With the first flickers of light in my eyes this morning, I begin my meditation by acknowledging all those with whom I share this retreat week.
There are all those who have sent email confirming their presence. There are those with whom I sat last night. There are those in the house with me at this moment, my family and the cat, not sitting. And the workers who built the floor under my feet and the carpenter who made my bed. And the neighbors sitting and not sitting. And the people in the bus passing in the street. And the driver. And the men cleaning that street. And the people who threw the paper, bottles, cigarette butts, chewing gum in the street that the men are cleaning up.
I’m cold now, so I put on a sweater, and now the person who sold me the sweater is included, and the person who stocked the sweater on the store shelf, and the persons who transported the sweater to the store, and those who made it and conceived it, and those who produced the wool, and the animals who gave the wool, and the people who raise those animls, care for and feed them, and the families of those people and their friends and their families and… As I open the circle of participants, I can’t find anyone anywhere who is not included. I am grateful for them all, and for each and every one.
Then time is up for me, time to move on to another retreat activity, and another and another and another…