Empty
What if you took a knife and cut the earth into thin slices?
What you'd see would be the conceited humans' supposed empire as a spec.
All that open space, sky, atmosphere, stratosphere, clouds, all that.
Do we have buildings up there? Have we conquered all that emptiness yet?
Nope, we say we've mapped out everything. Obliterated the term “uncharted”.
But honestly, we've done nothing.
We haven't taken control of the planet. No, no, no. We've scratched it with a few nuclear bombs.
Maybe some logging corporations. But no, we haven't won. That space of emptiness, and the mass below us. They will prevail, they will win. A few band aids and they're good to go.
“What did you have for lunch today, a... SANDWICH?!”
The earth will be saying that to us, and before we know it, sky above us, earth below will be crushing us like in a young child's game, taking back what belongs to them.
This is a view of the idea of emptiness. A mere example to get your mind flowing.
What else can you think of, emptiness.
Well, I can think of a few.
First, big ideas, what we all wonder since childhood.
“If the big bang was a tiny little atom that blew up and made the universe, then what was there first?”
What kind of emptiness was that?
Unidentifiable, that's what it was.
Unidentifiable, unknown.
We, as a race fear unknown. A fear baked into us from the beginning of Homo sapiens.
We don't know what's in that emptiness, it's unidentifiable. It might bring pain, sorrow, death, we're scared.
We fear it.
We fear deep water. It's unknown. It's black, deep, unknown territory.
We fear it until we can add definition to it: a rock here, and a sea anemone there.
But this is relevant in all situations. This need for definition, this need to know what's going to happen, or what will probably happen.
So that spirals down through each layer of the onion of emptiness into each persons life, their fears, their unknown.
Some of them are confused, others have been stricken by tragedy.
Others can't be comforted, don't want pity.
All of their uncertain emptiness.
What do they need? Do they need help from others?
Confirmation? Facts? Feelings to help them understand their own?
Do they need confessions? Do they need others like them?
Well that's something they have, they have many others to compare to, others to help them through by understanding, listening.
So that brings us back. With all these feelings, we need somewhere for them to be. Where?
Is that what fills the sky, the atmosphere, the stratosphere, creates the clouds?
Some might say “A giant burning ball of gas filters through our sky and creates colors.”
Ehh, heh? Really? Well I can say that for the sake of of sanity, maybe we should just say that the sky turns bright when someone understands, has no more emptiness to be filled.
That it turns dark when someone has grown another layer of emptiness.
That the sky is our dumping ground. A place to let things out.
Why do you think people pray to the sky? Letting there emotions out they are.
Checking for confirmation, wondering how, or why.
Asking for this burden, this empty load they carry, when will it be lifted?
When will they understand the unknown? The Emptiness? Soon.
At least until they fall back in again.
