i) Blank paper, whose void is open to drawings, writing and calculations, as well as folding to make paper airplanes, etc.
ii) Mirrors, whose void contains the visual images of all the world around the mirror.
iii) Clay, whose void may be entered by any form which can be modeled in the clay. Metal, plastic and glass.
iv) Tables, whose void provides a place for objects and work.
v) Rooms and buildings, whose voids range from the storage of objects to the enactment of the drama of life.
vi) Stretched canvas, whose void may become images of our world and others.
vii) Dark space between the stars, whose void contains undiscovered astronomical objects.
viii) Money, whose void contains the power to bring and maintain objects and situations in being.
ix) Television, whose void projects images and stories of the world.
The stage, where enactment of patterns for life come from the void.
xi) Silence, quietude and stillness.
xii) Clouds, whose void is of forms coming into and out of being.
xiii) Mist, fog and night, whose voids envelop the unseen which might appear.
xiv) The void of snow.
xv) Time, whose void contains all motion, action and surprise.
xvi) The void of freedom, the freedom of the void.
xvii) Solitude, in whose void may be found all things creative and profound.
xviii) Infinity.
xix) The unknown, whose void surrounds us always.
xx) The mind, whose void potentially contains all images and thoughts.
xxi) Cobeing, the void connecting all beings.
xxii) The void of peace.
Void isolated from being does not exist. Therefore it is not surprising that a common
property we note in voids in being is passivity. What does not exist can neither act upon its
own accord nor can it react. It is being, driven by existence, which enters void, and
incorporates parts of the void into itself. The void is as space around being into which
being expands and in which being is. Existence without the void would be coagulated,
compressed, immobile and impossible. By expanding into and thus incorporating the void,
being becomes articulated and its hidden order is revealed.
Now consider how passivity is expressed by particular voids in being. Blank paper is
susceptible to being marked, its blankness is a void into which forms may be entered.
Similarly, clay awaits the forms which may be impressed in it. Water falls passively in the
action of gravity and the shape of a body of water is determined by the receptacle in which
the water is contained. A mirror itself does not generate images but reflects the light which
impinges upon it. The unknown reaches of extra terrestrial space await our attention (at
least we may hope so). It is these clear examples of the passivity to form of the void aspect
of these real voids in being that allows us to induce the passivity of the void, which we have
already deduced from the emptiness of the void.
A void incorporated into being adds a special element of order to that being; the order of
void in being is a lack of disorder. Disorder is a barrier to the expression of form; a
scribbled page is harder to write upon and especially to draw upon than is a blank page.
This passive order of the void allows opportunity for being to express its own forms of
order. In this sense, all forms of order are implicit in the passive order of the void. Formal
order itself is a rhythm or pattern of being interspersed with the void. For example, graph
paper is an ordered scoring of lines interspersed with regions of void blank paper. Music
contains patterns of sounds sometimes interspersed with voids of silence; although music is
usually heard as sound imposed upon the void of silence, it could also be understood as the
partial emptying of the complete noise of all sounds; it might also be heard as the void of
silence penetrated by sounds.
There are several properties commonly expressed by voids in being. Some of these we
derived from the emptiness of the void, but there are others which we can empirically
observe in voids in being. When we examine voids in being we find that some voids have
common geometrical properties. Two common geometrical properties of voids in being are
self congruence of the parts and freedom from scale. By self congruence of the parts we
mean that one part of a void in being is like another part, at least in so far as the void
properties are expressed. If you cut a blank piece of paper into two or more, not
necessarily equal, pieces, each piece is susceptible to the same forms, except of course for
scale, which may enter any other piece. A similar but distinct property of voids in being is
freedom from scale. A small piece of paper, using perhaps a finer pen, can be used to write
whatever can be written on a larger piece. Consider two convex spherical mirrors, one a
centimeter in diameter and the other a meter in diameter; they both reflect their entire
surroundings. Water, down to the minimum of fluidity, can occupy congruent forms at a
large range of scale. A small television or computer monitor can show the same patterns as
a large monitor. These common properties of voids in being can be used to discern
previously unrecognized voids in being.
