To provide a little set-up for my discussion of the meditation, this morning I was up at 4 am, to get ready to do a photo shoot/interview with several of the local news channels. The American Legion Riders from Mesa Post 26 (that's us!) were asked to participate in a weekend-long Celebration of Freedom, where we will be doing the opening ceremonies (riding our motorcycles in formation with American, military branch, and POW/MIA flags flying. This morning was the kick-off of this celebration, and since we do a lot for veterans and local charities, we were asked to come downtown at 5am this morning (it's now almost 11am, Arizona time). We had a great time talking to news persons, getting interviewed, and riding our bikes for the cameras. I got home about an hour ago, a bit sore from all the sitting, and standing - with my back, I have to change positions quite a bit - and so I thought I would get this assignment done.
I really enjoyed the message of this meditation; while I may seem to many to be a gruff individual, I have a heart of gold, and would do whatever I could to help my fellow human being, if I could. That's exactly what this meditation was all about, and it even included making sure you turned the loving-kindness inward, and recognized yourself as being worthy of receiving this kind of emotion. I did not find it difficult at all to do, perhaps because I am used to these kinds of thoughts and practices, or perhaps because I was already in a "sharing" kind of mood. I would recommend this to pretty much anyone, because being able to feel this great level of emotion for one's self, and for one's fellow humans, is something that we all desperately need to do. It is this kind of emotion that, if practiced daily, leads us to the wisdom that helps us be open to the idea of ending needless suffering, and to bring about human flourishing. Our planet and it's people are on a downward spiral, and we need to encourage this kind of thinking in everyone, and fast. That is another thing I liked about this meditation - you were to send this kind of energy to those you would consider your enemies - they are human, too, and a little less hate makes more room for a little more love. I have always bought into the philosophy, and repeat it constantly to anyone within earshot - you cannot love or hate something in someone else, until you love or hate it in yourself. And if we can bring about a revolution where the hate is dismissed all together, we would be in a fantastic place. I also subscribe to the mantra, "What goes around, comes around"; I also learned from my studies of Wicca, and other pagan, earth-honoring religions who believe that what you do comes back to you threefold. Keeping this in mind makes it a little more difficult to justify doing/thinking negative things, because who wants that to come back to them??
When doing this meditation, I was reminded of a song, from a commercial in the 70's - maybe some of you will remember it - which has a similar sentiment as the meditation: "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony." This further reminded me again of the pagan belief of practicing/worshipping/working with others, "In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust"; these are at the core of who I am, so when doing the exercise, I felt a warming in my chest, and when I took in the suffering of a loved one (my fiance', Becky), I ceased to feel (focus on) my back pain for a few moments. I was smiling a lot, and this continued into the next practice of feeling this loving-kindness for a group of people.
This is what a 'mental workout' is all about, and those who have ever done weight training, or had a specific regimen of exercising, or yoga, or even martial arts, knows that the key to success is practice, practice, practice. Our aim here is a more peaceful coexistence brought about by spending a hour a day meditation, opening ourselves up to this great cosmic energy and love, of which we are a part of. The research backs this up because, while we in the West have focused on the outer world, the sages of the East have been doing this inner world for centuries; they have made the foundation for us to work from. It almost seems unnecessary to point out the benefits of doing this for one's self, because once you have reached a state of calm mind, and have experienced the joy of conversing with your spirit/soul/higher self, you will never want to leave that place and come back here. I am happy I had the chance to take this course, because it is validating for me, in several ways, things I have done for a long time. I am no guru, or sage, (I will take the title Mystic, however!), and I am in now way near to perfect. But I believe in this energy, this integral health, and I wish and want it for all my fellow humans; with it, I think we can bring the Earth and her inhabitants, back on the right track. Namaste'
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