Be the Space

Dear Friends,

I have been writing less because, well, it is summer, and it feels good to take space. One of the dangers of our modern society, unlike times past when TV stations stopped broadcasting at night, is that content comes at us non-stop.

Marketers tell people, “Stay relevant, flood people with content.” Most social media influencers take this strategy. Bombard people—and often. “You should always be on people’s minds,” they say. Thus, we get the world we have.

But what is content without space?

Imagine music with no moments of pause. It is the relationship between sound and silence that makes great music.

We can find this in meditation. It seems that thoughts arise continuously, but if we pay attention, we can see there is a space between thoughts … one thought arises, has its moment, then passes … then space, then another thought, then space.

Now, you could argue that everything, be it sound or thoughts, arises in space, and that is true. But just like great music, there is something important about the pause. I have always appreciated the phrase:

“You can’t do anything until you can do nothing.”

Until we can be still, how can we create?

Without non-action, how can there be true action? It has no power. It is just busyness. That is easy. The power is in the ability to be still, and for actions to arise as they do.

BIRDS

As I write this piece, I hear birds chirping outside. I hear the sounds, and I also notice the space in between them. The space allows for the sounds. Constant, incessant chirping would be annoying; chirping with space is beautiful. The space is the holder.

In an argument with a friend, can we make space and pause before speaking? Not sure of the right action? Take a moment to notice. Feeling anxious? Stop and listen to the body’s signals. Pause. Be the space.

And this is likely true of life. We are more space than matter.

THE HOUSE OR SPACE

Eckhart Tolle gives the example of becoming attached to a beautiful house and thinking that is who we are. But then, as the house decays, we start to suffer. We think we are somehow less than. The solution: the realization that we are not the house; we are the space in which the house exists.

That is another way of seeing: we see form, but not just form. We see the visible and the invisible.

So today, may you be the space!

Love,

SOREN

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