Inspiration, aspiration -words that come from breath. The creation story has breath breathed into man. We have the idea that breath and the act of breathing is more than simply essential to life, but can carry us higher.
Our bodies depend on involuntary or unconscious processes that are working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week – all for the good of the whole. Within these autonomic processes, we say that a single cell has no idea of the whole that it is serving, but somehow all the cells work together in service of the body.
If we are at rest, our nervous system works without conscious direction. If we are working hard or we are stressed, then we take over the autonomic systems and work consciously and intentionally.
Breath In Meditation
We stop for a moment and think about resting in meditation. The guides say we should step outside of ourselves, watch the process, but do not interfere in it.
We see instructions like ‘Inhale deeply, and then slowly exhale. Wait for the breath to come in of its own accord, and watch its flow. As the breath flows out naturally, again observe the movement. Don’t inhale and exhale deliberately. Simply watch the breath. Don’t watch your body breathing. Observe the breath itself.’
That is easier said than done, of course. Is it even possible given that everything changes when we observe it? By that one could argue that rules might destroy meditation.
Let us agree on what we can agree, that coming together is better than creating chasms where ideas are valued more than human life. Or that happiness never decreases by being shared.
For you yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. Bring happiness to yourself.
It is better to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things, than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things. Or to aspire to see it.