ja_mageia

It has taken me many years to realise that what others call variously God, Allah, the Source, the Mystery, the Divine, Father, the Beloved, the Tao is most present to me in the Void.  This emergent essay seeks to illustrate aspects of how I have come to know and experience the Void.

Although we are familiar in the West with numerous pictures and icons of God, such depictions cannot capture or convey the nature of God with any accuracy since ‘God is beyond our knowing’. In Islam, there are no images of Allah for this reason.  In Christianity, the reference to ‘God created man in his own image’ has been taken literally by some to imply that God has a human-like form; metaphorically and mystically, this phrase suggests that man has the inherent capacity to live divinely – although our human nature and mis-perceptions cause us to fall far short of this eternal state. Many eastern traditions offer a more holistic approach to God. Hinduism presents the diversity of the whole cycle of life and death; Buddhism and Taoism encourage the practitioner to seek the unified whole that encompasses everything.

The notion of the Void encapsulates many of these attributes – timeless, infinite, formless, whole, and beyond understanding – but this is to seek to understand the Void in concrete and rational terms. To know the Void is an internal experience of soul discovery, insight and revelation, not an external act of understanding, rationality and analysis.

Experiencing the Void

I have no idea when I first experienced the Void. Certainly it would not have been consciously; probably it was as an infant when everything was connected and I had not begun to separate, differentiate and judge all that I saw and experienced.

I remember clearly when I first clearly named an experience of the Void. I was in the Netherlands, participating in a training programme of Taoist massage that involved heightening the energies of the physical body to such a degree that the ordinary senses were over-loaded (like blowing a fuse), the mind could no longer cope with processing all that was happening to it, and a whole new dimension of consciousness became apparent to me. I was lying on the table oblivious to the table and the physical surroundings. I was beyond my body. I no longer knew where my body ended; all boundaries had dissolved. I was weightless in some limitless space that was neither dark nor light. Wherever I was, I was safe and held and deeply peaceful. There was no need to think; my awareness was of the wonder that infused and surrounded me. All this was experienced without effort, thought or control. It was as though I had been transported there and this was being done to me.

I now recognise that I experienced this Void earlier in life (without the same circumstances) and that I have access to it in many different situations. I can be transported to the Void when in the presence of great beauty (from nature, art or music). A deep and peaceful meditation enters the Void. Writing from my soul opens the Void. My tears open a window to the Void. Sensual love-making occurs in the void that is beyond time and space.

The Biblical Void

The Void is nothing new! Two great passages from the Bible convey a rich feeling for the Void.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

and

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:1-5)

These are wonderful mystical metaphors for the creation of our universe and of all things. They describe a situation preceding the ‘big bang’. They offer a glimpse of infinity, even though the human mind is unable to grasp the concept of infinity. Here is an ancient account of the time-less, space-less void that predates history.

The Void is the space of creation. Everything is created from nothing, and returns to nothing. No-thing is the source of every-thing.  From dust you came, and to dust you will return (Genesis 3:19).  The teachings within the Bible - and particularly within the New Testament - could be called the 'Gospel of the Gap' because they teach how to live and grow within this void of creation.

The metaphysical void

But this void is not just a metaphorical image from sacred texts. It is also real in our physical universe.  And it is real at both the cosmic scale and the micro scale.

Astronomy shows us the immense magnitude of our cosmos. We cannot envisage what existed before the big bang but what we do now know is that for 14 billion years since that event, our universe has been creating and expanding in an explosion of galaxies and suns, each of which occupies a tiny amount of physical space relative to the limitless cosmic universe. What exists between these galaxies and stars? At first sight it is an empty space of nothing, a void. Yet, when observed more carefully, this void is far from empty. Whatever else it might contain, it is certainly filled with energy in the form of heat and light.  We cannot see this energy within the space but the heat and light travel through the void continuously to be felt and seen here on our planet.  When we see sunlight, it is light that has travelled through the void until it becomes visible to us by its reflection from physical landscapes and objects.

At the other end of the visible scale, atomic physics is revealing a world that is utterly different to how we might have imagined it. Solid objects are not solid at all. All physical matter is composed of tiny atomic particles bound together with electrons but in a very fluid manner. Within each atom there is vast space around the nucleus.  This arrangement mirrors – at an entirely different scale – the physical arrangement of suns and plans.  There is a void within the atomic nucleus.

Our universe at every level comprises a massive void, with occasional lumps of matter!

The Void as nothing and everything

The void is seemingly empty yet contains everything. It is both no-thing whilst holding every-thing.  When de-void of all physical matter is remains filled with energy. And from this energy, all light and matter is derived.  It is ‘formless’ and filled with potential.  It is in darkness whilst transmitting the energy of light.

