by Carlos Rennella
My view of myself and the world is very limited by the constraints of my capacity to perceive and by the ideas, ways of thinking and expressing myself that I have absorbed unconsciously from my society. If I don’t have the humility to recognize these limitations, I will live with the illusion that I know myself completely and that there is no need to question my perceptions of reality, formulated in words and concepts. Moreover, I will see no reason to question my beliefs about my place in the world.
In this meditation,*I ask the Divine Mother to help me free myself from these illusions.
Invocation: Divine Mother, be my guide. How do I resolve this puzzle in my mind? How do I confront this conundrum of knowing and not identifying myself with what I know—this, my comforting, reliable world of concept and ideas that inhabits my mind?
Imaginative Picture: I am taking a trip. I board a plane, my belongings carefully packed and my documents—my identity— secured in my pocket. When I arrive at my destination, my documents, my words are missing! My vocabulary, my rich vocabulary is gone! Without my words and concepts, I have no way to connect with what I know, no way to express myself.
Sensations: Lost, confused, I feel lost in a world of words that are not mine—words that carry no personal meaning in my mind. Separation, strangeness.
Purposes: Let go. Humility. What was, was good for yesterday. I have to learn new words, new meaning. I have to let go and learn.
Consequences: I no longer need to carry old ideas everywhere. With new words I am free to seek and express broader ideas, adopt new concepts, new meanings. I change my perspective about what I am and know.
*This meditation is in the form of an Affective Meditation exercise, a practice in Cafh. For more information about the Affective Meditation, click here.
A human being is a part of the whole called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. - Albert Einstein