In addition to the common properties of voids in being there are structural properties of
voids in being. The common properties of voids in being are ideas which are not limited to
voids but which are drawn from the general background of knowledge. The structural
properties of voids in being are concepts defined especially for the discussion of such voids.
In this section we shall first define four structural properties and then we shall examine
how they apply to several particular voids in being.
A. The void set of a void in being is the set of all forms which may enter into being from that void.
B. The base of a void set, which we may sometimes refer to as the base of the void (in being), is the set of all forms which have in fact entered into being from that void.
C. The potentia of a void set, or of a void (in being) is the set of all forms in the void set except the base.
D. A refinement of a void set is a transformation of that void which enlarges the void set.
Ontologically we note that the base consists of actually existent entities, that is, with
complex being. The potentia has purely imaginary existence.
Refinements of voids may be found or construed in different ways, depending upon the
void and the refinement. Refinement may occur through change in the physical properties,
the being, of the void. Refinement may also occur through the development of the
understanding and use of the void.
Rather than consider the potentia as necessarily fixed and static, which would hardly seem
appropriate for imaginary existence, we may perceive that the potentia of a void may be
made more accessible through increased knowledge of the void as well as through adding to
its base.
i) The void of paper
The void set of the void of paper includes all of the forms which have come or might come
into existence as marks on the paper. At present the void set is divisible into fairly clear
categories of forms, which are sets of forms associated with writing, mathematical
calculations, drawings and scribbles. The base of the void set is the set of all marks which
have indeed been marked on paper. These include all of the marks which currently have
physical existence as some mark on some piece of paper somewhere; we mean specifically
the actual individual marks.
We could alternatively consider the classes of essentially similar forms, such as all instances
of the letter 'i'.
One ambiguity which might seem to arise concerns the marks which once existed on paper
but are since lost, destroyed, or forgotten; this problem may be resolved. The potentia of
the void of paper includes all possible marks or forms which might at some future time be
marked on paper. It appears that most refinements of the void of paper would be expected
to occur from enlargements of the base. If we imagine how shrunken would be the void of
paper without writing, mathematics, or drawing, we can conversely begin to imagine how
expanded will be the void of form when we invent new fundamental classes of forms. One
type of current research in this direction is the author's research into the symbological
level, wherein variations in the form of a symbol are used to project variations in the
interpretation of the symbol. We can also project as technological refinement of the void of
paper, occurring possibly through developments in electronics, in which the paper itself is
taught to think, thus writing a calculation could lean the 'pen' towards the solution to the
calculation.
Consider a simple planar mirror. The void set of such a mirror includes everything which
has been or could be reflected in it. We can also consider the void set to be the set of
hemispheres centered on the normal to the mirror's surface. The base, then, of such a
mirror would be determined by all of the directions in which the mirror had been pointed,
and the potentia by the set of all other directions in which the mirror could be pointed, as
well as by possible changes in the location of the mirror and in the environment
surrounding the mirror. If we consider the class of such mirrors and look for the potentia
we find that it includes all places where the mirrors have never been, such as hidden caves
in the earth, and all entities which have never been reflected.
The void of mirrors becomes interesting when we consider its refinements. Up through the present most refinements to the void of mirrors have been technologically driven, reflecting the material and physical discoveries of the last few thousand years. The varieties and refinements of the void of mirrors include the surfaces of eyes, of still water, of polished stone and metal, of silvered glass and plastic. They also include variations in shape, such as spheroidal mirrors, funhouse mirrors, reflecting telescopes, solar ovens and fiber optics. There are also fundamentally different kinds of reflecting entities such as laser boundaries, sonar, and electron surface reflections.
Taking the cool damp clay in hand we can mold it to almost any form we desire, then bake
it make a permanent object of that form. Clay is an almost perfect example of a void in
being. The material itself so obviously exists and the forms are pulled from the void,
although a void informed by the base of all previous forms molded in the clay, and where
every new form which comes into being enlarges the base and thereby the potential for still
more new forms, refining the void of clay.
