Universal Loving Kindness (Meditation) and Integral Assessment - Unit 6

The Practice of the Universal Loving Kindness (Meditation) Exercise

When working with this Loving Kindness meditation, I did as such:

1. I sat in a comfortable position and closed my eyes for a minute or two of rest.

2. After I relaxed and stilled my mind, I recited the following:

• May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

• May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.

• May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

• May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

(Dacher, 2006).

While I was reciting this, I felt a universal connection to all of life. Since I have no prejudices to anyone in regard to race, ethnic group or religion, this exercise was not too difficult for me to do. As an additional touch, I also visualized the consciousness level of our world, surrounded by the beautiful light of God’s love to help promote a higher understanding of differences.

The Completion of the Integral Assessment

When working with the Integral Assessment to identify my areas of distress, I did as suggested:

1. I sat in a comfortable position and closed my eyes.

2. While in stillness, I concentrated on my life and asked myself “what aspect of my life - Psychospiritual, Biological, Interpersonal, or Worldly - is the source of my difficulty or my suffering?”

3. The area that came up was that of the Interpersonal section of “Community.” After meditating further, I realized that I am still in conflict as to whether or not, I should move closer to my family, who live in the Ozark mountains. That is, the Ozark mountains, where there is very little opportunity, or to stay in the Washington, DC area, where there is plenty of opportunity (where I have lived since 1997 after I transferred out of the service from my second duty station.) After I asked this question, I remembered what sincere troubled times that I had, while living in the Ozarks from the years of 1977 - 1992. e.g. there were no jobs, and somehow many of the rural people, who I went to school with all, seemed to be very fundamental and prejudice. Some of the people were very nice, but many I could not relate to. Was it just my luck at the time, or was this as difficult as it seemed to be? My family chose to retire there to escape the Minnesota winters, where my grandmother was from, however, the warmer climate of the Ozarks of where my grandfather was from was not perfect, either. Other ideas, came in to my mind such as… If, I do transfer back to live closer to my home and family, am I willing to take this chance again? Is my family worth it? I am sure that I could meet a few nice friends, and then if I meet adversity, then I can just ignore it. Is my family worth this?
Then what about employment? I only have five more years of grueling work and then I can retire from the 20 years that I put in with the federal government and the military. It might be better to just wait until then with the way that the economy is. If I had a pension, then I could start a business? However, it is so sad to think that I will never live near my mother again… My decisions all lean towards that of staying in Maryland, where I am now. I will continue to meditate on this. Maybe God will send to me a miracle and then I can take an entire month off from work like some of the professionals do, once I graduate (Dacher, 2006).

I just found out that my paternal great grandmother, Mamalta Catalina also worked for 20 years of her life... or did nothing but work, like I have and then she finally settled down with the man who my father calls "Papa Eurgo." Guess that I followed her footsteps, without realizing it until now! However, with integral health, one can go far at any age.

Dacher, E.S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.