Inspired by the international initiative, first time in my life I wrote a message to all my Facebook friends. I thought it was high time to act and if I managed to sit down for meditation with at least one other person, I would have been satisfied.
On FB many people answered my call from all corners of the world, but at the end five of us could get down on the grass on the Marguarite island last Sunday. After many cold days, we were finally blessed with a great weather, sunshine, a light breeze and summer warmth. At 7 pm sharp we were sitting and ready for meditation.
Openness and diversity being our core principles, everyone could meditate the way they wanted, or if someone never meditated before, their aim was just observation. We started in a seated posture, but agreed to allow any movement or stretching as needed, the only rule was to keep silence for an hour.
The meditation started. The first few minutes were a bit uncertain, everyone was trying to settle as the situation was new to all of us for we had never meditated together as a group. Slowly, a certain dynamics had set in. When I participate in a group meditation I always feel that after a while a kind of attraction, magnetism starts between the participants which leads us to stillness and inner silence. To Oneness. With my eyes closed, I could feel my friends around me and gradually I forgot about myself. I felt the fresh grass underneath, the touch of the wind on the body, I gently resisted the nuisances of the little insects and got more immersed in what was happening.
I left behind the idea that around the globe, many and more were also stilling their minds in that moment to join the wave of consciousness as it surfed through the various time zones. I simply was, there, with the others, then as one with the whole. Meditation experiences are always personal, so I prefer to keep them to myself, but it is worth noting that I felt that meditating in a group was definitely more intense. Interestingly, at start there was a lot of noise, the field was full of people, but by the end the air got calmer and the space was cleared. Stillness reigned the whole place.
Why is all this so important? I think we all know a lot about the importance of getting in touch with the universal consciousness and experiencing our unity consciousness, or in yoga language the idea that all is One, or in Christian terminology to see our neighbours as thyself. We all know that if we give a free flow to this consciousness our inner and outer worlds will be transformed positively. Sometimes, I have the feeling that the majortity of today’s youngsters are so educated in spirituality that they are almost bored with all such information. Many are reading Eckhart Tolle, and Osho books count almost as antique on the bookshelves. Most of us in their thirties have done at least one spiritual course in e.g. reiki, yoga, or other mind techniques, healing, or meditation. Thanks to the internet and youtube we have access to the latest scientific information on awareness and consciousness.
Yet the question is ever compelling: Do you LIVE all this? Nodding your head in awe you read another book or watch another Eckhart Tolle video on stillness or you decide to take personal action? Are you ready to put into practice all what you have learned? It is so simple to agree with great pearls of wisdom but it is so hard to realize them in your everydays. Be truly conscious and live your spirituality. Stand up and walk....and come to meditate with us on the next world meditation day.