Transcription
[0:02, guided meditation begins]
Directing the mettā, the compassion, not to beings, to living beings, but towards experience, towards phenomena that arise in consciousness. So right now, in that lightness of awareness, just noticing if something, anything in your experience is prominent, standing out. Something in the body, body sensations, perhaps; an emotion or a mind state, a feeling. Just noticing. Perhaps nothing is particularly standing out or prominent. So then just being in the body with whatever is in awareness in the moment.
And beginning to direct the stream, the flow of compassion, of loving-kindness, of love, towards whatever is in experience. Whatever it is, bathing the moment's experience with kindness, whether it's a body sensation or a thought, an emotion. Whatever it is. A state of mind. Just over and over, bathing it, washing it in love, in kindness. Or if it's more helpful at times to feel that there is a holding of the experience in kindness, in love, in compassion. Sometimes it might be helpful even to use the phrases, or one word of a phrase, or one phrase, and direct that towards experience. So whatever is going on right now, whatever the experience is, bathing it, holding it in kindness, in love.
Whatever is in awareness, just over and over, directing the flow of tenderness, of kindness, toward that object. Bathing it in love and compassion. Holding it in mettā. You can also experiment with a more receptive mode. There's a complete, complete and utter acceptance of whatever is in consciousness, whatever object is in consciousness. Complete kindness of acceptance. A complete open door. As genuine and as full a welcoming as possible for the experience. Inviting whatever is there into the space of love, the space of compassion, of tenderness.
[9:54] Just over and over, softening toward experience, welcoming completely experience. Bathing the moment, the object, in love and kindness. Whatever is there in consciousness in the moment, touching it with tenderness, fully accepting, bathing it in warmth, in mettā, in compassion. So really letting go for now of our usual emphasis on kind of precision of mindfulness, of seeing things really clearly. Just letting go of that emphasis of precision, and really emphasizing the kindness, kindness toward what we see. And if it seems like the edges of things begin to blur or they lose their definition a little bit, or they begin to dissolve or fade a little bit, that's quite okay. We're not so interested in precision right now, just the kindness flowing, touching, surrounding, permeating experience.
So even if there is resistance, or numbness, or it feels like there is no feeling, or there's anger or fear, tiredness, bathing them too in love, really welcoming them, over and over. Whatever is there. Nothing is outside the range or scope of the kindness. Even any less obvious experiences, more subtle experiences -- slight disinterest, boredom, a little bit of agitation -- bathing it all in compassion. Holding it all in the space of mettā. Completely welcoming. So whatever arises, the arising is held in kindness. Whatever stays, the staying is held in kindness and tenderness. And its passing, too, held, bathed, welcomed, allowed, in mettā.
So nothing whatsoever is excluded. If there is, at times, a sense, a feeling of peace, including that, bathing that, too, in love and kindness. Completely opening, allowing. If there is a sense of happiness, of well-being, of stillness, including that. Including also the feeling of kindness, of warmth, of compassion if it's there. Bathing the kindness in kindness and welcoming. If there is an image or a sense of yourself at the moment, just an impression, an object in awareness, bathing that, too, completely allowing, holding it in tenderness. If you're aware of the intention toward mettā, toward compassion, intention of kindness, that, too, held in tenderness, bathed in kindness. Whatever is in consciousness.
[31:26] Does anything exist independent of our relationship to it? Just really genuinely welcoming as much as possible the experience. Completely allowing. Holding it in tenderness.
[34:45, guided meditation ends]
