24:23

Eternity In An Hour

by Thomas McConkie

Rated
4.9
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
2.5k

What could it mean to see the “World in a Grain of Sand”, or to live “Eternity in an hour”? In this extended meditation, Thomas points out the “Ground of Being,” a classic territory in contemplative practice.

EternityMeditationPresent MomentStillnessReverenceUniversalPoetryPresent Moment AwarenessReverence For CreationUniversal EmbraceCosmic EmbraceEmotional AwarenessContemplative PracticesCosmosEmotionsPoetry ReflectionsSensesSensory ExperiencesUniquenessUnique ExperiencesStillness Exploration

Transcript

A time to a yea ting ting ing is p Take this moment to really just gather awareness in the immediacy of experience.

Just appreciate that you are alive,

Sensitive,

Naturally,

Effortlessly present in this moment.

What a gift to just be awake and alive.

Have an intention for the time being to just let thoughts be in the background of awareness.

You don't have to stop them,

You don't have to interact with them.

Just let them be in the background.

In the foreground,

Just merge with the flow of sensory experience.

Sensations in the body,

Feelings of an emotional nature in the body,

Sights,

Sounds,

Tastes,

Smells,

The fullness of this present moment,

Just drinking it in,

Letting it open you up.

And you can start to taste the stillness in this moment at the very heart of experience,

Whether you're sitting still or in motion,

Moving around in the world.

Just hold an intention to touch,

To contact,

And join with the still point of the turning world.

The only way we know movement is because some part of ourselves also knows stillness.

But we tend to become so transfixed by the movement,

By the change,

By what comes next,

We forget to look back,

We forget to fall back into the stillness,

Into the ground that is always already here.

Relax.

No need to strive.

This stillness is closer to you than your own breath.

You can't attain the stillness,

You can't arrive at it.

In a relative sense you can only forget it or remember it.

But whether you remember it or forget it,

This stillness,

This stillness always remains the underlying perfection.

From this place of stillness,

Appreciate how unique your experience is.

The field of sensation that we call the body,

Feel the way it's in flux,

The way it cascades,

Dances and changes,

And feel the way this field of sensation is uniquely you,

Personal to you.

Feeling awareness to emotional activity,

Notice the feeling tone throughout awareness in this moment.

What emotion are you aware of?

What thought forms?

I think that this moment,

The activity of experience that you're alive to in this moment is brand new.

You've never been here before.

Body sensation never repeats itself.

Every instant of our life we're breaking new trail into novelty.

And not just you so-called,

But everything in manifestation,

Everything in creation is utterly unique.

Call to awareness in this moment everything that delights you in its uniqueness.

The songs of the birds,

Unrepeatable,

The sounds of the trees,

The unique bond of love,

Of friendship you share with a sibling,

A family member,

A friend,

A partner,

A lover.

Just appreciate how utterly unique all of manifestation is.

This very moment in human history,

Utterly unique,

Full of heartache,

Full of hope and joy,

The light on the mountains,

The writing in the clouds,

All rising in this single instant changing.

And as you open up to the utter uniqueness of each thing in manifestation,

Allow yourself to sense through the heart all of manifestation's sameness.

It's said in Zen,

Everything's different,

Everything's the same.

But what makes it the same,

Somehow every single experience has the same taste.

There are no words for this taste.

We could call it something like utter freedom and openness.

We could call it love itself.

Just allow yourself to experience the sameness,

This oneness.

This universal embrace.

No matter what we're experiencing in a given moment,

The feel of the ground beneath our feet,

The wind on our face,

The sound of a human voice,

Inside of the mountains,

The desert,

The ocean.

In all cases,

Something universal hides behind this experience,

Is aware of all of these diverse experiences,

Embraces all of experience.

The awareness that is aware of all experience,

The presence,

The beingness,

Embracing everything.

There's absolutely nothing outside of your awareness,

Your experience that could possibly be outside of this embrace.

And so we realize that everything belongs.

Recognizing that everything in manifestation is utterly unique.

That everything in manifestation is utterly embraced.

Is natural for a sense of reverence to arise,

Reverence to the mystery of it,

Reverence to the majesty of absolutely everything.

Allow your awareness to just naturally move towards any aspect of creation that calls up a sense of reverence in you.

Utterly unique.

Beautiful for no reason but its own beauty.

Let this reverence fill your being,

Fill your awareness.

Let this reverence pour into you as well,

Extend to you.

The same reverence you feel for this being,

This presence,

This object of beauty.

What makes it beautiful,

What makes it worthy of your reverence is the same universal substance,

Universal divine force that embraces them and you the same.

Know that you are totally continuous with this sense of awe and wonder and reverence.

Feel the way that you love creation beyond any words,

The way you engage the gift of your life so fully,

So passionately.

Reverient to all of unique manifestation,

Open and alive to the cosmic embrace that imbues all of creation with its love.

Feel that you,

An extension of this cosmic embrace,

In turn embraces everything.

Feel how naturally,

How deeply you care for this world and all worlds.

In his poem,

Auguries of Innocence,

The poet William Blake writes,

To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower.

World infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.

Take these final few moments to really feel this,

To appreciate this,

You the grain of sand,

Utterly unique,

And you the universe,

A cosmic embrace.

The mind is baffled to understand the paradox of this magnitude,

But feel in your heart this reality,

The way you uniquely manifest in the world as a particle,

A grain of sand,

You and all beings,

All of creation,

Every leaf of grass,

Every sentient being,

Every mineral,

And simultaneously how you and none of these aspects of manifestation are any other than the one embrace,

The one taste.

From this awareness,

Ask yourself this question,

How will I,

Eternity,

Spend this hour?

How will I give myself in uniqueness to this world?

How will I give myself in uniqueness to this world?

Meet your Teacher

Thomas McConkieBoston, MA, USA

4.8 (139)

Recent Reviews

Craig

January 22, 2025

Excellent guided meditation

Surendra

October 27, 2024

Namaste 🙏

Dan

May 24, 2024

Wonderful

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© 2026 Thomas McConkie. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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