The Buddhist tradition teaches that all form is either emerging or dissolving into “nothingness.”
In Western culture, we often view nothing as a negative, the opposite of something.
This “nothingness” is not place of lack. It is not a place where something is missing.
“Emptiness” is not a negative.
The empty space is a space of potentiality: the womb in which new life is incubated, the void from which all creation emerges.
This is the necessary clearing from which new form arises. It is an integral part of any change.
Change begins with destruction; the chaos of upheaval that clears us out. Releasing our hold on our current status and possessions creates space for what is to come next. Without that clearing, there is no space for anything new to come.
Destruction. Creation. Maintenance. These are the stages of the cycle.
We see this in nature, in the waves as they rise, crest, and dissolve back into the ocean, in the cycle of the seasons.
And we see it in life.
That feeling you get after completing a big project — where you just want to sit around and do nothing — is this principle in action.
Instead of trying to fight it, or beating yourself up because you can’t push through to the next thing, what if you honored it as a natural part of the process?
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...