This is the original and universal energy of the cosmos at every level and scale. It is an energy that we call ‘light’ and which we also experience and name as that mystical power that we call ‘love’.  It is the light and the love of creation that fills the void. This is the energy of Love that suffuses our true nature. When we 'make love' we are entering this space and creating from the pure energy of love.

Void, not vacuum

It is important to distinguish between these two states that are often confused in everyday speech. A void, as described here, if filled with the light and energy of creation and potential life.  A vacuum, by contrast, is a sterile and empty condition that seeks its own destruction by filling itself with something. A vacuum comprises nothing. It is detrimental to life, since without the basic elements life cannot survive in any form.  A vacuum implies death, whilst a void transmits the possibility of sustainable life.

The unconscious void

A common example of the void is our  physical unconsciousness. We experience this daily in sleep. Sleep is the time when healing occurs, when dreams play out, and when the day-time thoughts and activities are integrated and sometimes transformed.  In the unconscious, our ego-mind has less control over us, and our soul can speak to us more clearly. One interpretation of dreams is that they demonstrate what the soul is telling us about our true nature and desires.

Being in liminal space

To live in liminal space is to live at or just beyond our comfort zone. It is the very edge of our familiar world and a threshold (the literal meaning of literal) into another domain.  When we live in our familiar comfortable world our patterns and belief and experiences repeat themselves - they remain very similar. When we allow ourselves to move beyond this comfort (or when circumstances take thrust us into something totally new and unfamiliar), then we enter into liminal space.

Liminal space is the space of dis-comfort, of growth, and of transformation. It both challenges us, and offers us new perspectives, in-sights and in-tuition.  We need liminal space in order to keep growing humanly and spiritually.  Each time we hear that inner voice saying "oh, make this easier, give me a break, let me just get back to the familiar", it's the voice of caution, self-control and, status quo; it leaves us in our comfortable 'lostness' of disconnection and separation.

Liminal space is the threshold to the Void. It's like standing on the edge of a high cliff, with all the familiar territory behind us, looking out over an unknown landscape. Do we go back? Do we just stand still? Or do we risk going forward and over the cliff, trusting that "all will be well".  Our mind screams: "don't do it - it's too risky - you'll die - stick with what you know".  Our heart knows that what lies behind us was not that wonderful and satisfying, and that what lies ahead offers the possibility of real change and transformation.

There is no route to the Soul via the head.  Only our heart feels the existence of the Soul-Spirit dimension.  Our heart has a deeply imprinted memory of that original spiritual source; our heart knows that it wants to return to that peace. When we allow ourselves to live for a time in liminal space - to stand on the edge - we are faced with the choice of backwards or forwards, head or heart, known or unknown, body or soul, this world or Void.

Entering the Void

Entering this Void is, for me, an entering into the Presence of God. Without form, yet filled with love, the void is the space beyond body, beyond thought, where I am one with all of creation. I am upheld in this space without effort. I am home.

Is there a route-map for getting there? No. In one sense, we are all already there, except we don’t know it.  All the world’s great spiritual teachers offer pointers to finding this space.  In my studies and practices, the best manuals have been the Tao Te Ching, the Hua Hu Ching, the Dhammapada, and the Christian gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. A receptive and open-minded study of these texts can help us find the way.  All these teachings use koans, stories and parables to illuminate the way to the Void because there is no step-by-step process. The way is beyond the mind. Indeed the way is often in the contra-direction. Most teachings talk about divesting ourselves of all that we have. Jesus talks about becoming ‘like children’. All describe a condition of patient waiting until the Void is revealed.

What works for me? I sense the presence of the Void around and within me. Sometimes this awareness is strong; often it is barely conscious. What has helped me to know this Void has been, at different times:

• Longer periods of silence, seeking to still the body of all sensation and the mind of all conscious thought
• Observing nature, and being open to letting that nature speak to me what it will
• Placing myself into entirely new situations and places, watching my fears arise, and allowing myself to fully experience what is happening with fresh eyes.
  
• Energising my body (or having someone do it to me) to an extreme degree where I lose consciousness of the individual sensations and physical components
• Making love deeply and sensually by the unconditional giving of myself to another person’s bliss
• Describing my interior state in writing that flows, without censorship, and that starts to open a connection with my heart-centre and soul
• Entering a deep shared communion, with God and/or with others, where I am vulnerable and defenceless in every meaning of those words.

The Void is a joyous and entirely peace-full space of no-thing and every-thing. I know that it sustains my life and brings me home. It is the space where I long to be.

Some years ago, on a faerie retreat, I talked quietly around the fire with a wise old man known to me as “Tuff’ol’ bird”.  I recall him saying: “You’ve experienced the Void? Then you are lucky and need nothing more. It can take a lifetime to get there.” I feel both emptied and filled in this Void.