Certainly it is true that there are other substances with similarities to clay in their
interaction with existence and the void. Glass, metal and plastic are refined, produced and
formed with heat, cold and pressure. In addition to the refinements of their voids that new
forms produce, there is also ongoing technological refinement of these and more novel
substances which creates a continuing dance of void and existence in being.
iv) Tables, whose void provides a place for objects and work
Tables are almost mysterious in their simplicity. There is not much essential variation in
the form of tables. In a material sense the function of tables is almost as simplistic; they
form a place where objects may be set and left so long as desired. But from a human point
of view what we do with tables in work, play and utility is amazing in its variety and
complexity.
v) Rooms and buildings, whose voids range from the storage of objects to the enactment of
the drama of life. Architecture does for our three dimensional life much of what tables do
for our two dimensional life. Much of what we do in civilized society we do inside of
buildings and most of that inside of rooms. There is a partial connection between the
design of the room or building and the set of human actions for which it is used. There is
also a large degree of freedom of what can be done in a given room. What would be a
refinement of the void of building enclosed spaces? One such is the creation of cyber
worlds, where rooms and spaces are forms which may be entered by avatars representing
and acting for the self; now, a few years into this phenomenon, the bulk of cyber
construction appears to retain much of traditional architectural thematics, such as
enclosures which have ceilings where there is no weather and doors where avatars glide
through walls, all this in the void of completely open possibility. Yet, at the same time,
there are some who do explore new reaches of habitable form.
vi) Stretched canvas, whose void may become images of our world and others. The history
of art is replete with interactions between void and existence. To take one sequence among
many, in the early nineteenth century western painting was primarily discursive of
historical, mythological and everyday subjects, by midcentury it had become wearying with
being crowded by the full existence of repetitive ideas and shallow creation, then the
impressionists escaped the form into the void of free interaction with natural light. After a
few decades impressionist being became crowded with a full disclosure of the form, then
post-impressionist artists began imposing their personal viewpoints into new form, by the
turn of the twentieth century their dramatic subjectivism also filled with existence and new
artists began to break free into abstract presentation of color and form upon canvas. The
reality is a hundred times more complex but the pattern of new form being created from
the void, of the forms filling and eventually crowding existence, and then of yet new forms
called forth from the void can be readily seen. The same dialogue is not only true of
painting but common to sculpture, drawing, etching and other media.
vii) Dark space between the stars, whose void contains undiscovered astronomical objects.
Recent years have seen a new investigation of the void of space by examination of those
portions of the electromagnetic spectrum outside of the realm of the visible; infrared, radio,
ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray astronomy have filled our known universe with a
wonderful array of objects new or newly understood. Neutrino astronomy is also now
making an impact on our knowledge and for the future we can also look to gravitational
wave results for new knowledge of the universe.
When the base of a void in being is enlarged so rapidly and dramatically as has our
astronomical knowledge, there is almost a temptation to thereby think that the potentia of
the void has been correspondingly reduced, that since so many discoveries have been made
there must be fewer left to make; while this is possible it is far less than likely. Seeing the
sequence of discoveries in historical context supports what we should expect from our
understanding of the void, that the enlarged base correspondingly enlarges the potentia
and that we should expect still more discoveries to be made in the future.
In the decade since I wrote the above paragraphs, they have been magnificently confirmed
by, in particular, the Hubble Deep Field photographs in which very long exposures by the
space telescope of a dark and empty region of the sky exposed clouds of weird and ancient
galaxies pressing toward the limits of what is now called the observable universe.
Relative to valuable goods as real expressions of being, money incorporates the void in its
general and abstract liquidity. The historical development of money can be seen as
involving stages of increased expansion into the void. In its early maturity money was
typified by precious metals, which are solidly material but yet also of more abstract value
than direct consumables such as food, clothing or the labor of warriors. Later the
development of instruments of personal credit such as bills of exchange further refined
money, basing it upon the spoken and written word of individuals. More recently a further
expansion of money into the void occurred with, mainly government, deficit financing.
Perhaps a further refinement of money might involve a dual money; an inflating money
readily available for personal consumption, and a more solid money, such as precious
metals, for those seeking secure accumulation. As with much of social history, new forms
which are found or made are rather added to older forms than used to replace them; we
still trade with barter and metal is still of value.
