Shielding

Buddhism talks about ’emptiness’ and for many this can be a difficult concept to accept. The idea that everything leads to suffering and that ultimately everything is empty can appear nihilistic and fairly depressing, but this ’emptiness’ does not mean worthless, or devoid of meaning.

It is a common human condition that we attach personal meaning to everything. An event can upset or anger us, it can elate us, stress us, fill us with happiness…any number of emotions, but these emotions are things that we ourselves impose upon the event, not the event itself.

When a horse wins a race it will always please some and disappoint others, but it is not the horse or the race that causes these emotions, but the vested interest we have in the outcome.

The same can be said for our jobs, our relationships, our hobbies, our talents, interests…these things are all wrapped up in the identity we have made for ourselves, but of themselves they are ’empty’, they hold no emotion or importance other than what we give them.

Buddhism teaches that we are all connected, all one and that the individual is part of the whole…but we feel individual, we crave personalisation and our likes/dislikes, our actions and opinions all help shape a personality that becomes like a shield, a prop, a way to show the world who we are.

Some call this ego and it is often used to hide behind, but when we are able to drop our shield, when nothing any longer upsets or elates us, when we are no longer deceived by our own joys and sorrows, we are better able to see life more clearly.

When we see that all is ’empty’, we are no longer puppets to the ups and downs of life…we walk a more balanced line and see that, far from being ’empty’, things are full yet do not own or control us any longer. Things just are. We can drop our shields and not be afraid of the void.