Reflections in mindfulness
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Reflecting in meditation
What kinds of pebbles can we drop into the waters? We can drop in the thought that each breath is precious - that it only lasts for a moment never to return. This challenges our assumptions that we do the same thing over and over. We never do the same thing over and over. Every experience is unique, and it is deeply fulfilling to experience the uniqueness of each precious moment.
We can reflect on the fact that our breath connects us with every human being, plant, and animal in the world. Our breath is the living symbol of our interconnectedness with others. Your body, and the breath that sustains it, is made of forests, and fields, and birds, and animals, and oceans, and mountains. It is made of the air above, and the earth below. It is made from the remains of a long-ago dead star. We are vaster and richer than we think.
We can reflect on the impermanent and insubstantial nature of every experience we have. Thoughts come and go like rainbow apparitions, emotions coalesce like clouds and then dissipate. Feelings loom like shadows and then are gone. Where did they come from. Where did they go?
The proper contemplation of these sorts of reflections can lead at times to a certain unease, although that unease should be seen as a creative force - a questioning of assumptions that are so close to us that we rarely, if ever, see them. But they can also lead to a sense of fulfillment, and a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty and mystery of life.
As a great Indian teacher said: “Let these three expressions: I do not have. I do not understand. I do not know, be repeated over and over again. That is the heart of my advice.” This might seem strange advice at first, but that only means that the path of reflection is deep and subtle, and that we all have a long way to go in cultivating that sense of awe and mystery which turns not-knowing into the most profound source of wisdom.
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