Know Your Essence
It is a fact that atoms consist of 99.999999 percent empty space. Consecutively molecules are more than 99.99 percent empty space. Scientists have confirmed that on a molecular level it’s a pulsating energy frequency. Like a musical note. Consecutively human form, earth and universe are more than 99.99 percent space. Can you feel that your body is just as spacious as universe?
1. It’s the illusion created by limited view of our sense perceptions and compulsive thinking that make the forms seem more rigid and serious. With fear being an inevitable consequence of that ethereal illusion.
2. Space consciousness. Most people pay attention to the forms in the space, but who pays attention to the space itself? Perhaps space is not interesting and the mind, which only know of content, looks for interesting ‘things’. The infinite and eternal Space is the essence of all there is and the life that enables forms to be. Analogy: if everything around you was green, then there would be no green. There needs to be another color so ‘green’ can stand out or enabled to be. Similarly, if there were no objects in space then there would be no space. It would be emptiness or nothingness. There need to be at least two reference points in space, for an object to stand out. Hence, there must be something ‘unfleeting’ or unchanging in order to recognize the fleetingness of all forms; otherwise it would not be.
Abide in inner spaciousness. The inner equivalent of external noise is the incessant thoughts and emotions in you. The more your inner self is cluttered with thoughts and emotions, the more your external reality will be cluttered with external forms (tasks, noise, jobs, etc) and vice versa. It’s because world is just a reflection of your inner self.
1. Here’s a practice to create inner space or silence: just look at the sky or listen to the silence or become aware of the emptiness of the room without any mental labeling. This naturally creates a gap between thinking, thus making way for something sacred and formless to shine through. That’s the life that you are beyond name and form; inseparable from one life. Hence the saying “Nothing in this world is so like God as silence.” It’s the inner stillness and silence, that has affinity with space and silence with out.
2. When you are in touch with spaciousness within, which is essentially you, you are connected to something so vast, immeasurable and sacred that things and events naturally things lose their seriousness and rigidness. A playfulness arises.
3. “If you don’t realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king.” Tao Te Ching.
4. Even if it’s noisy, you can still be aware of the underlying silence that enable the sounds to be. Only the nothingness inside can recognize the nothingness outside. Even that is not accurate, because ultimately it’s all nothingness, as form is an illusion. Buddhism’s saying “Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form” points to this truth.
5. So be aware of the inner space as much as you can. Here are a few more practices to create inner stillness; become aware of inner body, breath or sense perceptions, etc.
