Recently, Rev. Darlene Strickland reminded me how important emptiness
is. Emptiness is the first step in creation, problem solving, healing.
It is the Buddhist concept of becoming "a hollow bamboo."
It
is not the emptiness of being vacant, destitute, barren, and expressionless.
It is the emptiness of unburdening, unloading, relief, removing the
old contents. In order to raise a new garden crop, one must first remove
last year's residue. In order to solve a perplexing problem, one has
to step back from, remove, the current mind clutter. In order to bring
new love into your life, you must first create a space in which that
love can grow. In order to heal your body, you need to empty your thoughts
of the limiting concepts of who you are.
My
mind likes to take over whenever a problem or difficult situation arises.
My mind believes that if it can think longer and harder about a problem
then the solution will appear. However, many times that approach leads
me to circling around and around in the complexities of the problem
with growing frustration when no solution appears.
I
am trying a different approach now. I begin and end my day with a few
minutes of "emptiness meditation". I see these meditation
periods as times of preparation. It is a time to create space for new
possibilities, new life, new awareness. In these moments I am not trying
to find answers, fulfill my dreams, or heal my body. I am creating the
space for new awareness, for new life, for the presence of spirit.
My
wish for you this month is that you create enough "emptiness"
in your life that you can experience peace, joy, healing.