
We actually just want to see who we really are,
To really see each other.
So just noticing that kind of open-hearted quality of receptivity that we're all bringing to this moment together.
So you might imagine that we all kind of take our seats in a big circle,
Would be quite a giant circle.
Yeah,
So all kind of sitting down together.
And you might just imagine that we're all wearing the same clothes to minimize kind of distractions.
And you might imagine holding the hand of the person on your left and the person on your right.
You can let those people be whoever you'd like them to be.
And then one by one,
Imagining them joining the hand of the person next to them and that person,
The person next to them and so on.
Like one giant wave connecting all of our hands.
And once that's complete,
You might begin to just take a look around you.
You might start to notice all of the people in this imaginary circle.
You might see some familiar faces,
People that you know.
And then find some unfamiliar faces,
People,
No doubt of all different ages,
All different races,
All different genders,
Different sexual orientations,
Different countries of origin,
Different political backgrounds,
Spiritual backgrounds.
So really holding space for all of this diversity to exist,
But not divide.
So just letting your eyes kind of slowly,
Patiently scan the circle and find the eyes one by one of all the people here.
Of course,
You won't get to them all,
But with that intention to one by one take in every single person.
And when your eyes meet them,
There is that there be a small smile.
And you might see them smiling back at you as well,
Just this mutual recognition,
This genuine really innocent desire just to see who you really are.
Really with a curious attention.
So like,
Who are you really,
Not who do I see,
But who are you really?
What's most true about you?
What's your essence?
Great,
So take your time with that.
And just continue to find the eyes of the next person with this real question of who was this being in front of me?
What's really real about them?
And as you continue with this kind of gradual meet and greet,
If you will,
You might notice that just like you,
This person wants to be loved.
Wants to be accepted,
Wants to be celebrated,
Wants to be acknowledged for their contributions and their strengths.
They want to feel safe in this world just like you.
They want to be healthy and avoid physical pain just like you.
They feel sad,
Heartbroken.
They feel grief when they lose love.
They feel joyful when they find love,
When they find things that really tickle them.
Just like you,
They want to feel alive.
They want to feel connected.
They want to feel happy and content with the life that they're living.
Just like you,
They want to enjoy simple pleasures like food,
Entertainment,
Laughter.
And just like you,
They want to be held when they're hurting.
Just like you,
They feel incredibly vulnerable sometimes.
They feel lost.
They feel hopeless.
They feel overwhelmed.
They don't know what to do.
They feel rejected.
Just like you,
They cry when they feel pain.
Just like you,
They probably enjoy holding the hand of the person next to them.
Just like you,
They want to have a family to call their own,
To love and cherish,
To spend their life with.
They want to belong to something sweet and beautiful.
Just like you,
They want to feel at home inside of themselves.
And now you might take a moment just to notice what you see as you continue embracing with your eyes all of the people in this circle.
Just notice what you can see that connects you to them.
Just notice what you can see.
And now you might just kind of drop the reflection.
And take a moment just to widen your focus to take in all of the people smiling at you,
Smiling at each other.
You might imagine that we're so delighted to be here together like one big family,
Which is of course what we are.
You might imagine that just like you,
They're able to see all of these various things that connect us and their hearts smile about that.
And now you might imagine that an invisible string connects each one of our hearts,
Both literal and metaphorical.
Just kind of letting this string slowly wind its way through all of our hearts.
You might begin to tune into your own heartbeat.
And take a moment just to sense that all of our hearts are beating at once.
Just noticing what it's like to directly perceive the unison of our hearts.
And with that really sensing our collective fragility.
We're such fragile creatures and our hearts are really a beautiful container of that.
We're all kind of hanging in a delicate but beautiful balance.
You might widen your attention a little bit to take in the collective breath that's moving through all of us at once.
All of our bodies breathing together.
And with that you might also notice everyone else also noticing that we're breathing together for once in our lives,
Not having to defend ourselves from each other.
Really feeling free to just be here together.
Really feel open to our connection,
Our oneness.
This one beating heart,
This one breath.
This one body-mind that we're all occupying.
This one love that we all seek.
Just noticing how it is to be a part of something so mysterious and beautiful,
So radiant.
So we'll close this reflection with a poem reading from the Radiant Sutras translated by Lauren Roche.
There is a place in the heart where everything meets.
Go there if you want to find me.
Mind senses soul eternity.
All are there.
Are you there?
Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart.
Give yourself to it with total abandon.
What ecstasy is there in a steady regal sense of resting in a perfect spot.
Once you know the way,
The nature of attention will call you to return again and again and be saturated with knowing.
I belong here.
I am at home here.
Thank you for your presence and for your heart,
Your beautiful,
Beautiful heart.
Thank you.
