The Universe in Time

This week’s blog will focus on some of my favorite exercises from the second section of my book “The Songbird In My Heart.” These exercises are called “Acts of Contemplation, Freedom for a Glad Heart” and are designed to put you in touch with your deeper self. Each day a corresponding prayer from the book will also be posted to Facebook.

The inspiration for these exercises came from two unlikely sources. The first are the beautiful books from Thomas Merton and his editors A Book of Hours, Seeds of Contemplation, and New Seeds of Contemplation. The second is the red Fieldbook by Peter Senge to his best selling business book The Fifth Discipline. While this part of the book bears little resemblance to these great books, they did serve as inspiration.

Please take some time and try them out! If you like, let me know how it goes. Best of luck. Mark

Acts of Contemplation, Freedom for a Glad Heart

Monday – Walking In Quiet Stillness
Tuesday – The Blue Skies Shine
Wednesday – Naturetime
Thursday – Mindtime
Today - The Universe in Time


The Universe in Time



Opening Thoughts
In each moment, time, space and matter come together to create our lives. As each moment pivots into the next, the magical mystery of the universe makes the change in matter and space that we witness.

Better understanding the vastness of the universe in terms of time, space, and matter gives us the humility we need to live in peace and grace. It also delivers the magic and mystery to always keep life interesting.

Acts of Contemplation
Act 1 – Time – Scientists believe that the universe is twelve billion years old. Our solar system is believed to have coalesced about 5 billion years ago. The Moon was probably formed from a Mars sized planet colliding with the Earth about 4 billion years ago. Life on Earth is probably 3.5 billion years old, man-like creatures 2.5 million years old and homo sapiens two hundred thousand years old.

Ponder this scale of time in its relation to your life. Take ten minutes or so. Empty the mind and put aside today’s issues. Wait for the next thought to come. Patiently wait for the next thought. And then, translate the thoughts that arise from the emptiness. Write them down in a journal.

Act 2 – Matter – There are believed to be 100 billion galaxies like our own. Each contains 100 billion stars. That is 10 billion trillion stars in all.

Ponder the number of stars in the universe in relation to your life here on Earth in the Milky Way galaxy. Take ten minutes or so. Empty the mind and put aside today’s issues. Wait for the next thought to come. Patiently wait for the next thought. And then, translate the thoughts that arise from the emptiness. Write them down in a journal.

Act 3 – Space/Distance - Our galaxy, solar system, Earth, and human body are mostly space. While our body has more atoms than there are stars in the universe, the space between is proportionately similar.

Contemplate space and its meaning to you. Take ten minutes or so. Empty the mind and put aside today’s issues. Wait for the next thought to come. Patiently wait for the next thought. And then, translate the thoughts that arise from the emptiness. Write them down in a journal.

Act 4 – Power - The unimaginable power of the black holes, quasars, blazars, and galaxy mergers is only exceeded by the big bang itself. If the Earth is not consumed by its own Sun in 5 billion years it will either be irradiated by a quasar, gulped down by a black hole, lost in an upcoming galaxy merger with Andromeda, or boiled off by the Sun as it evolves.

Ponder the violence of the universe in relation to your life. Take ten minutes or so. Empty the mind and put aside today’s issues. Wait for the next thought to come. Patiently wait for the next thought. And then, translate the thoughts that arise from the emptiness. Write them down in a journal.

As Each Moment Arises

Both past and future moments
Are distractions,
Illusions of life.
Reliving past events
Anticipating future results
Are the design and intention
Of the egoic mind.
Directing energy in illusion.
Fall into the flow of
Each moment as it arises
Be present,
Absent of ego and personality
Conscious in the now
Past and future will disappear
You will discover
The magical mystery
The quiet stillness
The kingdom of heaven
That is within you.
This is your destiny
To find the forgiveness
To find the joy
To find the love
To find the peacefulnessIn each and every day

Yearning

There is a voice I often hear
Purposeful, crystal clear
A yearning,
Not in words, but in emotions
I have tried to ignore it
But it only becomes
More strident in its call
When I release the mind’s
Resistance
All is quiet, peace ensues
The yearning strengthened,
Perhaps. And so, I wonder
From whence, whither
Does this come?
A mystery to me
A product of my generation?
A product of my upbringing?
Maybe.
A sign of my discontent?
But, I am not discontented.
I remember, it doesn’t matter
What I have in this world
Only, that I am in this world
And yet still, the voice returns.
Do you hear it too?

As our contemplation of time deepens

Time is the magical mystery. As the universe pivots into the next moment; everything, everywhere, changes at the same time. This is time; the magical mystery of change. Time is change and change is time.

Yet as we explore more deeply into time, we perceive the quiet stillness of time. In the quiet stillness, it is as if time has stopped, giving us the feeling of no-time, or eternal time. This quiet stillness is what connects everything, everywhere.

This realization is stunning. Time is change and time is stillness. The change tends to separate us, the stillness connects us. We are part and whole at the same time, within each precious moment. Time frees us and time binds us together.