I was on the bus this morning reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and I found an interesting statements that I found curious. The author was having a conversation when meditating with her mind, which was trying to distract her from the meditation:
"Mind:...So let's imaging that you're an island in...a river!
Me: Oh, you mean like Bannerman Island, in the Hudson River?
Mind: Yes! Exactly! Perfect. Therefore, in conclusion, let's meditate on this image--envision that you are an island in a river. All the thoughts that float by as you're meditating, these are just the river's natural currents and you can ignore them because you are an island.
Me: Wait, I thought you said I was a temple.
Mind: That's right, sorry. You're a temple on an island. In fact, you are both the temple and the island."
The reason why this hit me as important is that for years (18+) I have been meditating using visualization. During these visualizations, I "built" a "temple" or sorts to visit to help with meditations. It is a nice cave type area with torches on the walls a stone seat facing a large underground lake (similar to the description of Voldemort's hiding place of one of his Horcruxes). When visualizing going to this temple, I am standing at a bank of a river facing an island, a stone bridge appears and I am able to walk onto the island and descend the stairs into my temple.
You can see how the conversation with herself about a temple on an island in a river took me by surprise.
Later that day while coming back home, I read this which seemed to profound that I had to read it three times and sat staring off at the mountains in contemplation:
"'This is what everyone has come here for.' According to the mystics, this search for divine bliss is the entire purpose of a human life. This is why we all chose to be born, and this is why all the suffering and pain of life on earth is worthwhile--just for the chance to experience this infinite love. And once you have found this divinity within, can you hold it? Because if you can...bliss."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment