Welcome to The Door to E. A series-style newsletter for people obsessed with exploring, explaining, and expanding ideas to unlock human potential. Each week, I publish around 3 chosen series that share ideas, experiences, and stories to help you design your life.
This essay is a part of the Practical Philosophy Friday series.
Thank you for reading, and please forward this to anyone who you think needs to walk on the journey.
Hey Friends, Seekers, and Everyone else
When I say Emptiness the most common words that pop up in someone who hasn't studied philosophy are closely related to grief, boredom, loneliness and all that gloomy stuff the 20th century dismissed as being a "phase".
That is what the Western culture interprets as emptiness, they take it in a negative connotation.
Some took it further into certain types of Existentialist philosophies submitting the idea of "man's recognition of his fundamental aloneness in an indifferent universe"
However, the Eastern school of thought had a radically opposing view on the matter. Emptiness is regarded as "beginning", the ZERO or Sunyata as they say in Sanskrit. It is a state of being that the spiritualists consider to be the ultimate goal.
What's it to you?
Most people (and me) have felt the burden of giving life a PURPOSE.
The age-old question that every teenager faces at some point - "what do you want to do with your life?" And when you come from an INDIAN household the answers to this question are pretty limited. I was fortunate enough that my parents were not as overbearing with me after a point.
But there was a point, right before I got out of pre-university where all this came crashing down on me, with my relatives just pestering me with "future" oriented questions.
I made the mistake of listening to everyone and taking the stress that wasn't necessary.
By this point my head was filled with so many thoughts, POVs and opinions that I wasn't thinking straight, which ultimately resulted in me losing my mind, failing my classes and worst... hitting rock bottom.
You could say that this is the moment that led me towards the negative interpretation of EMPTINESS. I was downright lost and depressed. I didn't move for months and felt like I had locked myself away from people.
Some would say that this is a sign of self pity. I would say YES... YES It definitely was.
But not for long, all it took was a change in perspective to get out of it that I credit my father for. He said, and I quote...
"You've gained something that most people take a significant time of their life to realize. You think you've lost yourself, you think you've lost confidence in your abilities... you're seeing emptiness as being useless. But look at it this was, you've now become EMPTY. You've reached a a blank canvas with no definition or boundaries. You are seeing this like being an empty glass, while you should be seeing this as a empty glass that can be filled with whatever you want now."
~ he said it in Marathi, but this is the closest English translation
At the time I wasn't smart enough to realize what he meant by that. The fact that I was very much attached to my identity as a former rank-holding student who used to be a karate black belt and champion made me think that I was slowly degrading myself and being an eyesore to people in my family.
But some months down the line, I realized he was right.
After giving it time and thought, I learned that I had not lost my identity and confidence. But I got back the ability to become anything and learn anything that I wanted to.
Emptiness isn't Good or Bad
Since philosophy relies on arguments and disciplines, you really can't say that feeling empty is a good sign or a bad one.
In Western Psychology, the feeling of emptiness is viewed as a problematic family background or alienation. In Western religions, it meant the absence of a will or being dimmer. In Art, it was seen as "cut off from purpose" or being "unsettling" or a "barren wasteland". And in every sense, all these are sound interpretations of emptiness.
But in the Eastern school of thought especially Buddhism, EMPTINESS is the backbone of the idea that everything is dependently originated. It refers to the inherent absence.
I interpret that as, even matter cannot exist if there is nothing to hold it in place. Because emptiness is directly related to the creative void.
And Taoism takes it one step further, by interpreting it as a state of stillness, like the mirror of the universe. For a still mind can reflect all wishes and ideas of the universe.
Even Advaita Vedanta has a term of anutpada, which means having no origin which comes from the concept of *Ajata* which refers to the ABSOLUTE. Similarly, the concept of voidness or emptiness takes a prominent position in Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism where it means
That which lies beyond shape, form or color. It is beyond senses, mind and categories And yet it is the Fullest and Complete source of all Manifestation.
