Observing the sky: meditation practice

Contemplating the vast and infinite sky

I’ve always been accustomed to looking up, for as long as I can remember.

I’ve gazed up at the sky, especially the night sky, ever since I was a young boy. Looking up, my mind would stop, and there would be just the incredible vastness and beauty of empty space.

Far too many adults around me seems overly preoccupied with their earthly activities… and despite being told, ‘you’ve got your head in the clouds’, I’ve maintained my child-like sense of wonder when it comes to nature, and the night sky in particular.

Let’s start with the day time sky first as we humans are diurnal creatures.

Look up. Chin up.

It’s liberating to contemplate the sky at different times of the day because it naturally draws you away from repetitive, mundane thoughts.

If you look out of your bedroom or kitchen window in the morning, the sky will be different when you look at it later in the afternoon or evening, or even the next morning.

Take the time to pause and notice: the content of the sky is never the same, just as our thoughts are never exactly the same. Each ‘snapshot’ is different.

Even relatively uneventful skies can be both wonderful and profound to look at, especially when contemplated in the silence your own Being.

The sky as a “meditation object”

The sky isn’t tangible, you cannot reach out touch it. As chicken little found out, the sky wasn’t going to fall on anyone’s head anytime soon!

The sky isn't a definite object you can touch — and this is precisely why the sky is extremely helpful as a focus for meditation.