Brother Richard

When we think of the weather, we know it is constantly changing.

We can characterize it as good or bad, which often comes out of really what we want the weather to be.

But the weather comes and goes.

The seasons come and go and change.

And the sky is constantly changing.

And yet, though the weather moves around the world, the world remains solid.

In exactly the same way, the practitioner of meditation aspires to a solidity of presence

but while still allowing the movement of the interior reality of thought, feeling, sensation, reaction, is not caught up in them.

In this meditation, we will begin to practice a little more, simply watching the weather of our own inner sky.

So let's begin.

Entering the time of meditation, marking this sacred time for us with our ritual gesture, with the deliberate intention to dwell in the present moment, at least in these moments.

We enter as fully as we can into this experience.

We sit gently.

We are aware of the connection of the floor beneath our feet, the chair and cushion supporting us, the spine open, the breath clear, breathing with every pore of our skin.

Breathing from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head.

Breathing from the tips of the fingers on one hand to the tips of the fingers on the other.

Breathing gently, peacefully, calmly.

And following the rhythm of the breath, we try and find that moment that exists at the very heart of the breath cycle, where the in-breath becomes the out-breath, where the out-breath becomes the in-breath.

Finding that place of perfect stillness,

a still point within a cycle of movement.