Hello amazing people, all of whom I know are on the path to finding your own innate Buddhahood – which is the wonderful potential that every single one of us has within, whether or not you follow any form of Buddhism.

I hope you are all feeling brighter as the Winter starts to fade into the distance and Spring wends her way back into our hearts. Here is Verse 11 of the Tao Te Ching:

Verse 11 – The Importance of What is Not
We join thirty spokes
to the hub of a wheel,
yet it’s the centre hole
that drives the chariot.

We shape clay
to make a vessel,
yet it’s the hollow within
that makes it useful.

We chisel doors and windows
to construct a room,
yet it’s the inner space
that makes it liveable.

Thus do we create what is
to use what is not. (Translation Ralph Alan Dale)

I love the conceit of this verse – the idea that we need to make an effort in order to construct something useful in our lives, but that it is the nothingness and the void that give it it’s true purpose. Without our input the void would still be a void, but by our giving it shape we give the void the structure it needs to do its work. This idea follows on quite neatly from the concepts held in Verse 9. We need to do what we need to do in life, but if we carry on ‘overfilling our bowls’ or carry on building then the useful space within gets filled in and we are unable to fulfil our original plan.

This verse celebrates the very yinness of life. Lao Tzu asks us to look not only at the void, or at that which we have actively created, but at the whole of a creation. Not just the bricks and mortar of an idea but that which is created by default. We often concentrate so much on the action in our lives that we forget the possibilities of the inaction.

I am scribbling away here, my mind working feverishly as I digest and translate the thoughts that are flowing thick and fast from the space I have created in my mind to look at these verses. It needs action and inaction. We cannot think clearly with a mind cluttered by triviality. It is the receptive openness of your mind as it reads this that will recycle these words of mine and make them into thoughts and ideas of your own. A mind that is not open – that does not contain the space within – will not receive new thoughts and new ideas and so will never grow. However, the opposite is also true – a mind that has not got a structure, that has had no dedicated work (whether through study, meditation, or whatever mental exercise you routinely use to keep your mind fresh and alert), will have no clear boundaries in which the void can flex its muscle. Both what is and what is not are equally as important.

What use are the things we strive for in this world if we do not use the time and space to enjoy them – to fully utilize the uniqueness of their being? Conversely, if you have nothing to do or to enjoy what use are the space and the time?

Balance is what creates a fulfilled life. Taking time sitting in silence every day, if only for a couple of minutes, so that you are then able to appreciate the next time you are in the hustle and bustle of the crowd; revelling in the serene comfort of your armchair after a hard day at work, being held in the arms of a loved one after a heated argument. It is the hole in the pot that makes you appreciate the usefulness of the pot as well as the sides and the lid.

To fully experience our lives we do not have to push continually, we only have to appreciate what is not as well as what is. To see the beauty and usefulness in everyday objects as well as the usefulness and beauty of works of art.

So often we forget to appreciate ‘the importance of what is not’ in our lives. We focus on the lack of ‘stuff’ we think we want rather than appreciate the lack of terror and pain. We are so busy looking at the material facts of our existence that we forget to look at how wonderful it is that we are not living in poverty; that we are not starving; that we are not living in the midst of a conflict-ridden, war-torn city – although these things are happening to people all across the world. It is by understanding that these things are that we can appreciate that they are not in our own lives. If we appreciated the importance of what is not we would also appreciate the importance of what is – of the sheer amazing abundance and joy of our lives.

I am not saying that our lives are never exposed to the harsher aspects of life, but these in themselves lead us to enjoy the better moments. When you have been in pain for a long time, how much more enjoyable is the relief that comes when the pain has gone away, even if only briefly. When you have been in the pit of despair how much brighter is the laughter that follows?

The hollow in the pot / the nothingness of the void is as vital to our lives as the many constructs we build around ourselves every day. Please take time out of your life today to enjoy the silence, the void, the emptiness within, so that tomorrow you can wallow in the noise and the tumult of our amazing planet!