Dear friends,
In this meditation we are going to reflect on the amazing fact of our own existence.
Let's begin with a breathing exercise to bring you into the present moment and to shake off the work and the worries of the day.
So,
Feet firmly on the floor,
Keeping you grounded.
Notice gravity allowing you to feel a sense of letting go as you simply sit.
Relax the shoulders,
Let them drop.
Relax the jaws and release any tension in the face.
And for a few moments pay attention to the breath.
Breathing in,
I know that I am breathing in.
Breathing out,
I know that I am breathing out.
Breathing in,
I close my eyes and imagine myself looking up at a star filled sky.
Breathing out,
I pray that generations upon generations will come to enjoy this same wonder in a peaceful and prosperous world.
And now a one minute pause for reflection.
60 seconds to come into the present moment.
Welcome back.
A quote from Professor Brian Cox.
Brian Cox is an English physicist.
He is Professor of Particle Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester.
Here is his quote.
When we look out into space,
We are looking into our own origins because we are truly children of the stars.
I was thinking the other day about the amazing fact of our existence.
The existence of each one of us.
And it struck me that this amazing fact is something that we don't really pay enough attention to.
The reason I suppose is pretty obvious.
We are here.
And we are going about our business.
If anyone was to make a big deal about the fact that we are here,
They might be laughed out of it.
How can you be so excited about being here,
Am I not looking at you now?
But not paying attention to this wonderful fact,
We would be losing quite a bit.
We'd be losing a huge opportunity for gratitude if we didn't stop every now and then to marvel at this wonderful reality.
Now even when you attempt to imagine the size and the vastness of the universe,
You see that we are hardly a dot.
Not only that,
But the whole solar system.
The whole solar system.
It would be hard to find a solar system even in this Milky Way galaxy.
Never mind among the thousands of millions of galaxies that we know make up even the universe as we have discovered it so far.
And our marvellous presence on this pale blue dot called Earth is something that often goes overlooked amid the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Yet when we stop to consider the utter improbability and wonder of our existence,
We have to be filled with a huge sense of gratitude and purpose.
So in this meditation,
We are going to talk about the remarkable fact of our being here.
And we try to examine and explore what this might mean in terms of how we should manage the journey of our lives.
Imagine for a moment the vastness of the universe.
Countless galaxies with billions of stars.
Many potentially with their own planets.
Our very presence here is the result of an extraordinary series of events.
From the Big Bang,
Which we are told happened 13.
8 billion years ago.
Right through to the birth and death of stars and the evolution of life on Earth.
And what is the reason for thinking that the universe had a beginning at some point in time?
It's because astronomical observations show that the universe is expanding.
By calculating the speed at which distant galaxies are moving away,
Astronomers have calculated that it must at some point have merged into an unimaginably concentrated point,
Which is where and when the Big Bang took place.
In any event,
And whether those calculations are right or wrong,
The fact is that the Earth came about.
And over an incredible period of time,
Life emerged on this planet,
Which finally led to you and me being here.
Now the odds against that happening are impossible to calculate.
For you and me to be here,
Our parents had to meet up.
And the same with our grandparents and our great-grandparents and so on and so on.
Now it is hard to imagine our good fortune holding up over three or four generations.
But we are talking here about thousands of generations.
Not only of people,
People even vaguely comparable to ourselves,
But the ancient forerunners of Homo sapiens.
And beyond that,
Back to the emergence of life on Earth.
Right,
Right back to the time when the earliest living creatures emerged from the sea.
What a sequence.
And looking at you and me,
What a result.
I think we will have another pause at this point so that we can reflect on this.
So let's go back to paying attention to the breath.
The breath bringing us back into the present moment.
So that we can reflect and give thanks for this extraordinary combination of circumstances that has resulted in our being here.
Each one of us has the incredible privilege of being the result of an evolutionary chain stretching back before time itself.
Breathing in,
I am aware that I am here and breathing in.
Breathing out,
I am aware that I am here and breathing out.
A one minute pause.
Welcome back.
And next we reflect on this mysterious thing called consciousness.
Not only are we here,
But we have the capacity for awareness.
We are not just observers of what is going on,
But we are able to reflect on the fact of our existence and our ability to observe that we are observing.
