You can listen to this guided meditation here:
Find a comfortable place to sit, then do a body scan, starting at the top of your head, relaxing and releasing each part of the body as you get comfortable.
Then notice the breath. Breathe in and out, noticing whatever you can about the changes in your body–how the chest lifts and falls, how the air expands within your lungs. Pay attention to the breath.
Now shift your attention to your heart. If you can feel it beating, notice that, and if not, if you’re comfortable, place your hand over your heart, sending it warmth and comfort. Just as your lungs exchange the oxygen and the CO2, your heart moves that vital oxygen to every part of your body, pumping the blood… Spend a moment just noticing the miracle of our bodies’ interaction with what is inside and what is outside at every moment, gifting what we have left over–the CO2–to all the green things, and receiving their gift in the form of oxygen that keeps us alive.
In gratitude for that in this moment, see if you can find the spark of Light, the spark of the Divine, the spark of Life, of Shekhinah, that dwells within each human heart. Tend that light for a moment inside your own heart, noting it’s flicker or it’s shine. Notice if it needs you to tend the embers and blow a little on it to become flame and burn brighter.
After you spend a moment with that light, allow yourself to notice the spider web—the thin, silvery, strong and beautiful lines of light that connect you to those other Points of Light. First reach out to those closest to you, to dear friends, or to your family, or to the ancestors. Notice how each of them has a light that burns within their heart–that mystery of creation–and feel that fine strand of light between which connects those little fires. Now, reach out a little farther–notice how those strands are connecting points of light of all those you know, and of those who have been your teachers: those novelists whose books you’ve read, and those poets whose poems have lifted your spirit, those artists whose works—music, paintings, art of every form–have sustained you in this life.
Watch how, like sunlight on a spider web, those points of connection, those lines of connection, are suddenly illuminated and glowing. Watch as they expand, as you see how your heart, how that point of light in your heart, is connected by these fine webs of light to all of these people–those close to you and your communities, and those you don’t even know. Now let it expand further to those who are vulnerable, those who are suffering from illness, or poverty, those who are in the midst of conflicts, large or small, living in war zones within their own homes, or within their country. Find those strands connecting you to immigrants, to exiles.
Feel yourself held in safety, knowing that there is no way to not be a part of this Web of Interconnection, this Web of Love.
And now, allow that web to expand even further to those with whom you have some difficulty, or with those you are witnessing do great harm in the world. Although it may be flickering, there is a light that dwells within them as well. In compassion and mercy, feel your connection to them.
And now, begin to go beyond humans. Find the light in a beloved pet, or a beautiful tree outside your window, or a favorite mountain. Every created thing has the spark of Mystery, the spark of the Divine within it, whether animate or inanimate. Begin to just watch that web unfold as you connect to all the trees, all the insects, all the birds, all the rocks, all the mountains, the oceans and the streams, the rivers. Feel yourself connected to the whole Web of Life, the Web of Creation, the Web of the Universe. Feel yourself held in this vast network of love and divinity. Feel how those thin strands reach out even into the heavens, to the stars, and planets, clouds of gas. We are a part of it all, connected by our light to their light, by our love to their love. Feel yourself a part of this beautiful web of creation. Feel yourself held in safety by knowing that there is no way to not be a part of this Web of Interconnection, this Web of Love.
