Tao 11
December 5, 2011
ELEVEN
Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore benefit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.
Is this an encouragement to BE empty, or to FIND emptiness? Both? Neither? Of the concept of Zero, the early Greeks asked, how can nothing be something? And yet zero had to be embraced because it works.
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” ~ Lao Tzu
I am struggling now to empty myself of so much fragmented assertions. I am paralyzed by the activity of what I am supposed to be, of what I hope to accomplish. I am intimidated by my inconclusive form.
Breath in, breath out.
Take me Tao to that empty place, and let it take me.
Did she hold me, while I vomited out my soul…I am so sick. So full of nothing. All in the white room, she hears me retching it all up. My arms weak from holding on. Please don’t leave me to pass out, to let go and find myself alone. So sick. So full of nothing. I can’t breathe in this vacuum, nestle me in your bosom, dark Mother.
dripping with cold sweat, shaking…alone, with You.
Is this void our common burden, is this how I reflect Your image?
Well, this is rather uncomfortable. I don’t know what I want. I hate the nothing. It feels like abandonment.
