This may seem ludicrous at first, but it isn’t. Most of us are heavily conditioned to run from one entertaining experience to another. We will do anything to escape from what we see as our own inner emptiness (i.e., our own inner void and sorrow). We run from one experience to another, like that proverbial donkey that perpetually pursues the carrot dangling from a stick (that is — interestingly enough– attached to the donkey). We were conditioned to do this… and in this conditioning, we remain. We are this conditioning, not something separate from it.
We were not encouraged to refrain from running from inner emptiness. To not run from inner emptiness does not take time. However, most of us, in time and “as time,” continue to run from it. It may be that such effort is a waste of time… which we repeatedly do until we die. It may be largely a waste of time and energy.
When one doesn’t run from emptiness (in and “as” time), a miraculous transformation may happen. Time (then) does not exist in the normal sense and a timeless (non-sequential) bliss and intelligence may flower without a motive or system of effort. The “known” is a sequential, symbolic, robotic series involving experience, recognition, remembrance, and further accumulative experience and repetitive recognition. This stems from the known (i.e., the habitual, reacting, symbolic, past remembrance) and its sequential movement. This “sequential movement” is often necessary, but clinging to it makes the mind mechanical, repetitive, and dull.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Wow beautiful color! Great capture Tom!
Thank you, Marcela. 😊
First of all, great writing.
Embracing inner emptiness is not an easy task, perhaps we need to feel empty at times, must the way we are exhausted?
Emptiness? Doesn’t it mean we have room for new things?
Thanks, Bridget. 😊
It’s not an “embracing.” There is no separate entity (apart from the emptiness) to embrace it. Emptiness, for most of us, is largely conceptual, not actual. We were taught to run from it (as if it is something bad). Emptiness is easy if you do not habitually try (with effort) to escape from it. It is beautiful and is beyond sorrow and manmade symbols, images, and fabrications.
For others, not me, it is the FOMO (the acronym for “Fear of Missing Out”) … sad isn’t it Tom? That’s a beautiful butterfly resting there waiting for its photo.
Yes, Linda. fear of missing out of what? A lot of superficial bouts of entertainment that (in reality) do not make a person full of infinite understanding and joy… that’s what it consists of if we examine closely. But we were taught to copy and to follow the crowd (which is not real examination and learning).
Cute butterfly, yes; it reminds me of the Red Admiral Butterflies that used to land on my fingers to visit (in the backyard). Now they are nowhere to be seen… and basically extinct in our area.
What occupies people’s minds sometimes makes me shake my head Tom. I am on Twitter/”X” because I follow the news there as well as several meteorologists; one in particular is very interested in climate change and, even though he retired last year, whenever there is severe weather he gives a lot of thorough, no-nonsense updates, no matter the time of day/night, even if he is on vacation. If you would see what people say in that forum and the trending topics, it would blow your mind. I don’t have TV so I get my news from AM radio, an all-news station, so I follow them on Twitter and on their websites. The comments by people who hide behind anonymous or fake monikers are just pitiful sometimes.
I have seen one Red Admiral butterfly this year … pretty sad. That is exciting that they would land on your fingers to visit. I once had a butterfly land on my shoulder and stay there, one entire loop around the Park and I thought that was exciting!
I quit X back when it was Twitter (a long time ago) when Elon Musk bought it and encouraged Trump to stay on it. I had over a million followers, probably a lot of them phony. I can’t believe the mentally imbalanced people that still think that Trump is good. He is a felon, a raptist, a mocker of the handicapped, a traitor, and a fascist (with poopy diapers).
I miss a lot of my butterfly friends. Our environment is unhealthy (and species are going extinct in record numbers). However, it is not from windmills killing birds in droves. 😉
Musk has really made Twitter/X trashy now. I see the trending topics – even they are for imbeciles sometimes. A lot of trash-talking now. I am not going to “Threads” – I have enough social media to suit me now. I worry what will happen in November for many reasons, but if we take a step back as to climate change and our environment, I wonder what becomes of all of us down the road? We’ll be following our butterflies and bees. No, I don’t believe it is the windmills, nor is it bird strikes due to lights in windows or tints in glass. You and I have been around long enough to know how things were back then and what is missing/no longer here. It is becoming a rare treat to see a butterfly anymore.
Yes, pretty weird to see extinction happening (for some animals) so rapidly just during our short lifetime. Will future generations have to look at our blog photos to appreciate butterflies and birds? These animals are the canaries in the coal mine and we are next, if we are not careful… and we are not.
I am so glad that i left twitter or x or whatever the creepy thing is called.
I am sure you are correct Tom – beautiful creatures are disappearing before our very eyes and yes, just as you look at photos of and collect prehistoric remains, one day it will be like that for future generations for what creatures existed in our lifetime. We are going full steam ahead in that directions.
I’m only on Twitter/X for the news and weather now.
Love this Tom – emptiness creates the place for genuine experiencing to occur – but we are a culture addicted to being on the run so we are never present for ourselves or our emptiness – that hollow feeling may be uncomfortable but you can’t hav one without the other – and oh what a photo!
Thanks, Sara. 😉 Yes, we are a species that often prefers symbolic abstractions rather than seeing everything in a true, holistic, living way. Even our perceptions of emptiness are tainted with stale mental images that obsure the true value and beauty of emptiness. We are a strange lot. We perceive through screens of illusory acceptances that are old and unalive.
denial is powerful Tom in a culture on the run
Yes… many humans are robotic lemmings reacting as they were programmed to react. As E.E. Cummings said, “Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.”
Let’s not insult the lemmings please! We don’t know why they do this self destruction thing – it may be very important !!! but ROBOTIC oh yes! I loved the Cummings quote – it really made me laugh! thank you for that! Unseeing dead – oh perfect.
I appologize to all small (furry) lemmings. 🐹
You are wonderful! The lemmings will surely send you a gift!
They did! 😊
You’re right. Running from that vague sense of emptiness we can all feel in modern life is not the best strategy. And we can often be guilty of relying on distraction or superficial experiences to take our minds of it. Searching for a deeper meaning is always preferable, I would say. 🙂
Matt – WithMeaning.net
Yes, Matthew… distraction and superficial experiences are often used as escape mechanisms. Searching for a deeper meaning may be beneficial, but it too can turn into another escape mechanism. We have to be very clear on what we are doing. 😉
Life would, however, be pretty dull and unchallenging without it! In my “experience” you can indulge in both.
lulu lemming