As Jedi, we often talk about, or hear the phrase “Become One with the Force.” But what does that mean?
There are many ways to define the Force: some see it as a higher power, others a metaphor for human potential. Many see it as the unifying energy of the universe. However you define the force, ‘becoming one’ with it is a process of erasing the boundaries of the self. Whether you are looking for an experience of spiritual enlightenment, or simply looking to erase self-imposed limits that you may grow into the person you want to become, temporarily experiencing existence without self or ego is a powerful meditation.
So, with that, we will move into our meditation. If sensations of disembodiment or dissociation are uncomfortable to you, tread carefully. Sometimes losing oneself in images is soothing, like becoming “mostly void, partly stars”. Sometimes it’s haunting, because you feel these things in your usual life. Use your best judgement.
Sit comfortable, but attentively. Take a deep breath, and another. In, and out. In, and out. Take a moment to be present physically, feeling the coolness of the air in your nose, the gentle pressures in your muscles and joints wherever you sit.
Imagine you’re in a desert. All around you, the horizon stretches on forever, the sky a delicate sand-blasted pink. You are kneeling (or sitting) in nearly white sand, fine and soft around your knees and feet. Take a deep breath, smelling the salt and minerals and cool dry air of this desert dusk. Perhaps it’s a desert you’ve seen, or maybe the twin setting suns of Tatooine are on the horizon.
The wind begins to pick up, casting fine grains of sand against your knees, your hands, your Jedi tunic. You feel your hair (or padawan braid) start to stir in the breeze. The sand being blown against your skin does not harm you, or irritate your eyes. In fact, with each grain of sand that touches your skin or clothes, you begin to fade.
Breathe into the sensation as you meld into your surroundings. In, and out, in and out.
As the sun sets and the sand piles around your seat and blows against your face softly, you begin to blend with your surroundings. You feel the currents of the force streaming by with the wind, and you start to erode into those currents, your self slowly being erased into the vast, powerful, and beautiful desert around you.
As you fade, your consciousness expands. You see the stars wheeling above this fathomless stretch of sand, the light fading across miles and miles of dunes, the earth tilting swiftly under a glowing star. Although you as yourself, you as an individual Jedi are fading, your awareness stretches, encompassing all that surrounds you. You are the currents tossing sand against cliffs, eroding them with inexorable power, just as you are those rocks slowly diminishing and becoming sand themselves.
Breathe with the wind, in and out. In, and out. Sit with this imagery as long as you wish.
When you are ready, start to come back to that image of yourself kneeling in the sand. You are still whole, unharmed, and alive, but with a vital sense that ‘you’ are larger than what is contained within this form. Move your fingers and toes, scrunch up your face, and start to wake up your body, paying special attention to physical sensation. Mentally dust yourself of sand, and leave this desert of calm universal energies, knowing you can come back at any time when you feel too full in your skin, need reprieve from torrential emotion, or wish to remember what it feels like to become one with the Force.
How did that feel? Was it scary, or relaxing? Do you think this intentional but temporary erasure of self is helpful? Why or why not?