Technological development and broadening of the base produce refinements in the void of
television. Broadcast television requires a base devoted to projections or 'shows' of the
widest possible popularity. More advanced media, such as cable, VCR, and upcoming
digital versions allow a developing base of greater refinement for a more individualized
audience.
A far deeper refinement of the void of televison occurs when television is integrated into the
Internet. What was one way, what was subject object awareness, has become two way,
unitary awareness. What was simply a blasting out of, primarily commercial, intent and
imagery, has become a means of nearly universal connection. We not only get to talk back
but we get to talk to each other both individually and broadcast.
Looking to the future, we would like to suggest the development of telepavision, wherein
the input to the monitor screen would be taken from the electromagnetic output of the
brain, utilized to project thoughts and images on to the screen. In its early stages this
refinement could utilize trained projections; for example, one could learn by trial and error
how to generate the appropriate signal in order to project a blue triangle onto the screen.
When the fundamental processes of mind are discovered, direct projections of natural
thoughts could be possible. This refinement could be used to blend conscious mind with
void, as dreaming does with the sleeping mind.
x) The stage, where enactment of the patterns of life comes from the void. The stage
requires an accumulation of voids in being. There is the physical theater with the empty
stage to be filled by props and actors, the void of time allowing rehearsal and performance,
the necessary capital to put on the production, and the creative void in which the
playwright prepares the play, also the voids of social cobeing and free time which permit
members of an audience to gather together and to devote their time and attention to the
created world of the stage.
One might try to define the base of the void of stage to include the set of all plays written,
or perhaps of all surviving plays, or perhaps of all productions, or perhaps just of the
memories of all productions. It would be interesting to ask a playwright and director what
could be the potentia of the void of stage, and even more interesting to ask them to consider
refinements of the void of stage.
xi) In stillness sunlight washes forms clean for the eye of the beholder. On a quiet
afternoon, sunlight connects the voids of time, apace, stillness and mind. A few acres of
rooftops stretch to the south, their facing slopes glistening in ice, western slopes bright in
the void of sunlight.
xii) Clouds, whose void is of forms coming into and out of being. There are summer days
when one can watch clouds appearing from the blue void of sky. A small patch of white
first appears on the edge of visibility, it may disappear to reappear again. Eventually it
may grow enough to stabilize its being and then it begins to assume definite but ever
changing form. The career of the cloud is uncertain; it may dissolve back into the sky, or
merge into a larger cloud or grow into a stratocumulus. It may disappear over the horizon.
In the bright sunlight void is an invisible presence and nearly so in full moonlight.
When weather thickens time and existence are transformed. What I can not see when
cloud covers view is everything or anything, although it may go by the name of nothing.
You walk out of the misty envelope of midnight into my presence; you always do.
Snow washes a great white void across the landscape. Wrapping details in a soft blanket,
snow reveals the larger underlying forms. Except for these forms, new snow is void of all
but the rills and cusps of windflow. It is sometimes attractive to write one's own mark
across the clear surface. After the fall ceases snow begins to age. It begins to fill with
tracks and sometimes blown objects. Eventually returning warmth patchworks the snow
with earth and the return of color. Snow returns to the void.
xv) Time, whose void contains all motion, action and surprise. At the edge of the present
as it passes into the future the void of time enlarges a stage for action. It is the formlessness
of the void of time that provides free space for creative action.
Work is an application of the void of time. Work is done in the present but, except for the
pleasure of the work itself, work is done as a gift to the future. It also requires a void in
time present in order to engage in work. One connects the present with the future across
the void in time by doing work.
Reaching out from the present into the void of time it is possible to connect with all time
through the unity of the void. Time can be felt as whole, as one, as what is called
timelessness. Sometimes nature gives us a void in time, as when snow falls thick and soft,
or in the long dusks of early summer.
xvi) The void of freedom, the freedom of the void. Reaching into the void all forms are
possible; there are no preconditions which restrict possible forms, no hidden structures
which reject some forms, not in the depths of the void. The true void is formless and being
formless it is without resistance or barriers. If, in reaching into the void, you encounter
resistance, barriers which do not allow convergence of divergent forms, that is because you
have not reached deep enough into the void. If you reach deeper into the void, eventually
you will find such freedom that any set of forms may be converged into a new unified form.
