Hello and welcome to the session.
I invite you to take a seat or lay down and get yourself comfortable.
You can close down the eyes if you wish and take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And just gently begin to open your mind to today's quote.
To contemplate the words with a free and open and supple mind.
To welcome in possibility and expansion and growth.
And to allow yourself for the next few minutes to just sit and be with whatever arises.
In a moment I'm going to share with you a quote to contemplate.
And then we'll just sit in silence for a minute and let it percolate.
Then we'll talk about the quote and see where the discussion leads us.
Today's quote comes from Rumi,
A 13th century poet,
Scholar,
And mystic.
And it goes,
Do not feel lonely.
The entire universe is inside you.
Stop acting so small.
You are the universe in a static motion.
Set your life on fire.
Seek those who fan your flames.
Do not feel lonely.
The entire universe is inside you.
Stop acting so small.
You are the universe in a static motion.
Set your life on fire.
Seek those who fan your flames.
So,
Like all quotes born of mystics and poets,
There's a lot of potential ambiguity and depth that you can derive from such a small amount of words.
So,
As we deconstruct this quote,
I want you to consider that the depth of exploration I want you to consider that the depth of exploration will be far greater than what we'll cover here.
And indeed,
With every quote in this course,
You're invited to look further,
Look deeper,
And go beyond,
And to discover and extract whatever it is that you're feeling,
And what you can see as a kernel of truth from what could be otherwise considered mere words on a page.
So,
With that said,
The instruction to do not feel lonely because the entire universe is inside you is an interesting one.
Because it's practically or physically obvious that I am me and other people are over there.
But that's obviously operating on a limited outlook.
True,
I am here and you are there.
You are not inside me.
But if we consider what it is to be you as something beyond the physical flesh-held form,
Then indeed the entire universe may be inside us.
Are you you or are you something more than you?
From a traditional perspective,
That is.
Perhaps the way we are looking at the world is limited by our position within the world.
We see ourselves as the center.
But what if we shifted that approach smaller?
We go quite small and our bodies are host to a collection of integrated and important microbiology that all rely on one another and the greater host itself to survive and function and thrive.
And indeed the host,
You,
Need those microbiomes that aren't quote unquote you to survive.
We are in harmony with them.
They're smaller still and we find that we're all yourself.
Those microbiomes,
Everyone,
Everything is constructed on the same fundamental stuff of existence.
Atoms,
Microparticles,
All of these things.
If we extend this thought to bigger than ourselves,
Could it not be argued that humans work together to create a mega-organism of sorts?
What is a city if not a complex machine or system that is both alive and inanimate,
Working together to produce?
It consumes,
It transforms,
And it produces both things of quote unquote value and waste.
The individual human is rarely aware of the entire process.
But if you zoom out upon humanity,
We are clearly working together.
We do work together and the act of working together produces far more than the individual can alone.
Could we not suggest that the earth itself is akin to our body with the microbiomes?
I don't know about you but I know that I couldn't survive without other humans.
I am directly in need of their existence.
Especially those that I never even get to see.
How did we get the food that we eat,
The fuel to transport us,
The electricity and energy to see at night?
The materials and the expertise to build our houses to enable us to communicate digitally.
To enable us to communicate digitally.
Indeed most everything that I feel and everyone that I meet is reliant on this complex system of civilization that we've built up.
You put a modern human and indeed most every human on their own and they certainly don't thrive.
This isn't to say that the way that we're built and set up now is optimal.
But it is to say that it is reliant on one another.
But I just wanted you to consider that the way we look at the universe is inherently biased from the first person perspective that is coming out of our eyes.
What if we go beyond this?
What if we have the belief or consider that perhaps everything and everyone,
Every moment is an aspect of the divine.
And we are just seeing that aspect from our perspective.
If we can sit with that belief,
If we can feel that as truth,
Then we are indeed not alone.
Because the universe is not a single entity.
Not alone.
Because the universe is inside us.
But what we are isn't this flesh body.
What we are is the thing that has given birth to this flesh body and every other one as well.
Because the quote continues,
Stop acting so small.
You are the universe in a static motion.
You are the universe in a static motion.
This suggests that your very essence,
Your very nature is the universe acting.
There's that idea that you were born of stardust.
This very stuff that was in the stars is now in you.
And once it's out of you,
It will go back to the stars,
Given enough time.
Stop acting so small.
Set your life on fire and seek those who fan your flames.
Once again,
This idea of setting your life on fire and seeking those who fan your flames could be taken in multiple paths,
But let's get purely practical and physical here.
If you have goals that you want to achieve,
Things that you want to do,
Someone you want to become and be,
Take those steps.
Set the dead wood that is holding you back on fire and seek those to fan your flames.
It is so much easier to grow and expand when you've got a community around you that embodies that same growth and expansion.
If you surround yourself with dead wood,
You may become it yourself,
Become stuck in that rut,
Become small.
But what if you were more?
What if you could be more?
What if you could fan the flames and set your life on fire?
Perhaps you should seek those to fan your flames,
Because together you'll fan one another's flames and perhaps your life will transform into an inferno of the universal glory,
Beauty,
Potential and possibility.
And from that perspective,
Can you feel lonely?
Maybe the loneliness you are feeling is because you haven't,
Haven't sought,
Haven't found the people that are able to fan the flames of your unique existence.
It's like I said,
This quote leads us down multiple paths of contemplation,
But they are worth considering.
So I invite you to sit with the quote for just another minute,
And beyond if you need.
Do not feel lonely.
The entire universe is inside you.
Stop acting so small.
You are the universe in a static motion.
Set your life on fire.
Seek those who fan your flames.
So,
Well done.
This brings us to the end of the session.
At the bottom of your screen,
You'll see the option to view the classroom or to ask a question.
And before moving on,
I invite you to take a moment to click through and share your insights,
To read the answers from other students and to hear my replies.
Remember to start your responses with Rumi,
With Rumi,
Or restate the quote,
Fan your flames,
So we know which one you are referring to.
This is an opportunity for deep learning,
Further introspection and insight.
So please don't miss out.
I look forward to seeing you in the next session.
Thank you.
This track was taken from my course,
Daily Contemplations for Living an Examined Life.
It's out now on Insight Timer and available via my profile.
I invite you to join in.
