The uses of not -- the empty spaces that make things useful, the pauses between actions where thinking is possible -- a place of peace amid chaos.
Between each moment is a pause. Within each pause there is peace.
Startling people out of their habitual thinking is a technique used by Eastern philosophers from the Buddha to modern Zen masters. One unusual idea from Lao Tzu, author of The Tao Te Ching, is the value of nothing --what is not.
What is Not
Many of the things we use are examples of the value of nothing. Claw hammers remove nails with little effort using a simple tool, a split in the metal. The opening -- where nothing is -- creates the function of this part. Without the space, it's a dull chisel. With it, nails are pulled easily... with a simple vee of nothing
We live in rooms defined by the walls which surround the empty space we use within.
The hand-thrown pot, used as a ceremonial tea cup, is defined by the clay, but it is the absence of clay that makes it a cup and not a paperweight.
Peace in Between
How to find the nothing? How does anyone find nothing?
Traditional methods recommend meditation -- simple, obvious, functional. Finding instructions for Meditation for Beginners or even a whole Meditation Toolkit, is a place to start for newcomers to the tool. But the specific technique of finding the nothing isn't addressed... it is a Taoist idea. Seeking to think of nothing at all is not the same as finding the empty spaces amid the uncontrollable.
One technique that works for many people is to focus on what is not, rather than what is. When one is annoyed about a neighbourhood party, it's difficult to think over the noise and easy to become frustrated and annoyed about the distraction. It is easy to obsess about the noise, the disregard for other people's comfort, the rudeness of the language or the poor choice of music. It is simple, and many would say automatic and unavoidable, to focus on what is.
There are many things, in this sample circumstance, that are not. The neighbours are not: annnoying people 98 miles away, tearing up the road, painting the trees, torturing small aliens or auditing the local pub's 2006 books. Creativity is a natural source of peace, and it is not possible to remain annoyed while thinking up bizarre lists of the many things the neighbours are not doing.
An interesting mental game, which can effectively disregard what is happening and focus instead on the spaces between, involves listening for sudden silences, the sense of the sounds as a whole, or the peaks and valleys of volume rather than content. It is an interesting challenge, and surprisingly difficult. We get drawn quite naturally to trying to comprehend.
Amid a busy day at home with small children of various ages, there is also a place of peace available to anyone who knows to look for it. With nothing predictable from one day to the next, and the built-in randomness of children's behaviour, people caring for children may not believe there is peace. The peace here is spontaneous -- but it is here.
Between every event, every moment, every action and every reaction, there is a place to pause and think. Sometimes the pause is very brief, even just a moment. But a moment is a moment.
Look for the moments when there is no sound, no movement. Look at the still walls, the still ceiling, the stable trees or placid grass.
Even when surrounded by chaos, things stay still. Seek out the stillness and revel in the peace.
