Filling the Void or
Feeling It?
We have often
heard people say: “I feel like I have a void in my life.” Perhaps you yourself have said it at one time
or another.
Generally,
many of us say it after a rather heartfelt loss or disappointment. Something that has filled our lives – a loved
one, a job, or a dream – is suddenly gone, and we feel the empty space inside
that is left behind.
This
emptiness brings us sadness, loneliness and in some cases depression. We start to look for ways to fill the
void.
Feeling sad,
depressed? Find a therapist or go on a
cruise.
Feeling
stressed from the pressure at work? Head
to market and pick up some munchies, grab a cigarette or a café latte.
Put all that
weight back on? Join a different gym or
buy the next fad exercise DVD advertised on late night TV.
Lost a
job? Fill out an unemployment claim then
load up on lottery tickets.
Lost a
relationship? Try eHarmony or head to
the local watering hole to drown your sorrows or maybe luck out and meet Mr. or
Ms. Right.
We will
attach to almost anything that can either stimulate us or numb us so that we
can ignore the void, the emptiness inside. Some of us try to fill the void with food or drink, with drugs, with
sex.
But what we
wind up ignoring is the fact that the void, itself, is a blessing in disguise –
not for what new and creative measures we take to fill it. That will only put
us back on the merry-go-round of illusion, never to come face to face with
reality.
What most of
us have come to “think of” as reality
is nothing more than a projection of our thoughts, which are, in fact, unreal.
But that void
inside is our only reality. It is our original nature as any seasoned Buddhist or Taoist meditator will
tell you.
Instead of
trying to fill it with all sorts of compulsive actions or move away from it
altogether, we need to go with it. Follow it wherever it leads us.
The hurts and
traumas of life do not have to be debilitating or depressing. They only bring us to that point when we try
to overcome them. But having the courage
to move into the void like an intrepid explorer descending into a fathomless
cavern can not only free us from the illusions of life but bring us
face-to-face with our true selves.
In meditation, in qigong, in our tai chi and
other nei jia practices, following
the void and always keeping it before us will not only make us whole but will
free us from the enslavements that we once desired.
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