A Peek of Nothingness

"God made everything out of nothing. But the nothingness shows through."

-- Paul Valery

There's a whole lot more nothing than something in the world. It may not look like it on first glance, but physicists tell us that every atom is mostly empty space. And though you may live in a densly crowded city, the majority of the land on Earth is still uninhabited. Even in the relam of the mind, where thoughts collide like out of control bumper cars, the space between thoughts, beneath thought, before thought, and beyond thought goes on and on forever.

Nothing is our friend. It will always be with us, never desert us, and continue to support us. People fear nothing because they don't realize that nothing is the building block of something. They don't understand that they themselves are nothing. They don't penetrate deeply enough to see the underlying nothingness of all somethingness.

So what good is nothing? It is the ultimate good, the uncarved block, the good that can't be used in the service of something or anything. It is ungrasped by the senses but perceived by the Spirit. It is, in fact, the Spirit, itself. It is the Impersonal that precedes the personal, the Tao, the Godhead out of which God grows.

So, today, take a peek. Look behind the curtain, lift up the hem, see through something, everything, to the Light of Nothing shining through. One hint: Simplicity aids vision. It is easier many times to see nothing when there aren't too many damn somethings around. And it doesn't matter whether those somethings are buildings, people or thoughts. That's why solitude, quiet, and simplicity have always characterized the preferred enviornment of the contemplative.

Find a quiet spot, either in your world or in your mind. Hang out there a bit. Let nothingness reveal itself to you. There is nothing you have to do.