The void is a place of creative action. Being extends its wings into the void. In the void
you may turn in any direction, make any connection, as far as the void is concerned: any
connection between the different shores of being. The only constraints when you play with
the void are those of existence. The ocean of void is the same but the various shores of
being have differing aspects. You must accommodate these forms, though you need not
accommodate the void.
xvii) Solitude, in whose void may be found all things creative and profound.
I live with many; I write alone.
Solitude is companionable. It is an event wherein the humans who usually demand and
refract one's attention are not present to do so. Instead, one has the amiable furniture of
objects, animals who do not talk, plants, earth, and the sky. One's own space is free for
contemplation, action, or the pure pleasure of perception. The absence of human
interference in solitude allows other and quieter aspects of reality to come in from the cold
void of inattention.
The concept of infinity is correctly based upon the void. Existence itself appears to be
finite; at least all entities that we perceive appear to be finite in their existence and we only
perceive a finite set of entities. The void, not being limited by the bounds of existence,
neither forms boundaries, nor is it bounded, rather, the void is what lies beyond
boundaries. Being unbounded, the void provides room for infinite projection. It follows
that existence, in the half reflective mirrors of words and also being, is thereby at least
potentially non finite as it may expand, break off, or migrate into the surrounding void.
Mathematical concepts of infinity clearly incorporate the void. Consider just the natural
numbers, an impressive collection of voids in being. One void in being related to the
natural numbers is counting; a base for the void of counting could be given as all the
natural numbers which have been used in counting, then the potentia of that void could be
all of the natural numbers which have not been used in counting. Another void in being
would be named numbers, with base all numbers ever named or written and potentia all
natural numbers which have not yet been named or written such as, perhaps,
17,935,274,368,977, until now, that is.
The differential calculus has long struggled with concepts of voids in being. Taking limits
uses both concepts of infinity and of something which might be called infinitesimals,
something which is smaller than anything yet not exactly nothing. Although a practical
calculus can be constructed which avoids such concepts, looking closer at these
constructions tends to reveal further voids in being. The very process of abstraction which
produces mathematics itself reveals the use of voids in being.
xix) The unknown, whose void surrounds us always.
Knowledge is embedded in and always surrounded by the unknown, much as existence is
embedded in and surrounded by the void. The growth of knowledge may be described as a
movement of the boundaries of knowledge further into the previously unknown, into the
void, although we should not forget forgetfulness as lost knowledge recedes into the void.
Knowledge partially illuminates the near unknown but in addition there is a deep unknown
far beyond the limits of the known.
Some unknowns are near to us, such as what we will do ten minutes from now, such as the
contents of a book we have not read, such as the temperature on the south coast of
Jamaica; such voids in our knowledge are accessible to us in time; we merely have to reach
out, or wait, to obtain them. Some unknowns are partly available, such as the thoughts of
our companion; we can ask, but how complete will be our answer? Is the current proof of
Fermat's Last Theorem valid and, besides, what does it mean? Is there life in the
atmosphere of Jupiter and, if so, what is its form, density and degrees of development?
Some unknowns are inaccessible by effort and may only come to us in knowledge by chance or a granting from power or love. The deepest such question I can here formulate inquires of the unknown whose name or question is also unknown.
The void has the facility of hiding. Where the void is found, the void as found is less void.
Yet the void is everywhere, even among the ranting and ravings of existence, even when
crushed by the regulation of an ambitious society. For while existence is crushing the void
that can be found, the hidden void is resting in creative isolation. In our towns where the
huffing and puffing of existential athletes sometimes blankets the fire of spirit, hidden
embers of the void are banked, glowing secretly. When our days are harried the void sings
at night. When our waking hours are prisoned in necessity the void floats in our dreams.
When our lives are crushed the void conquers beyond.
