The Daily Meditation with Brother Richard
Meditation on the Soul (Part 2): The Animal Soul
08 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the animal soul and how does it relate to desire?
Welcome back. In today's meditation, we're going to continue to look at the way in which the meditative tradition describes the different parts of the soul, that essential part of ourselves. Previously, we looked at the so-called vegetative part, the part that is simply about survival, existence. Now we move on to the part that is known as the animal soul.
Chapter 2: How can we let go of stress during meditation?
This is the part that, while also having a survival element, is driven above all else by desire. Some of these desires are positive. Some of them are negative. But all of them exist, and we have to be aware of them.
Chapter 3: What are the positive desires that promote growth and happiness?
so as to enter into deeper contemplative equanimity and stability. So let's begin.
Chapter 4: What are the difficult desires that can lead to imbalance?
Entering into this time of meditation, we take a moment to let go of all that has been before today. Whatever stresses or strains, anxieties or pressures were with us this day, for now, just for now, we let them go. Deliberately and with intention, we enter this time. Unsettling ourselves, we turn to the breath as the anchor that connects us always to the present moment.
Resting in the breath, we allow the breath to move through our whole being, breathing not just with mouth or nose, but with every pore of our skin. breathing out all tension or stress, breathing in peace and quiet, calm and stillness. As we breathe out, we can imagine our breath as a smoke or fog that leaves our body, taking with it all the stresses, all the problems, all the anxiety,
And as we breathe in, we breathe in clear, golden light. The light of the present moment.
Chapter 5: How can we cultivate higher desires and let go of lower ones?
The light of now as it arises from divine grace and love.
Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out. Breathing in, I breathe in peace. Breathing out, I breathe out love.
And as we breathe in, we follow our breath once again to the very center of our being, to that place of perfect peace, perfect warmth. perfect light, to that place of absolute stability at the center of the cycle of our breath. And we rest there. And resting there, we can check in with ourselves
we can check in with that part of ourselves that is often known as the animal soul, the part of ourselves that lives by desire, or by at least wanting the fulfillment of its desires.
Chapter 6: What practices help us develop awareness of our desires?
We can start with the higher desires, The desire for illumination, enlightenment, sanctification. The desire to become the fullest version of ourselves that we can be. The desire to cooperate with love and grace in the building of our life and of our world. the desire for the happiness of others. But we also know that there are other desires that sometimes motivate us.
Desires may be for power and domination from an egoic point of view. Desires for pleasure or gluttony of the senses rather than a well-ordered use of them. Even the desire to be distracted. The desire to be anywhere other than here and now. The desire that others should live the way I want them to live. The desire that my own ego should be able to dictate how the world is.
And so we see that we exist, at least in part, between positive and negative desire. the meditator accepts both as part of themselves and recognizes the truth of their presence without fear, without attachment, without grasping. And so we can ask ourselves internally, what do I need to do to cultivate the higher desires and to purify the lower desires.
We see by this that even the lower desires of the animal soul are not wrong in and of themselves, but only become wrong when they are used in a way that is damaging to yourself or to others. The desire for power, for example, can be used in a good way when it is a desire for agency to do good.
Even the desire for food and drink is a good thing in and of itself, ensuring our survival and even the good pleasures and conviviality of the table. All desires start out as fundamentally good. It is what we do with them that matters. So we can ask ourselves, how aware of the patterns of my desires am I? And what do I do with them when I become aware of them?
Do I invite the grace of this practice to help me to see truly, to transcend the lower desires and to invite them to be aligned with the higher desires? What desires am I subject to rather than finding a way of using them for good. This is only the beginning of this practice. There is a lifetime of work present within it, but it is always good to begin. And so we can take with us the intention
to be more aware of the operating desires of the animal soul, to breathe, to pause before leaping to their fulfillment, to ask ourselves, would their fulfillment lead to the higher desires? or to an experience of lower desire fulfillment that just leaves me in a circle of echoic action. And so our meditation on these desires can become the beginning of true and full ethical discernment.
an essential part of the meditator's path. For now, though, we simply rest in the awareness of their existence. We remember that all of the desires in their fundamental origin are good. And we make the intention to grow in awareness. Returning then to the breath as we breathe in and out. Returning to the gentleness of the present moment with us.
Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out. Breathing in, I breathe in peace. Breathing out, I breathe out love.
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