Verse 11 of The Tao:
Thirty spokes unite around a single hub:
Thus a wheel is made.
Yet it is the formless core
That makes the wagon roll.
Clay is formed and baked:
Thus a cup is made.
Yet it is the invisible interior
From which we drink.
Framed walls and brick are joined
To make a house.
Yet it is the open space within
That makes it livable,
That gives doors and windows
Their unique functions.
Therefore, make being your element,
But non-being, your life.
Source: http://briandonohue.org/laotzu.pdf
When I first read about the Taoist and Buddhist concept of emptiness it didn’t resonate at all. And not just because I choose to believe in the self and reject supernatural concepts in Buddhism like rebirth, etc. Yet like everything, if you extract the nonsense from the sense, a lot of things are well, sensible; turns out this concept of emptiness as a philosophical idea is reasonable and practically empowering.
One day I was watching something about silence, how we fear
silence; how we jabber on and on and fill our time with constant diversions to
avoid, this, silence. Then I thought of the times in my life when silence was
fully present and my ego dissipates and reality illuminates around me; such as looking
into a lover’s eyes, the silence of the moon in the dark sky, floating in the
silent expanse of the ocean.
Then I thought of how science has revealed that there is
more empty space in an atom than actual “stuff.” I thought about outer space
itself, something that is hard for my mind to fully get, this idea of space and
space, and more space, just infinite space. Even the word space just conjures up
locations in my mind as in “my space,” but ultimate space is not a location, it
isn’t any-thing, it’s SPACE, cue the guy going, “whoa dude, like far out man!”
So when the Eastern sages talk of emptiness I kind of get it
now. It is the silence between sounds, the space between thoughts, and the
emptiness in the atom. It is mysterious, this emptiness; and yet it is also a
source of stress-free bliss when we allow the emptiness to dilute our egotism
and our body merges more with the spaciousness we swim in; the spacious reality
beyond the earth and our tribal identity, as we expand our identity into the farthest
reaches of outer space, into the vast beyond, realizing ontologically that we
are one with eternity.
When you think about it, when we are stressed it is because your
mind is full not empty; the cure is the opposite. To de-stress we need to empty
the mind and fill the body. I was thinking about this, how I feel in a crowded elevator
and then everyone exits and I am filled with space, how liberating that feels;
or after I clean up something and de-clutter an area how this created space
enlivens me; this emptiness FILLS me with peace and rejuvenation. We do this emptying
with locations, our desk, etc., but how often do we empty our mind of stressful
thoughts and just be, filling our body with space.
This filling spaciousness is freedom and bliss; a source of
psychological liberation from clinging, craving, and controlling as we just LET
GO; and become the space in each sinew, the space in each cell of our body,
each silent breath; that expansive space within the vast amounts of water
amidst our tissue and blood. We are space, we are empty silence that
reverberates stuff, and we are one with everything, as “space beings” on a spacious blue planet floating in, well, space.
For a really good explanation of the Buddhist concept of
emptiness see the article, Emptiness: The Most Misunderstood Word in Buddhismby Buddhist writer and teacher Lewis Richmond (03/06/2013).