Much work is done in creating and refining voids. Building spaces, such as houses, temples
and other construction, manufacturing paper, mirrors, tables and television sets, refining
clay and purifying water are all examples of such void producing work. Cleaning refines
voids. Clearing and plowing land create voids. So does mining and metallurgy whose void
set consists of the objects which can be formed from the metal.
Humans manufacture voids in being. We create void spaces where the drama of being can
be enacted. We create refined metals, clay and unformed plastic materials which can be
molded into forms of being. We create buildings and enclosed spaces wherein the drama of
being can be enacted. We even set aside time spaces for explicit enactments of the drama of
being, such as the stage and the chapel. We make paper, computers, blackboards, and,
most important of all, we form social structures which engender times of peace.
Voids in being are also produced by thought and imagination. The void in being of an
already existent entity or class of entities is commonly refined by mind. This writing
includes several such examples above and below.
In addition to the production of voids it is also proper to consider the conservation and
accumulation of voids. While the production of material voids proceeds through action,
the conservation of voids partakes of inaction, of not doing. Paper which is not written on
remains void; money which is not spent retains its liquidity. Some voids such as mirrors
and television monitors may be used without consumption while other voids, such as
plowed fields will be subject to entropy. Intervals of void time are in part the result of
intervals of necessity.
We have yet to consider the question of personal stance toward the void. This is in essence
a moral question to which we, as imperfect beings, can only suggest an answer. Consider
two divergent attitudes toward the void. For most of his life Alexander expressed his nearly
pure existential drive towards conquest; all gave way before him until, near the upper
waters of the Ganges, his Macedonian troops halted and refused to go further beyond the
bounds of their known world. Alexander had to stifle his frustration and return west, to
die of fever not long afterwards. We can see that one who proceeds ever onwards runs a
great debt in the void whose eventual and necessary repayment might be disastrous. On
the other hand consider the obscure quietist who is ever receiving passively the blows of
time. He gathers little of the salt of existence, nor does he thereby develop much thirst for
the void. Life is too precious to half live it.
It would seem best neither to seek nor to flee the void, but rather to accommodate it as it
comes one's way, warping it harmoniously into the woof of existence, evolving for oneself,
and for the sake of the world one lives in, a rich and complex being.
We have discussed the structure of voids as void enters being but our emphasis has been on
voids in material being, such as mirrors, television and blank paper. We need to consider
more direct encounters between humans and the void. Such concepts naturally fall into
several branches. There is the intentional interaction between humans and material voids
in being, then there is the presence of the void in direct human experience, also we must
look at how the void enters into the composition of mind. After this we shall examine
aspects of the void, particularly the principle of identity of the pure void, as they apply to
social structures.
Our terms shift their meaning when we begin to consider the direct encounter between
human beings and the void. As long as the subject was typified by material voids wrapped
in external substance, it was easy to point out objective forms and effects of such voids.
Looking more directly at voids in the composition of human life, the language may seem
somewhat slippery. Still, the underlying conceptual structure remains, although the forms
of indication change.
For each of us our personal identity is composed of our material body, our immediate
awareness, our mind, the accumulation of our actions and experiences and a transcendental
soul. In our life we exert action both inward to forms ourselves and outward on the world
around us. When this action is effective it progresses without stoppage; the waters of our
will flow freely and are not dammed up. Or, in another metaphor, our will pushes on
through the world and is not reflected back upon us, as it is when it meets hard structures
which do not succumb to it. However, most of us find that we are occasionally balked in
our desires and intent. This produces an inhibition in the motion of our charge through
time. Doing so, it creates in us still pools of endurance where the rushing moments of our
existence come a while to rest. Here is where void enters our being.
As a consequence we have among our set of past experiences the base of our void of self,
episodes of relative stasis. Having their origin partly in the involuntary reflection of our
will, they come to be an ingrained part of the composition of our existence. We learn to
accept and come to value these void pools of inward quietude, these stillnesses of the self.
In the continuing mixture of void and being our perceptions and eventually our active
thoughts enter into these voids, producing or finding in them many elements of value. We
find there the life giving freedom of inner being, space in which our minds can move, colors
and sounds differentiated in association with the finer shades and harmonies of our being,
There thus also occurs a passive strength, the strength of endurance to be found in the
inner void where, when under the power of external forces we cannot presently overcome,
the inner void becomes a place of reserve, producing a resilience wherein our force of being
is modulated but preserved, bending when necessary like oak instead of cracking like hard
but brittle brass, or shattering like glass.
