Emptiness

[MystEerieUsOne]

What does "Emptiness" mean to you?

:gathering:

[Narnia]

Hallow and adrift ... like a derelict lost at sea.

Why do you ask?

[MystEerieUsOne]

Because it is a very important aspect of Consciousness to grasp, but also one that is so often seemingly too complex for many to grasp.

It's one of those things that is so obviously right there it seems hidden and impossible.

Even the Dalai Lama has trouble conveying it to others, but yet it is difficult to process universal reality without it.

I just thought if there are folks here struggling with it, I may be able to help! :)

[Narnia]

*Hm?* ... that is interesting indeed ... well, I am not sensing any 'emptiness' in my being, it's rare and not a lasting occurrence for me when I do .... I am curious, what does 'emptiness' mean to you?

Although, 'emptiness' (to me) has always connoted a sense of saddness, negitivity, and forlornness ... but in rertospect I can see how it may indeed have the very opposite effect on ones being ... and perhaps it can be a welcomed state of mind.

:thanks:

[Kiran]

Well when I think of empty, I think of a vessel or something holding liquid or food etc that has been used up.
I think of something redundant...not being used for its purpose until it is refilled.
Hmm...will be back with more.

[God's Toy]

Nothingness

[Kiran]

Devoid of any emotions...love...etc

[Narnia]

Devoid of any emotions...love...etc

The few times I have ever experienced 'emptiness' in my life ... this is exactly how it was ... 'Devoid of any emotions' ... except for maybe, a dull regard towards life.

[Kiran]

I think we have all been there at some time Polly :) At least we all have eachother to share things with here :two hearts:

[Narnia]

I think we have all been there at some time Polly :) At least we all have eachother to share things with here :two hearts:

Dido ... for every empty vessel or moment in life, there is a rim or an edge to grab onto and a helping hand reaching out!

:yourock:

[planetlove]

Emptiness is a "feeling"..........
This emptiness is accomplished as a feeling when mind is slowed enough to loose the feeling of the body and loose sense of your Physical mental and emotional bodies....

Its is an experience that is felt as you dive into your true being....

V

[MystEerieUsOne]

"Emptiness," relative to Enlightenment, is the genuine realization, and acceptance through that genuine realization, of the impermanence of all things, and all beings, of the translucence of it all.

It is the genuine understanding of all entities as having no solidity of their own, no self, no I, no detached individualism, that they are appearing to be objects or individuals because everything and every sentient exists because of the status of all that is external to themselves. In other words, entities are there because they are a reflection of the collective's projection that they are there.

Emptiness is the realization of oneself as not having been magically placed into a world detached from all else in it, that every action of everything else and everyone else directly effects oneself and vice versa. Everything and everybody is connected to everything else and everybody else. Move any one, move every one.

It is the realization that it's not all about you, that it never, ever was, and that when you exist on behalf of others you finally discover your true essence.

The easiest way to process and bring about "Emptiness" is to accept that you projected your way into conventional misinterpretation and distraction, and that UNprojecting yourself back out of that to the point of Awakening is then existing within the "Emptiness" of all illusion, delusion, distraction, and self-ish choices, into clarity and genuine compassion. :)

[Kiran]

Hmm...very interesting perspective :) Thank you :)

[mary]

Emptiness is not having a reason to get up in the morning or having a lot of reasons to do so, but don't really care :(.

[BlueStar]

Oh i was meaning to join in this discussion ages ago :) I have a wee moment now. I love this topic!

The word emptiness has a bad connotation in the west, but as Mysteriousone said, in the east it means something different - and is reflective of that sublime state of BEING. It might be experienced as the state of pure peace and bliss that you might experience in meditation, when you are still conscious but the objects in consciousness, such as thoughts and feelings and mental chatter give way to an openness and expansiveness and deep blissful peace. In the eastern teachings this might be referred to as 'emptiness'

It's a particular cornerstone of Buddhist teaching. The Buddha described the absolute, the totality - the true reality beyond form - as 'emptiness'. This leads many people into the false notion that Buddhism is nihilistic, which it isn't. It's believed that when describing the indescribable, the Buddha tended to use negative terminology, and he did this to discourage us from creating concepts and ideas out of that which is beyond concepts and ideas. As MysteriousOne said, the Buddhists also refer to emptiness as meaning that no being or object in the world of form has an innate existence of its own. I grappled with this notion for a long time not quite grasping it. Just today I read a great quote by Nisargadatta which underlines this:

"There is only reality, in which no 'thing' has any being on its own. Like waves are inseperable from the ocean, so is all existence rooted in being."

'Emptiness' is a hard thing for us to get our heads around because we can't make a concept out of it - it's the absence of form. That makes it quite a powerful thing to meditate upon.

Paradoxically also in the 'emptiness' is an incredible 'fullness'; the fullness of all that which is. Thich Nhat Hanh once said in a talk I heard that "to be empty of self...is to be full of everything else".

[planetlove]

This may or may not ....Be the answer your looking for ...

Last night i joined a friend for dinner ...
as a part of our conversation my I pointed at the wine glass that had a last sip of my wine...

I asked him what he saw.....
"The glass has little bit of wine"....He said

And I said to him I believe the glass is full of light.....
"can you see it" I exclaimed...
Light In my perception being visible and invisible" due to its varying frequency and fluid like properties ....

At that point he thought I was mad .....

The fact that you can't see the light in the perceived empty glass has nothing to do with the fluid ...it has nothing to do with the fact that it has a sip of wine....

It's all about your level of awareness or perception level ....

In the same case Emptiness in someone's perception can be something else than what everyone perceives it to be......

there is nothing that is really empty ......
Everything is FULL
As to Everyone is the SAME
As to everyone is enlightened in the same manner ....
It is up to the person to raise his/her level of awareness to see things that are not there ..or have a wider perspective or open minded view of what is seen or not seen...

V

[Rana]

oh lucid ..your above post was exactly what this heart needed to read right now ..and ive had one of Oprah's "AHA" moments ..a HUGE one actually ..

so when i am feeling empty .. my creator has embraced me .. placed the veil of forgetting about the ego and material world be it only for a while .. wow ..

thankyou for the meant to be moment i had xx

[Narnia]

"to be empty of self...is to be full of everything else".

The perspective 'I' now see on Emptiness ... has evolved into these particular words. :)

[BlueStar]

oh lucid ..your above post was exactly what this heart needed to read right now ..and ive had one of Oprah's "AHA" moments ..a HUGE one actually ..

so when i am feeling empty .. my creator has embraced me .. placed the veil of forgetting about the ego and material world be it only for a while .. wow ..

thankyou for the meant to be moment i had xx

Aww, I'm glad it made some sense and was of some help :two hearts: As strange as it sounds, I'm learning not to take ownership of the words that get written now - a strange predicament for a writer! They just come when they are needed and disperse when they're not needed. Your words and the words of many others here have been of great help to me at certain times (and they often come exactly when you need to hear them!) so I'm glad I could facilitate that in return. Feeling the oneness :)

[BlueStar]

The perspective 'I' now see on Emptiness ... has evolved into these particular words. :)

Yes! I love that quote so much. Eckhart Tolle uses the term 'space' instead of 'emptiness' as it has less meaning or concept attached to it. He often talks of just 'being the space in which all objects arise'; the witnessing consciousness in which all perceptions arise. Again, all words are just pointers - but I found them quite helpful.

[Jordan]

If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we fear pain or loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater.

[inutero]

Loneliness, I feel loneliness in my room.