Field of Boundless Love

The Field of Boundless Love is a contemplative group practice centered on the cultivation and radiance of loving presence. Through breath, visualization, focused attention, and shared intention, participants create a circle of practice from which care and compassion gradually extend outward: from the individual heart to the group, the surrounding community, to the Earth and all beings, and beyond.

The practice draws inspiration from contemplative and spiritual traditions that understand focused intention and imagination as ways of deepening our relationship with the visible and invisible dimensions of life, such as the Greek “theurgy” or the evocation of spiritual presences, or the Buddhist practice of metta or loving-kindness. In the latter, wishes for wellbeing and freedom from suffering are extended beyond the boundaries of the individual self. This practice adds an active communal dimension to this movement.

Although the details and nuances of the practice are important, they need not be followed rigidly. Intention, presence, and the quality of participation matter most. The meditation can be practiced by groups large or small, or adapted as an individual practice. In addition, the Net of Boundless Love can be used to open or close a ritual, gathering, or contemplative activity, or practiced on its own whenever there is a wish to cultivate and extend loving presence.

The Net of Boundless Love is traditionally practiced standing in a circle, including the guide or facilitator. Participants adopt a comfortable stance, with relaxed shoulders, an upright spine, and feet approximately hip-width apart. Take a few deep, centering breaths and join hands with those beside you. The left hand faces upward or forward in a gesture of receiving, while the right hand faces downward or back in a gesture of giving. If holding hands is not possible, participants can simply remain connected through their presence and shared intention.

Once the circle is formed, participants are invited to close their eyes and settle into the body through a few deep, relaxed breaths.

Bring your attention to the heart center. Imagine a beautiful, iridescent light, a light of love, emanating from the heart. Slowly, the light bathes your whole body: torso, legs, head, arms, and feet, filling you within and around until you are immersed in its radiance. Become aware of receiving this light through your left hand, and allow it to travel through your body and heart before flowing outward through your right hand to the person next to you. Gradually, the light circulates through the entire circle, connecting everyone within a shared field of luminous presence.

The iridescent light now expands beyond the circle, filling the room or immediate place where the practice is unfolding and beginning its journey outward. The swirling light bathes the structures and beings around you, enlivening everything it encounters; trees, clouds, worms, humans, waves, mountains, cars, and buildings. The light extends to the sky and deep into the oceans, moving through jungles, deserts, plateaus, forests, rivers, and all the beings who inhabit them. The facilitator may allow the journey to unfold spontaneously, naming places, beings, and landscapes as they arise.

Born from the hearts of those gathered, the light knows no boundaries. Allow it to reach especially those who may be experiencing suffering; places touched by war, hunger, injustice, illness, violence, or ecological destruction. Let the light gently surround human and more-than-human beings in need of care, without needing to change or control what is present.

Now imagine the whole Earth appearing at the center of the circle. Together, bathe the living planet in the light of boundless love. Hold its oceans and forests, deserts and mountains, human communities and countless other beings within this field of loving presence. Allow the Earth simply to rest there for a few moments, held within the care radiating from the circle.

To bring the meditation to a close, the facilitator invites participants to repeat together:

May all beings be happy.
May all beings be joyful.
May all beings be at peace.

Three times.

The circle may then sound the mantra aum or om together three times.

Finally, participants repeat:

The power of love guides us.
The power of love illuminates us.
The power of love protects us.

Three times.

So be it. So it is.

Slowly, the participants are invited to release their hands and gently place them over the heart center. Rest for a few moments, inviting a warm feeling of gratitude for one another, for the living Earth and all beings, and for the mystery and source of life.

When ready, open your eyes and bring the Field of Boundless Love to a close.