Day 5:Emptiness

There's a really odd belief in Western religion that emptiness is something to be avoided. As a kid in church, I used to constantly hear how God has filled a void in someone's life. I first started learning about Eastern culture and beliefs in high school which is also where I started to re-evaluate what I believed. In addition to the Tao of Pooh, which is a kind of beginners guide to Eastern philosophy, helped to explain the lofty ideals of Taoists and Bruce Lee's own book, the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, was also useful to learn a different way of thinking.

I'm writing from memory here so forgive me if I misrepresent something here but Taoist belief is basically chasing emptiness. Another way to say it is to be like an uncarved block or an unsculpted piece of clay in that you contain potential but you remain without definition or a clearly defined role. This belief ran counter to the Confucianists, who believe that each individual should fill a specific role and everyone should act according to certain prescribed laws. It was the idea that emptiness was a state that people should strive to achieve that I really latched onto as a kid. The idea is still very interesting to me.

An empty space retains the potential to be whatever you need it to be. Think about how exciting it feels to move into a new apartment (well, imagine that you have those moving guys with you and you don't have to lug a couch upstairs or carry all the pieces of your desk into a room and rebuild it yourself). To tell someone that the feeling of emptiness is somehow wrong is misleading. Emptiness is something to embrace. It's a state that never let's a person completely define themselves as one thing. Before a container is full, it can hold anything. Likewise, when a person is in that state, they can be anything. Emptiness is not a problem, it's the fear that so many options presenting themselves can sometimes cause.

So, when I hear someone say that they filled their emptiness with alcohol or drugs, I think what they mean is they fought the emptiness with those things. With an open mind, there are infinite possibilities and that is terrifying. Those things dull the horror that the void presents. Unfortunately, that is also what I believe religion does. To believe that there is someone who controls everything, who is omnipotent and yet still makes time to maintain a personal relationship makes the infinite much more palatable. Easy doesn't always mean better, though. Life is frequently hard, frustrating and confusing and sometimes comfort is hard to find. I take comfort in the emptiness that I keep inside me because I know that no matter how directionless life seems, there is always so much potential in me. We are never dead as long as we allow ourselves to remain pliable, shifting and undefined.