The Lovingness That Is Already Inside You
La Amorosidad Que Ya Está Dentro de Ti
A teacher shares a meditation experience of encountering deep, unconditional love and compassion, and a second teacher responds by pointing toward the recognition that this lovingness is not located in any person, place, or time.
The Lovingness That Is Already Inside You
A teacher shares a meditation experience of encountering deep, unconditional love and compassion, and a second teacher responds by pointing toward the recognition that this lovingness is not located in any person, place, or time.
I wanted to share something. I was doing a meditation with my group here, the circular breathing. It seems like almost every time lately, I connect with this in slightly different ways. It seems to be everywhere.
This time it started with prayer. When I pray openly, asking for help, things happen. Recently I started praying also to a teacher who has passed away. For me, he is such a strong symbol of that place of love. And there was this recognition of a love that is so accepting, so gentle, so present all the time. No matter what we are going through, no matter how many tensions and resistances we carry in our bodies, it is totally accepting.
There was also a great compassion in recognizing that the people who have passed away, if they are there, they are fine. We are the ones who deserve all the compassion, all the courage it takes to go through this suffering. If you are there, it is totally home. It is beautiful. Nobody deserves judgment, really. Going through this life is the hard thing, in a sense.
What you are saying is beautiful. That is a beautiful meditation. It sounds like you are describing a realization of this lovingness that you are touching, which the image of your teacher represents.
When lovingness feels far away
That lovingness, when we begin this work, feels far away. It comes perhaps only in the presence of somebody like a grandparent or a teacher, especially a teacher. But ultimately, the process is to recognize that what you are finding and experiencing there is inside of you.
You have encountered that lovingness in different ways, especially in the circular breathings. Now you can start to look into how we tend to place that in a person, in an object, in a situation, in a context (for example, a meditation). There is a sense that it is somehow out there, in a place or in a time.
Questioning subtle beliefs
This is a really subtle exploration. In a sense, it is all about questioning beliefs, and they are very subtle beliefs. For example: "I can only experience this loving compassion when I am in the presence of this person." That belief is very valuable, because it can bring you into the presence of that person. But at some point, you can go deeper and question whether this is only available in a certain time and in a certain place.
I am not proposing that you believe it is always present. I am proposing that you question the belief. Just wonder: what if it is not only available in a certain time and a certain place? I feel like you are coming close to that edge where something could really shift.
I don't know if this is the same thing, but my sense is that it is there all the time. I just recognize it more in certain meditations, in certain moments.
Perhaps at times you are not recognizing it. If you at times experience its absence, then you do not yet experience that it is always there.