Monday Meditations: Interconnectedness

This is part of Cocoon's Monday Meditation series.

I took this picture at the Self Realization Fellowship (SRF) Meditation Gardens in Encinitas a few weeks ago. It is such a beautiful, living example of how we are all connected in this world. Humans, animals, plants, fish - our energies all touch each other, weaving in and out, pushing us forward.

Here is a meditation on Interconnectedness by Madonna Gauding in The Meditation Bible. She says:

You are connected to everything and everyone else. This Interconnectedness Meditation will help you counteract feelings of alienation, loneliness or meaninglessness, and increase your sense of loving connection to all beings. 

Interconnectedness is not just a spiritual idea. Quantum physics finds you are intimately connected to all reality. In fact, physicists can only observe the particles from which you are made through their interactions with other systems. You may feel alone and separate, but rest assured, you are not.

Let's Meditate! 

1. Buy an apple at the market. Sit on a cushion or chair in your meditation space. Watch your breath for a few minutes to calm and settle your mind. 

photo from www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. Place the apple in front of you. Visualize the seed from which the apple came. Visualize a farmer planting the seed, carefully fertilizing the ground. Clouds come and go, and rain moistens the earth. For years the farmer tends the tree, which is also home to birds and insects, until one day it bears fruit. He hires farm hands to pick the fruit They pack your apple in a crate with other apples. The farmer drives your apple to a wholesale market. The wholesaler buys your apple and sells it to your shop. Another driver delivers it to the shop. A shop assistant arranges it for display. You arrive and pick that apple to use for your meditation.

3. Visualize the apple tree and all the people and equipment involved in bringing this one apple to you. You can extend this meditation by tracing every aspect of the process, including the people who built the vehicle that delivered your apple. At every given moment you are connected to an infinite number of beings. You can't exist without them. You are enmeshed in a cosmic web of creation.

4. End your meditation by eating the apple. Feel your connection to everyone who made it possible.

Namaste.