To check out all the great entries this week, check out the link above, curated by Bradley Ramsey & Leeron Heywood
Welcome to the Atlas, Friends.
This challenge for day 3 appealed to me right away and satisfied an excuse I had been putting off for some bonus content related to my ‘The Strings Of Us’ book. Namely, meditation.
Meditation is a practice that has been a blessing for me. I have studied and sometimes taught for over 20 years. It is something that directly informs the idea of the strings that the Rabbits in my story feel. This is an excerpt from that mission, when some of the human crew started to get more curious about what they feel and experience.
Feel free to try the meditation for yourself.
ARCHIVE FILE: 77-B [AUDIO TRANSCRIPT]
SUBJECT: Introduction to String Dynamics / Meditative Protocol
SPEAKER: Jun’ip (Elder/Heart-Guide)
DURATION: 20:00 Minutes
Sit.
No, do not tangle your legs up like a pretzel.
Humans are always so desperate to tie themselves in knots. No, if you please, sit comfortably. If you have a tail, let it rest. If you do not… Well, simply try not to sit on your own spine.
Good.
You have come to me because you wish to feel the world as we do. You wish to stop thinking about yourselves and start listening to the world around you. You want to know the steps. The ritual.
Very well. But be warned: once you feel the strings, reality will never feel quite solid again. You are opening a door that is very hard to close.
If you are ready, close your eyes. Let us begin the Protocol of the Tether.
Step 1: The Quiet of the Burrow
The first step is a slowing and a cessation. Humans are really quite loud. Your minds are like a cage full of flapping starlings, chattering and hopping about from one perch to another. We must align the birds to a singular task.
Breathe in. Not into your chest, your chest is for pride. Breathe into your belly. Into your center, let it expand and fill you to such a degree that if you were in water, you would float without aid.
And then let it go again.
Imagine you are digging. With every exhale, you are scooping out the noise.
Scoop out the worry about your dinner. Exhale. When you scoop out the earth, it will still be there when you return. This is not a denial, just a chance to be aware that the thought is there, and to put it down.
Scoop out the argument you had yesterday. Exhale.
Scoop out the fear of the future. Exhale.
Dig down until the soil is cool and dark. You are in the burrow now. It is tight, it is safe, and it is silent. The only sound is the blood in your ears.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Listen to it. That is the rhythm of your biological clock. We need to slow it down to match the geological clock. Slower. Slower. Like mud settling in still water until it becomes clear. Whenever a thought threatens to disturb you, notice it, and then with your paws, gently scoop it out of the burrow. You can return to it later.
Step 2: The Softening of the Fur
Now, we must dissolve the boundary of the skin.
You humans believe you end at your fingertips. This is a lie. Your heat radiates out. Your gravity pulls things toward you. Sounds appear on your ears.
You are not a solid object; you are a dense cloud of energy.
I want you to ‘soften your fur.’
If you do not have fur, imagine the air around your skin is becoming heavy, like velvet drapes falling across you.
Feel the air touching your face. Do not just let it touch you; reach out with your awareness and touch it back. Notice the place where you meet, and see that the sensation arises at the same time as you notice the sensation. You are the Interplay.
Extend your senses.
Twitch your nose. Can you smell the dust? Can you smell the light of the stars?
Swivel your ears. Can you hear the hum of the walls? Can you hear the silence behind the hum?
You are expanding. You are no longer a person sitting in a chair. You are a presence in a room. You are the room.
Step 3: Finding the Anchor
Now. The vital step. The search.
In the plane of consciousness, I want you to look for the light. Not a light you see with your eyes, but a light you feel with your weight.
There is a line. A shivering thread that runs through the crown of your head, down through your spine, and into the center of the earth.
For you, right now, it feels like a heavy chain. It is what holds you to this floor.
Grip it.
Do not use your hands. Use your awareness.
Imagine a small string inside your chest, right behind your heart. Reach out and wrap that string around that silver line. Watch them weave and combine.
Can you feel it vibrating?
It is singing. It is the song of the Earth calling to you. It is a low, deep hum.
Ommmmm.
Hold it tight. Feel the tension. This is Gravity. It is not a law; it is a relationship. It is the Earth holding your hand.
Step 4: The Flex (The Dangerous Part)
Now comes the risk. The part where the story changes.
You are holding the Earth’s string. But there is another.
Look up. In your mind’s eye, look up through the roof, through the sky, through the blackness of space.
There is a distant, terrifying pull. A string that leads to the center of the galaxy. It is faint, like a spiderweb, but it is infinite.
I want you to loosen your grip on the Earth string... just a fraction.
And reach out with your mind for the Galactic string.
Do not be afraid.
It feels like falling upwards.
It feels like the pit of your stomach dropping out.
Let it happen.
Wrap your string around it. Join it.
Just a little. Flex the muscle behind your eyes.
Imagine you are a balloon, and the knot has just come loose.
Feel the lightness?
Feel the chair beneath you becoming... unnecessary?
Your toes are tingling. Your heels are light.
If you were a rabbit, you would be floating now.
Perhaps you are. Perhaps the only thing keeping you on the ground is your belief that you belong there.
Let go of the belief.
Float.
Be a cloud. Silent. Weightless. Drifting on the winds of the cosmos.
You are not falling. You are being held by the universe.
Step 5: The Return (The Consequence)
Stay there. Just for a moment.
Memorize this feeling. This is the Truth. The world is not solid. It is an ocean of connections.
But we cannot stay here. The body needs the ground. The mind needs the burrow.
Reach back down. Find the Earth string. It is heavy, comforting, familiar.
Reconvene with it.
Pull yourself down. Hand over hand.
Feel the weight return to your legs.
Feel the chair become solid again.
Feel the gravity wrap around you like a warm blanket.
Settle.
Breathe into your belly.
Fill the hole we dug.
When you open your eyes, the world will look the same.
But it will not feel the same.
You will walk, but you will know that walking is just a choice you are making to not fly.
You will see the strings connecting everyone you meet. You will see the tension between lovers, the slack between strangers.
You are awake now.
Open your eyes.
If you have read this far and have enjoyed this guided meditation, then I hope you feel lighter, more calm, and more buoyant. I am incredibly grateful for you taking the time to read this.
If you could honour this post by saving it to your archived posts, that would help me immeasurably.
Thank you 🙏
Ohhhh my stars 🌟
1st a suggestion. Read this & make it audible. I think it is fantastic. So much it want an autographed copy. 😂 I love this so much.
*No, do not tangle your legs up like a pretzel.* thank you. Humans are silly.