A quote from Alan Watts.
Through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself.
Through our ears the universe is listening to its harmonies.
We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory,
Of its magnificence.
Words there from Alan Watts.
What an amazing thing it is that we can contemplate our own existence and our own consciousness.
And what about the human brain?
Think of the incredible complexity of the human brain.
With its billions of neurons and trillions of synapses.
Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku said.
The human brain has 100 billion neurons.
Each neuron connected to 10,
000 other neurons.
He says,
Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe.
As long as humans have existed,
People have worked to comprehend,
To try to comprehend and understand the brain.
And although scholars have tried to decipher its codes for centuries,
We've only just scratched the surface.
Our brain allows us to think,
To feel and to perceive the world around us.
But the mystery of consciousness,
How our physical brain gives rise to our subjective experience.
This is a question that still baffles scientists and philosophers alike.
Let's have another pause now.
This time to reflect with gratitude on the fact that we can reflect with gratitude.
How amazing is this?
Another one minute pause.
Welcome back again.
And then there is the question why?
Why all this?
This is a question which has intrigued philosophers and religious people since we first discovered our amazing ability to reflect.
There are as many suggested answers as there are people asking the questions.
It's quite an unanswerable question of course.
But the important thing is to keep asking the question.
And constantly revise the answers that come to mind.
People may find it difficult to accept the reasoning of any number of religions.
I mean how can anyone come along and claim to know the answers?
How can anyone claim to be able to explain God in black and white when we don't even know how to define God?
Some people reject the idea that there is any purpose to this existence at all.
They think and in response to their thinking they come up with ideas such as we are just here and that's it.
Amazingly there are other people for whom the question doesn't even arise.
Although I find it difficult to even imagine the underlying source of all this magnificence.
Call it God or eternal spirit or whatever you like to call it.
But if the spiritual view of the world is hard to accept.
I find it even more difficult to accept that this existence of ours is purposeless,
Meaningless.
The idea that we are just a random accumulation of atoms.
I ask myself how can a meaningless accumulation of atoms be sitting here reflecting on the wonders of reality?
Despite the mystery and all of the failed attempts to solve it one thing is certain.
And that is that our existence here is a cause for endless gratitude.
A reason for endless feelings of thankfulness.
And what also follows.
Our existence must give rise to a sense of responsibility.
Our need to find a purpose and a role in this world.
The question then arises what should we do with our lives?
In the face of a huge cosmic backdrop that's just beyond comprehension.
Our individual lives may seem insignificant but they are not.
Each one of us has the power to make choices.
To take actions and to leave a mark on the world.
The final pause for reflection in this meditation will be so that we can ask ourselves.
What should we do with our lives?
What motivates and inspires us?
What are our dreams and hopes?
What brings us happiness and fulfillment?
Again a one minute pause.
Welcome back.
There are ways of finding your purpose in life.
You might find a reason for living through performing acts of kindness.
Maybe you have a creative side that you can offer to the world.
And we mustn't overlook the importance of being a part of a family.
Some people manage to make a dramatic impact.
You might be one of them.
Someone destined to make a scientific discovery that benefits humanity.
The important thing is that we each try to be fully present in each moment.
Because the life of each of us has the potential to be a beacon of light and hope.
Our actions can have an impact on the world around us.
Just like ripples in a pond,
Our choices will spread far and wide.
Why is that?
Because each of us touches the lives of many other people.
In that way each one of us creates a particular future.
And in a real sense has an effect on the course of history.
Just as no one else will see the world in the same way that you will see it.
No one else will make the contribution,
The unique contribution that you will make.
Some quotes before bringing this meditation to an end.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it away.
Pablo Picasso The purpose of our lives is to be happy.
The Dalai Lama And I think we can be sure he meant real happiness.
Real enduring happiness,
Not just singing and dancing.
And finally,
Life is a gift.
And it offers us the privilege,
Opportunity and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.
Tony Robbins I hope you've gained some benefit by listening to these reflections on the wonder of our existence.
There is no way in which any of us could adequately express thanks for all this.
But every new day offers us the opportunity for grateful acknowledgement by our thoughts,
By our words and by our deeds.
Namaste