What you see is what you get
The nature of Emptiness or Void is overwhelming.
And it is not something you (or me) can cope with right off the bat. Since most of us are not taught how to deal with the overwhelming feeling of VOID.
But the mind sees what it chooses to see, so it makes sense to see the good things and stay away from the bad ones right? However, it takes time for the mind to get used to the idea that the overwhelmingness of Emptiness is a good thing.
So the one reframes that can help you assimilate with the idea - If you are with nothing, that means you got nothing, that means you lose nothing for trying, that means you can get anything you want.
There is more upside to emptiness than most people can think of.
How to use Emptiness
Emptiness doesn't seem like something you can actively add into your life, but as I said, there are a lot of upsides. And I get that it is hard for us society living folks to completely indulge in emptiness, but there are ways you can closer to it
Operate without assumption
The mark of a person who operates completely on assumptions and biases is they are quick with their responses, arguments, and opinions. You also see this happen when someone is just listening to the other party to give them a response.
A mind on assumptions and biases doesn't think well. Because when you think about it, the act of thinking is rooted in emptiness.
You start to think when you have a thought. That unit of thought can turn into many possible trains of thought, but when you operate based on assumptions & biases, those possibilities shrink significantly.
And not to be preachy here but this is what I learned recently. I learned that my assumptions about NOT BEING COMFORTABLE TO SPEAK had held me back. But had I operated with assumptions I would have been much stronger, and more free than I compose myself to be today.
Take it from someone who's seen the upside firsthand.
Don't make assumptions about anyone, anything, or any thought that crosses you.
Meditate on "everything is merely a label"
As I mentioned already, there were times when I was in a bad mental state. I went as far as shutting myself out... even from my parents.
But when I started finding ways to recover, one of the things that came up often was the idea of IDENTITY. And it stuck out to me because I was very clearly obsessed with my former self.
And the fact that I lost it, showed me all the possible negative aspects of EMPTINESS.
Things appear to be wildly different about the property of things and being when you stop labeling them. It was clearly articulated by BRUCE LEE in his famous quote "Be Like Water".
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes a cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes a teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
~ Bruce Lee
The moment you crystalize anything intangible like thoughts or personality, they lose the ability to become malleable. It also traps them in a certain type of perspective that becomes really hard to change later on.
It's like thinking ice cream only comes in scoops, until some decide to make ice cream cake, and then an ice cream sandwich, and then make thick milkshakes.
You could have something, with inherent properties, but that doesn't mean it is only good for that one thing.
Minimalism
When most people think of minimalism they think of getting rid of everything that isn't essential to living, living with fewer possessions. But that's not what it points to.
Being a minimalist means embracing SIMPLICITY. However, there is another significance to it.
For years now I've thought, why do people who can work in their homes go out to work in café? Why is the atmosphere in the library rewarding even if it's packed?
The same could be argued about your house too... because it's long been understood that your workspace or living space is almost like a mirror to what's inside your head.
Here's the conclusion that I've drawn from it
It doesn't matter if you live with a lot of stuff, or fewer possessions or you live out of a backpack... the point isn't less stuff at all, but what that stuff is.
Someone who relies on creativity can do well in both a crowded space and a simple and open space. But the most important thing to know is... you have to create intentional gaps.
The point of minimalism or simplicity is that it gives off feelings of openness, a mental space to breathe. And if you think about it, openness is one aspect of emptiness.
The more mental breathing room you have, the more you can recognize it and adopt it.
Final Words...
Emptiness is a 2-way street, and you walk on that street entirely based on what your mind generally perceived in your day to day life.
So basically, think happy thoughts, even if you have no reason to. Because the emptiness you may experience later will be a blessing, not a curse.
With that, I bid you farewell
Until next time
Be weird and curious
S
P.S. If you are interested in info products and building an information-led creator business, check out Wide Thinker Letters . Series issues go out every Sunday.
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