Hello,
I'm going to guide you through a short meditation I call removing the masks.
We all wear masks each and every day.
We could call them labels,
We can also call them roles we play.
So you're going to have a glimpse of what is behind the masks.
We could say it's our true nature,
Our deeper essence.
And during the meditation there will be short periods of silence and these are for you to feel into what we're doing,
To what's behind the masks.
So closing your eyes,
Taking a couple of deep breaths,
Steadying yourself,
Just feeling the breath.
So firstly take off the mask or peel off the label of your name.
You are not your name.
Peel it off.
Be with the nameless.
Your name doesn't define you,
It's not who you are.
Peeling off the label of your age.
You are not your age.
Peel it off.
Take off the mask.
Be with the nameless.
You feel the ageless,
The timeless.
Next take off the mask of your profession,
Your job.
Maybe a carpenter,
Teacher,
Doctor.
Maybe you're out of work.
Doesn't matter.
Take off the mask.
It doesn't define you.
Put it to one side.
Dance behind that mask.
And so onto your political beliefs,
Maybe you're conservative,
Maybe liberal,
Maybe on the left,
Maybe don't care about politics.
It doesn't matter.
Take off the mask.
Your politics don't define you.
There's more to you than this mask,
This label.
You weren't born with your political beliefs.
Dance behind that mask.
But your religious beliefs,
Your Christian,
Catholic,
Protestant,
Hindu,
Muslim,
Buddhist,
Agnostic,
Atheist,
It doesn't matter.
Even if you're spiritual,
It doesn't matter.
Take it off.
Put it to one side.
Dance behind that mask too.
Now take off the mask of being a good person or a bad person or both.
Take off that mask.
Feel off that label.
We glimpse behind it.
That's it.
Keep sensing behind these masks.
How about all your beliefs?
How about just put them to one side?
Just for a few minutes,
Be without all these beliefs.
Be beliefless.
Have you disappeared?
Of course not.
You are not your beliefs.
You are not your job.
Your job is what you do.
Your name is a label.
So taking off the label of even being a person.
How does that feel?
Person is a label.
A useful one at times.
Dance behind it.
Now finally take off the label of I or me.
Me is a label.
Peel it off.
Peel off the label I.
That's it.
Feel into the ageless,
The timeless,
The nameless.
Beyond all masks and labels,
Even behind the me label.
They will all march back in when we end this practice in a few moments.
It's good to get a glimpse of what's behind these.
There's an openness,
A wisdom,
An essence.
So you can open your eyes,
Meet the world again and get on with your day.
Thank you for listening.
