At Home in the Universe

A guided meditation

(To be read to yourself or shared aloud with a friend. Please pause at each space between lines. The word "Pause" requests a longer pause.)

Aaron: I am Aaron. This is a meditation to guide you into an experience of the essence of your being, beyond the conceptual images of self as form, personality or consciousness.

We will work today with the assistance of a plant, a photograph of a beloved teacher or revered high being, an object such as a shell or flower, a sleeping pet or child or even the open sky out of your window. Choose one object with which you will remain throughout this one meditation. At another time you may use a different object. Please seat yourself so the selected object rests before you. If it is small, such as a shell, let it rest elevated to eye level on a table.

Please begin by moving into a comfortable position which you can maintain for some time. Allow the back to be as erect as is possible.

Body soft, relaxed;

shoulders soft, loose;

abdomen soft, open;

eyes soft, unfocused.

Seeing through and beyond.

Not fixed on anything.

Let the jaw hang slightly open, tongue resting loosely in space, not touching the teeth nor the roof of the mouth but floating.

The breath releases with a soft, whispered "ahhhh." Let it flow out from the core of you.

Eyes resting unfocused, seeing through and beyond.

Let the breath flow out, into and around the object.

Edges dissolving as the breath moves.

Draw in the in-breath, noting how it enters the body.

Out; offering this object your very life-breath,

and in, drawing in its most vital energy.

Out. Let awareness follow the breath, pausing at whatever resists its full release;

touching resistance with gentle awareness.

In. Noting any defenses against receiving completely;

touching resistance with gentle awareness.

Out. with a whispered "ahhhh." Mouth open, tongue floating; all resistance dissolving.

In. Subject/object differentiation dissolving in the spacious breath.

Out. Boundaries falling away. No edge to your breath, nor to your being.

In. Receiving completely, that which has been there since the very beginning.

Out. Releasing completely that which was labeled "I."

In. No one receiving; nothing received.

Resting in the natural state of spacious awareness.

Please continue for a few minutes in silence.

(Pause)

Does the out-breath stop at the object? Let it move out still further now. How far does it go when offered freely?

Nothing to stop it.

Touching the ends of the universe.

Drawing in from the same infinite space.

Infinite breath;

Infinite being.

Out. Make yourself at home in the universe.

Breath and pure awareness touching everything and everywhere.

No self: No object.

Floating there in luminous pure awareness.

In. The same infinite space within, where it all floats.

Luminous.

Open.

Radiant.

Never-ending.

Rest there.

Expanded outward and within, we find the same essence.

Rest there.

Let the breath breathe itself.

Rest! Nowhere to go. You are home. Rest!

(Pause)

And now we return to the relative consciousness.

Blink your eyes. Again.

Take a deep in-breath and note the relative experience,

seeing it still from outside, from great space.

Out. Allow the return of "self," noting it is just a convenient concept.

In. That self returning to the notion of receiver.

Let edges re-appear but note that they are concept only, a handy tool for dwelling in the relative condition.

Out. Let the edges dissolve again.

In. With the notion of boundary.

Out. No boundary.

Play with this for a few moments.

(Pause)

You are the relative human with concept of boundary, of self.

You are the absolute, pure awareness resting free of time, of space, of illusion.

Be both! It takes courage, love and awareness, but you can do it.

Train yourself to rest in this vast spaciousness of all being, and to still hear the human laugh and cry with a heart of compassion.

This is the beginning and the end of all your practice.

You practice until there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and then rest there …

resting in the infinite heart

at home in the universe.

May all beings come to rest in this pure heart/mind.

(Bell)

May all beings know the perfect joy of their true being.

(Bell)

May all beings find perfect peace.

(Bell)