"Nothingness, Here We Come; or the Cheater’s Guide to Meditation"
Written by David Summerfield
What have I learned this past month? 1st off, I’m learning (again, but in a new way) the importance of getting quiet inside, every day. Better yet, not just every day, but at will throughout each day. It has gotten to the point of just taking at most 2 seconds to take a deep, intentional in-breath, and visualizing a kind of void all around me. No, actually what I see in my mind is a panorama at eye level stretching out in front of my view - a view of absolute nothingness. And no, 2 seconds is too long, it can all happen instantly. That needs an explanation. This “nothingness” feels so powerful, so present, and frankly more important than anything else going on around me. Many years ago one of my teachers, in helping me learn various ways to meditate, said all one really needs do is just feel the Presence - and that can happen in a split second. One could consider this a cheater’s guide on how to meditate. If it takes more than a split second, it’s way too long, since that would allow the ego to get involved in thinking through what just happened. I’ve taken all this at face value - and whenever the thought occurs to me, I’ll just momentarily step outside the everyday world with an intentional deep breath, and move on….knowing that I had just visited the void, something I don’t really know how to describe. It’s where everything exists….and nothing exists. And that also needs explaining. I’m currently working my way through Eduardo Duran’s continuing saga of Buddha in Redface, called Quanum Coyote Dreams The Black World. He often refers to entering the void, or nothingness - as a way to leave the “plant world" (our everyday physical reality) for the “black world/dreamtime”. And doing that keeps me having to readjust my thoughts - how to deal with…nothingness, let alone enter it, and live there on a continuing basis. This recent breakthrough came with the realization that I’ve been (often unconsciously) spending split seconds here and there, in the “void” if you will, or in that place of non-existence. I almost don’t like calling it anything at all. Really, I’d rather not even talk about it.
This all sounds so paradoxical. I was helped to be okay with such apparent paradoxes by reading Lyssa Royal’s Prism of Lyra, which I wrote about several months ago. She kept treating paradoxes as commonplace occurrences, not just linguistic twists of logic, that don’t need to stop you dead in your tracks. I grudgingly went along with this approach. And now it really helps to go forward with Duran’s theme of leaving the “plant world” and entering the “dreamtime/black world”. So, can you, dear reader, just be willing to leave this seeming reality so full of illusions, and take yourself to a place where none of that can exist? It probably doesn’t help to call this place a no-place or “non-existent”...like calling it the “void”. This really is asking you to accept as fact that a whole universe of non-illusion is just sitting out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered. And this world we live in and know exists because of our physical senses….is just pulling the wool over our eyes. All I can say is to follow along and see where it takes you. If something doesn’t make sense, just call it a paradox and move on. Oh, you’ll love this - just get to the place which doesn’t exist (maybe that doesn’t help?)
Woody Allen’s quote maybe doesn’t help either… (www.quotationof.com).
So what is really going on during that split second of voidness I want to experience? Words are useless in trying to explain it, so why try? Well, I’ve got to try, since basically there’s nothing as important as being in that “no-place”, even for a blink-of-an-eye. All I can say is that during the blink, one can definitely disappear from this outer reality, just to glimpse that which lies beyond, outside of, instead of, this normal human life we’re all leading. And it's during that blink, one can realize an alternate reality, existing away on its own, with no human knowing going on. Is it really possible? If you’re open to the possibility of different dimensions existing side-by-side, then yes, it is possible. And if your blink-of-an-eye experience goes well, then blink twice, or many times, or stop blinking and just start staring into the void and stay as long as you like. Just don’t let your ego get involved in the experience! It will definitely tell you you’re crazy.
As you know, I love to use graphics to illustrate what I’m talking about. Hmmmm, I’m sure you see the problem here - I can’t find pictures of nothingness without the picture showing “something”. So I’m left with having to philosophize on what nothingness really looks like. I need a good symbolic picture, like a field of stars with a blank (black) hole where “nothing” is located. It is generally known that a black hole is an infinitely strong vortex of energy. So I can add that concept to my “instant” meditation - this nothingness I observe is expressing the very energy of creation itself.
Here’s the Void blocking out a huge swath of light (www.pinterest.com).
I have to make it clear that all this “instant” meditation stuff in no way invalidates a real meditation, where one spends as much time as possible with a still mind, open and absorbing all the voidness of creation. And by “cheating” I refer to what one can do in between actual meditations - while one is “on the move” and can’t shut down the daily life stuff. And, back to the pictures which try to depict nothingness…they are mostly black-themed. Why not show a blinding light instead? I kept visualizing a black landscape with no features, it had to be completely void of light. That was too somber for me…so I just flipped it into a scene of brilliant light, so bright I had to turn my gaze away, like looking into the sun straight on. Now, when I want that split-second of voidness, after the deep breath comes an overwhelming flash of light. If you were watching me, you might notice a wince on my face as I encountered my “instant” meditation. As Rumi puts it below: “We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.” And those stars are so bright, one has to look at something darker - just to maintain a focus.
Spinning out of Nothingness - Rumi (www.in.pinterest.com).
I leave you with what seems like a lot of nothingness:-) Thanks for considering what it can all mean for you. And really, there is no paradox here. Just remember when nothingness comes to mind, it is really just telling you to go deeper. The nothingness is a symbol of a deeper reality, which is always pushing itself into your consciousness, to help you live with a better awareness of what the plant world has to offer. Have a great month of nothingness…