Where is the Center of the Universe?

Recently I heard a eulogy for a group of firemen who had died during Black Summer, the terrible 2019 fires in Australia. The eulogy went: “You were the centre of the universe.”

My initial reaction was – how could they ALL be the centre of the universe? That is physically not possible.

But, of course, they were equally special, equally important, they WERE the centre of the universe that they existed in.

In the same way, each of us is the centre of the universe. We recognise that which revolves around us. And this universe is unique to each of us. It is made up of our thoughts and beliefs, the people we love and don’t love so much, and the mundane daily musts along with the spontaneous why-nots. It is ever-changing and challenging. But it is ours, alone.

When we talk about the system of Reiki, we often express the concept that, “I am the universe and the universe is me”. Something which to my ears often sounds cliched, but I rush to remind myself that it is the truths that often ring so loud.

In the Shoden Reiki Level I meditation Joshin Kokyu ho, we breathe in the universe and then expand that internal breath back out into the universe. This conscious breath reminds us that we are breathing the universe in and expelling it out, just as if we were the lungs of the universe. These lungs do not exist outside the universe, but deep within its centre as a crucial element of that particular universe’s existence. The practising of Joshin Kokyu Ho is a conscious reminder that we are the universe, and that by acknowledging our centrality to this universe we also acknowledge our own agency in creating this universe.

Take a moment to visualise your universe. Think about:

How do you decide to respond in this universe? Will you be angry? Will you worry?

Who do you surround yourself with in this universe? What do you choose to learn in this universe?   How do you treat yourself in this universe?

And finally, is there then something beyond my universe?

We are living in a world of intersecting universes. In sharing this blog with you, my universe intersects with your own. We are interconnected. And when I read The Waves by Virginia Woolf, my universe intersects with hers, her creative ideas and visions link into my universe even though she is no longer physically with us. And when I pick up a pebble from a river, my universe intersects with that pebble, and every instance that has shaped and created that pebble.

And like the ripples felt from that pebble thrown into a river, the ongoing interconnections of universes meet and affect one another out into infinity. That pebble and your universe, have far-reaching consequences, far further than you can possibly see.