The Emptiness That Binds The Universe

What is the opportunity here? What is the benefit of this difficulty? What is the gift? ~ Marc Allen

It's strange--behind the terror and confusion of the world, behind the frustration of things not working out for us or anyone else, and behind the unending battles of struggle--there is an inner joy, a radiance that shines in the heart, an awareness that exists forever. One day, when we have all packed up our toys and gone home, we will look back on these days of earth as a marvelous adventure.

It is our pleasure to unravel the mystery of God.

How can one even begin to describe the adventure of being on earth? It is such a vast and overwhelming stage, where billions of life stories advance simultaneously, where anything can happen at any time.

Always, it is about a scramble for resources. The mind, programmed for centuries to believe in scarcity, is always struggling. There is just never enough of everything, and sometimes it seems that there isn't enough of anything.

Then somehow, out of curiosity, out of fatigue with desperation, we stumble upon the spiritual path. We find that what we had mistaken for God, for truth, and for liberation from travail was also an illusion. After we have shed our false gurus, our self-centered prophets, and our hopelessly confused texts, we find something else: stillness in silence.

Yes, in the absence of motion and sound, somehow what is unreal starts to fall away from us and what is false starts to lose its fascination. We find, to our surprise, that our only error was our insistent dismissal of our own significance.

Beyond words, beyond images, beyond sounds?in the depths of silence?in the discipline of stillness?something emerges.

At first, in shock, we see it only as a void, emptiness, or a vast nothingness.

Then, as we watch, we see that the void is full, copious, overflowing. The quantum field of infinite potentiality awakens to our inner vision. We hear the music of the spheres. We travel between the vast spaces between worlds.

We realize that somehow, beyond the solid proof of this heavy body and this insistent mind, and even beyond the certainty of our identity?we are this non-stuff that is the fabric from which all stuff emerges.

When the mind is silent, then, and only then, will divinity emerge.

This is the only spiritual path. There are many ways to reach it, many paths to the one path; but it is the only path.

For those who catch a glimpse of the divine, there awakens a new hunger?to be constantly in the presence of this emerging joy, this blissful rhapsody, this careless abandon of all that once frightened, thrilled, and agitated the soul.

Someday you and I will get there?because we will never stop until we do.

We will find that emptiness is the source of all beauty and of all miracles. Without an absence, the notes of music would not be heard. Without space, the eternal grace of form would not emerge. And without time, the singular moment that links all events would not be comprehensible.

Out of the void of creation, creation emerges. And from the resignation of searching, the truth will find you.

And we will see that behind the distraction of our illusions, we knew everything all along and never lacked for anything, anything at all. The eternal riddle will be before us and we will be amazed at how we could not find something so simple despite thousands, perhaps millions, of incarnations.

Resource Box

Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass thisarticle on to your friends, or use it in your ezine ornewsletter. It's a shareware article.

Forward (blog)

The Spiritual Significance of the Seven Species Silan Cake Forward (blog) By extension, there is a remarkable degree of similarity between a person's physical development — even his/her spiritual development, and that of a tree. We, too, have roots, which are the equivalent of our spiritual selves that one can't see, ...

Washington Times

The Problem with Religion Patheos (blog) There have never been any “spirituality wars,” but conflict in the name of religion has often escalated into violence and has claimed countless lives. For many, religion is synonymous with rigidity, exclusion, unquestioned authority and rule keeping. God or Gay, No Need to Choose SidesReligion Dispatches all 4 news articles »

Who is a Spiritual Person? By Fr. Anand Muttungal Pakistan Christian Post Can we define a spiritual person? Many ask this question. Spirituality is a state of mind leading of a person to an ultimate reality; an inner path enabling to discover the essence of his/her being; or the deepest values and meanings by which one live.

Interference.com

Sellout Or Spirituality: U2's Super Bowl Set, Ten Years Later Interference.com I've had to watch it on YouTube in the intervening years to digest in simulation its seamless power and spiritual potency. What I did see at the time was Bono flashing his flag jacket on the cover of Time magazine, and I cringed, fearing that Bono had ...

Houston Chronicle (blog)

Keeping yourself (and your horse) healthy Houston Chronicle (blog) Research also reveals that spirituality impacts thought. If spirituality improves thought and thought impacts us physically, perhaps, the new model should be a spiritual one? A survey of American family physicians found that 99 percent of these ... and more »

Spirituality: A lifetime of parenting in 80 minutes Elmira Star-Gazette Whatever you think of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, you may want to say a prayer for his 3-year-old daughter Isabella, who was admitted to the hospital last month with complications from a chromosomal condition called Trisomy 18. and more »

Daily Californian

Divine Palace: MC of Shabazz Palaces talks funk, spirituality Daily Californian There's realms that are existing on top of each other and we get caught up in this realm so much because we're losing our spirituality and our humanity and our connection with nature, so we just ignore a lot of shit that's going on around us. and more »

Spiritual Impressions. Work by Michael Stoeber blogTO (blog) Overall, this work is a tangible by-product of my long-standing interest in spirituality. The process allows subconscious energies and feelings to surface in creative and spiritually integrative ways. These impressions have constellated around some ...

Spiritual match between prayer warriors & theologians MorungExpress But, the spiritual match between the so called 'prayer warriors' and 'theologians' is long and lackluster. It is a match, where both the teams, though concede goals, never consider that they will be losers. In their mind, they are always the winner.

No-thought leaders Times of India Self-effasive and low-key, MMS's so-called indifference might well be a studied position, inspired by deep spiritual insight. Otherwise, wouldn't he show signs of power hunger? J Krishnamurti never wished to become a 'world teacher.