The Universe is Metta

This is drop dead amazing. A very cool claim that deserves much more widespread propagation. Listen to this:

This is Ajahn Sumedho talking about metta.

Metta is a standard concept in Buddhism. The word is from Pali, the language we know the Buddha’s teachings from. The usual English translation is “lovingkindness,” a word I like because I have a hard time claiming to love people I have never met, but I can easily see wishing to spread lovingkindness to all sentient beings.

Sumedho talks about this above, but he offers one highly unusual, in my experience, emendation to our usual understanding of metta. He says it is the defining quality of infinite consciousness, essentially of the universe.

Remember the basic question that consciousness is at least necessary for all awareness and knowledge. If we were not conscious, we could know nothing. Thus, consciousness constitutes the universe as we experience it. Elsewhere, Sumedho says we cannot go beyond consciousness. It’s hard to think what that would mean.