341. Being Empty

Everything you experience is both you and not you. When you see an object in the distance, the perception is yours, but you can also be free of it. When you have a thought you believe is true, the idea is yours, but you can also be free of it. When you have a desire for something useful, the want is yours, but you can also be free of it. When you are afraid of a dangerous outcome, the fear is yours, but you can also be free of it. When you feel despair because you have lost sight of hope, the anguish is yours, but you can also be free of it.

To see that each of these things is both a part of you and not you at all is what it means to be empty. When you are empty, you are free. You allow everything to arise and depart in its own time. You see that everything that happens is both permanent and subject to change. You see the world as both a collection of separate parts and a unified whole. You understand that the experiences of living beings are your experiences and also that you are separate from the particulars of every experience.

To be liberated from the objects of experience is what it means to be empty of attachment. When you are empty and liberated, you can see everything clearly. You see what you need and what others need, and you see that it is personally necessary for you to take action to meet those needs. Your every action is then creative and intelligent. You help to meet the needs of living beings, and by doing so you support and advance life itself. As a consequence, your actions are immensely purposeful and therefore also immensely joyful.

To live always in perfect emptiness is not a tangible goal, but an aspiration demonstrated through your choices. By seeing the importance of seeing itself, you regularly open yourself to the expansion of your awareness. And it is the growth of your awareness that will bring you closer to this great emptiness that is also the place of boundless compassion and unceasing joy.