Meditation exercise – Unified field
Today’s meditation exercise looks at the idea that everything might be put together in a much more unified way than we think – and that you might have more in common with a moon, a porcelain dish or your arch enemy than you realise. Onward, child of mystery – it’s time for today’s meditation!
Mystics have long claimed that reality is unified – that if we could perceive the true nature of the universe, we would realize that everything is connected to everything else. Through today’s exercise, you should be able to experience reality from this alternate, mystical perspective, ultimately perceiving the world around you as a unified whole rather than as a collection of separate and independent parts.
To begin, choose any ordinary location where you can practise this exercise without being disturbed – your favourite chair, a park bench, or the beach. Allow yourself time to settle into the location you’ve chosen and become relaxed.
When you feel comfortable, focus on som common object in your immediate environment: A porcelain dish, for instance, a seashell, or a leaf. Any object will do, as long as it is close enough for you to focus on the location you’ve chosen and become relaxed.
Take a deep breath and concentrate on the object until it’s all you see or think about. Even the most ordinary and familiar object can take on a surreal quality if you focus all your attention on it for an extended period of time.
As you continue to focus, consider the physical structure of the object you have chosen. First notice its shape. Then, if it has more than one piece, notice how different parts are attached: with glue, for instance, or with nails. Now envision the object on a microscopic level: If it’s a plant, see the individual cells. If it’s a wood carving, see the individual grains of wood.
Finally, consider the object on a molecular and quantum level: Envision the electrons whirling around the nuclei of the atoms, and tell yourself that both you and the object are made of the same basic types of particles. The particles constituting you and the object may even be bound together by phsyical fields. In other words, the sense that you are separate from other people and the rest of your environment may be a product of your perceptual limitations. It may have nothing to do with the way things are put together at all.
