This morning, before starting up my computer, I granted myself a 20 minutes break to just "be here", without doing anything, without using any special technique except for seeing and feeling what is here now, with an open, nonjudgmental mind. Curious to see what I would discover.
What followed was a kind of a cosmic expedition: the first thing that came into the field of my awareness was my body; feeling the sitting body: feet on the floor, buttocks on the chair, back touching the backrest, hands on my lap, the rhythm of my breath, the coolness of the air on my skin. It saw the image of the planet body orbiting in the spacious field of awareness. (Originally I wrote "in the field of my awareness", but then I am not so sure if the awareness really is mine, so I gave up the word "mine". Which gave me the insight that much of my suffering would dissolve if I more often gave up the words I, me mine - nice song from George Harrison, by the way. )
In the second orbital I saw the planet of sounds: the cars in the street, the rain on the window, the wind in the trees outside my office.
In the third orbital I saw the planet of emotions: mainly the sadness for my poor old mother, suffering from Alzheimer. She is like a Zombie: no memories of the past (she does not know who I am), no hopes for the future. She lost all awareness of time and space. You are nowhere if you are only now here. Then came the next emotion of gratitude for what my mother has been for me, but also gratitude because I am aware that I am aware, even if this awareness brings me sadness.
in the forth orbital was the planet of thoughts: the plans for today, the idea that I would write this text.
The fourth orbital was the tangible outside world: the room, the building, the street, the cars, the people.
The fifth and final orbital in my field of awareness was the intangible outside world: the joy, hope and suffering of the many, many fellow human beings on this planet. First those I will meet today. But also those I won't see today, who don't have a comfortable house like me, who can't start their day with a healthy meal... The pain and sadness of the millions of football fans in Brasil who made their hopes dependent on the succes of others. How often did I put my happiness in the hands of others?
I concluded this expedition with the intention to maintain this field of open, compassionate awareness during the rest of the day. I will let you know tomorrow how well I succeeded.
Traveling in the field of open awareness: you won't find it on TripAdvisor, but I do recommend you to try it. It is fast, cheap, environmental friendly, you don't need to cue and it just takes 20 minutes to discover a fascinating cosmic world.
With love, from me to you,
Erik
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