Q-BLOG #27 Empty Spaces

Empty spaces have been on my mind. What they look like, how they form, what they create for each of us. Even how we can ignore them or want to fill them up. I even wonder if empty spaces or places are indeed empty. Often the idea of empty space seems almost bad. We seem to have a need or desire when we see an empty space, to want to fill it. We place a negative connotation to it as in whether the jar is half empty or half full. This week, I’m wondering why we have such an attitude towards empty space. I wrote this poem and drew this picture (attached).

Empty Spaces

Our lives are filled
With activity beyond our
Capacity.

Moving in and out
Of our consciousness
Looking for our foundation…

Grounded to moving bases
Of our busy days and nights,
Always moving…

Wondering if there are
Empty spaces in our lives…

To breathe…
To release….
To catch ourselves before we fall.

Wondering if the prayer we pray
for our world, for our family…for ourselves
will only be lost in the confusion.

Plans and appointments
Fill our calendar.
Work and responsibility seem all we live for.

Our time must be used wisely
we are told… “Fill that jar with those big tasks first,
Then fill the empty spaces.”

We have filled the empty spaces so well
That we can no longer breathe.

Take a pause.

Close your eyes.

Empty the jar slowly.

Keep some empty space….and breathe!

20 May 06, Baghdad, Iraq
Robert L. Quintana

This past week my friend Jim wrote in his Blog how the movie ‘The DaVinci Code’ affected him and defined how his experience has led him to his current belief system. He received quite a few comments from folks who read his blog. Some of the comments may be evidence that indeed, we have a need for more empty space in our lives.

We are so often distracted by so many things in this world that we do not take the time or the opportunity to remain quite and ˜listen to that little voice’ from the depth of our soul. Sometimes the distractions are things we consider bad. Most times the distractions are things we consider good. Take the story of Mary and Martha as an example. Mary wants to sit and listen to Jesus speak. Martha instead wants Mary to assist her with the preparation of dinner. Jesus rebukes Martha letting her know that listening is more important at the moment than preparing dinner. So often we busy ourselves in preparation for ourselves and others that we cannot hear that ˜little voice’ speaking to us. Instead we work ourselves away from what is divine. We leave little empty space in our lives to listen. This keeps us in our comfort zone where we do not need to question our lives.

When we do no allow ourselves some empty space, we can hear the Divine within us and listen for the Divine in others. If we busy ourselves with our tasks of preparation, we close ourselves off from the Divine. In the bible, it was those that appeared to be the most religious and/or holy men, the ones that followed the letter of the law, these are the ones that plotted against Jesus. An often used example is the good Samaritan. He was, by all accounts not a religious person. Yet, he listened to the divine within himself and heard the divine of the stranger. The three religious who passed the stranger and did not assist him were unable to listen to the divine within themselves or the divine of the stranger. They may have followed the letter of the religious law, but neglected the heart and spirit of the law. When we close ourselves to others different from us, we close ourselves to the divine. There is no empty space for the divine to visit or live.

Emptiness can leave you hungry. It can leave you lonely. It can leave you confused and open to things unknown. It can be your testing ground. A full stomach only throws good food aside. An empty stomach takes what food it can and makes the best of it. Such is the mind and the heart. Jesus went out into the emptiness of the desert to face his temptations and discover the Divine within himself.

Empty Spaces.

Namaste!
May the divine in me greet the divine in you.

Blessings and Peace.

Robert