Wes Annac, Contributor
Waking Times

Should we run away from emptiness, or should we get comfortable with it? It’s safe to say that most people don’t want to feel empty inside, but what if this emptiness gives us a link to spirit that we didn’t know was there?

What if emptying ourselves of all of our conscious and unconscious fears, habits and desires will strengthen our connection and make it easier to explore our consciousness? It’s easy to fill the inner void that so many people try to hide from, but what if filling it distances us further from the Self?

The path into enlightenment is illuminated with a thousand tiny inner lights when we open the mind and explore our true Selves, and we only need to open up and empty ourselves to glimpse the greater reality just beyond the horizon.

We only need to let go of all of the external earthly stuff to find what so many people have sought throughout the ages, and we distance ourselves from our higher consciousness when we fill our heads with desires and distractions.

Instead of distracting ourselves from our spiritual growth with whatever material thing seems more appealing, let’s understand that this life and everything in it is impermanent.

Our deeper awareness holds the only true permanence, and shifting our perspective over to it by emptying out our earthly thoughts and emotions will help us understand that we’re eternal spiritual beings. Then, we can really start to make progress.

Krishnamurti tells us that most people are afraid of emptiness, so they’re driven to activity in an effort to cover it up.

“It is this fear of being nothing that drives the self into activity; but it is nothing, it is an emptiness.” (1)

Most people accumulate experiences and emotions in an effort to distract themselves from the emptiness that’s an inherent part of their consciousness, he tells us.

“Why do we store up flattery and insult, hurt and affection? Without this accumulation of experiences and their responses, we are not; we are nothing if we have no name, no attachment, no belief.

“It is the fear of being nothing that compels us to accumulate; and it is this very fear, whether conscious or unconscious, that, in spite of our accumulative activities, brings about our disintegration and destruction.

“If we can be aware of the truth of this fear, then it is the truth that liberates us from it, and not our purposeful determination to be free.” (2)

No matter who we are or what we do, he tells us, nothingness is a permanent aspect of our being.

“You are nothing. You may have your name and title, your property and bank account, you may have power and be famous; but in spite of all these safeguards, you are as nothing. You may be totally unaware of this emptiness, this nothingness, or you may simply not want to be aware of it; but it is there, do what you will to avoid it.

“You may try to escape from it in devious ways, through personal or collective violence, through individual or collective worship, through knowledge or amusement; but whether you are asleep or awake, it is always there.” (3)

Have you ever just wanted to shut down at the end of a long or stressful day and do nothing at all? There might be a reason for that, and it might be that nothingness is our true nature, whether we realize it or not.

A lot of people, especially spiritual people who want to change the world, are driven to action every day in one way or another. From what Krishnamurti has said so far, it seems that this inner call to action can be a means to avoid our calm, silent, inner reality, which will appear as nothingness in the beginning.

Nothingness is exactly what it is, but after we explore it a little, we’ll realize that this ‘nothingness’ is actually a vibrant higher existence. Upon exploration, the nothingness will light up with glorious meditative vibrations and sensations, and somewhere along the way, we’ll realize that we’ve made it back home.

By exploring the nothingness, we’ll have reconnected with our higher consciousness and rediscovered something that most of the world wouldn’t understand or accept. It requires us to give up our earthly identity and ‘die’ to the Self, but if we knew what the result would be, we’d know that it’s worth our time and inaction.

As Krishnamurti also tells us, dependence on the external is caused by a need to fill the emptiness, which can never be filled.

“Dependence on outward line and form only indicates the emptiness of our own being, which we fill with music, with art, with deliberate silence. It is because this unvarying emptiness is filled or covered over with sensations that there is the everlasting fear of what is, of what we are.” (4)

Most of you know my opinion of music and art, which is that they can provide an avenue back into our higher consciousness just like meditation and other tools, but this doesn’t take away from the fact that some people use them as a distraction.

Some people use anything external they can to fill their unfillable emptiness, but like Sri Chinmoy has said, we can embrace music and art with a higher perspective. We can create music that contains the silence as opposed to music that fills it, and in doing this, we can uplift ourselves and others.

But for some people, music and art are only forms of distraction that keep them from exploring their consciousness. Everyone’s on their own path and we all have to do the things that work for us and stay away from things that don’t, and personally, music and art have helped me greatly along the path.

With all of the distracting things that are out there, staying true to ourselves and our path will help us explore our emptiness instead of trying to run from it or cover it up. Generally, life will become more harmonious when we can accept and live with our eternal emptiness.

In fact, we’ll find all of the thrills we could ever hope for by exploring our consciousness, and the ironic thing is that it requires us to become completely still and comfortable with doing and being nothing.

Life is nothing like we think or expect, and we’ll realize that as we continue to travel along the path and learn surprising things about ourselves, our reality and the realms beyond.

The first step is to get comfortable being nothing, which is our true nature, and the next step is to explore that nothingness and watch in amazement as it dazzles us with higher vibrations and a greater perception.

About the Author

Wes Annac is a writer, blogger, musician and channel for the creative expression of the Universe, and the creator of The Culture of Awareness daily news site.

The Culture of Awareness features daily spiritual and alternative news, articles I’ve written, and more. Its purpose is to awaken and uplift by providing material about the fall of the planetary elite and a new paradigm of unity and spirituality.

I’ve contributed to a few different spiritual websites including The Master Shift, Waking Times, Golden Age of Gaia, Wake Up World and Expanded Consciousness. I can also be found on Facebook (Wes Annac and The Culture of Awareness) and Twitter, and I write a paid weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to for $11.11 a month here.

Footnotes:

1. J. Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living. First Series. Bombay, etc.: B.I. Publications, 1972; c1974, 54.
2. Ibid., 92.
3. Loc. cit.
4. Ibid., 64-5.

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