Great Zen teachers have often talked about emptiness.  They have described it as a desired state, one that a wise person would seek. I used to think about emptiness, and doing that would bring up impressions of nothingness, a void, something kind of bleak.  But recently I’ve come to understand emptiness in a very different way. 

i’ve written about letting go, surrendering, and just letting  peace come to me.  And in doing that, recognizing that peace is a gift, not something that I can just muster up through sheer will.  I’m now seeing that in letting go and sitting back and resting in that stillness, what I encounter then is emptiness, but in an experientially different way.  I now experience emptiness as space, space for the divine, the universe, the flow of life to be present and felt.  And in that state, I am able to experience life fully in that moment.

My kitty has been sitting with me as I write all of this.  She’s been sitting so calmly, so peacefully, steadily looking at me the whole time.  She is so often a beautiful reminder to me, an example of some of the truths that I find to be important.  Mika is filled with peace, because her busy mind is not filling up the space within her and leaving no room for the peace to be.  She is simply accepting of what is and letting herself just be in this moment, fully present, and also sharing it with me.  That really is so beautiful.  I love her and what she teaches me so much.

Emptiness is space.  Space for peace.

I hope you experience a space filled with peace today.

Brian Browne Walker, “I Ching”