In addition to the inward voids of the self, when we recall the property of the identity of the
pure void we can see that the mutual occurrence of the void element of human being
among several individuals gives a foundation for cobeing among these individuals. The
void provides a deep resonance of cobeing and can thus be seen to provide the foundation
of communication, society, and love. When one encounters one's personal void one is,
towards the pure void limit, also encountering the inward void of other beings. As being
expands in the void the forms which arise are differentiated by the patterns of encounter
between the void and existence so that the inward voids of separate individuals are not
expected to be exactly alike. However, the more similar is the structure of being between
entities, the more similar is expected to be the pattern of inward voids, and thus cobeing
and communication would be expected to occur more easily. This identity of pure void and
similarity of voids in similar beings might provide the foundation for new forms of
communication.
We have already discussed mind in our phenomenology of thought, but here we stand
again once anew. Where would mind be what would it do, without the void? How could
mind proceed without thinking unthought, void, thoughts? Unthought thoughts, of course,
do not exist until they are thought; they are part of the void.
Mind is part of being, therefore it is a composite of existence and the void. If mind has a
physical substratum such as the brain or a field then, as part of our world, that substratum
itself will have complex being and include an aspect of void. However, the phenomenon of
consciousness shows that mind is more than its physical substratum. Much of that which
enlivens the mind into consciousness depends upon the free play of the mind in the void.
The void is interwoven throughout the mind on various levels ranging from the physical
being of mind to geometrical visualization, but including several other strata. Among these
strata are concepts which implicate the void, intervals between the self reflections of
awareness, the meditative depth of mental experience, and the origin of creative
imagination.
The mind has the unique ability to intentionally project the concept of the void and to
apply that concept to gain a greater understanding of the world and also to enlarge the
potentia of voids in being. The concept of the void in complex being is a refinement of the
void of mind.
There is a natural division, although not an absolute one, between mind itself and what is
thought by the mind. This section is mainly devoted to an examination of the void aspect
of mind itself. The variety of what is thought by the mind is so vast that we have examined
above and will examine below only a scattered sample of the possibilities. It is hoped that
some readers will take up the quest and reveal much more fully and extensively the many
aspects through which the void is encountered in the great range of thought.
Consciousness being aware of its own awareness might be most simply modeled as a pair of
facing mirrors passing the light back and forth between them, or it may be seen as a
sequence of partial reflections and refractions unfolding both inward and outward from the
surface of the mind. If consciousness were merely a form of existence, such mirroring and
self awareness would hardly seem conceivable.
As we think we find that our thoughts sometimes proceed lickety-split in a nearly linear
process of evaluating and organizing experience; there are intervals of such thought while
speaking, writing, or engaging in physical action. However, we sometimes find our
thoughts almost still, eddying slowly back and forth, or like a subtle light duskily
illuminating a vast complexity of simultaneous intuitions. This second variety of thinking is
most clearly seen to incorporate the void.
The meditation of inner quietude reduces the noise that limits and diffuses the resonance of
clear understanding. Sheer practice of using inner perception is a fine method of extending
its scope and precision. Experience and study enlarge the basic vocabulary of awareness.
It is possible to direct our intentional search inward through various levels of
consciousness. For me it was sometimes natural to visualize the inward search as the
exploration of a landscape, full of waters and mountains, caves and beings. At first it was
not a short journey but eventually I found a vast, apparently unbounded space full of
powers, in which darkness and light are unified. Now a simple stilling of the surface of the
mind allows direct access to this space, in which is found a rewarding resonance of thought
and being.
The identity of the pure void also provides a foundation for resonance and cobeing between
humans and nature. As every actual entity is of complex being, part existence and part
void, and as the void part is intrinsically identical, although differently embedded in real
being, in all entities, so humankind, sharing this void, does to that extent share being with
all entities. This cobeing in the void is the foundation for natural empathies between
humans and between human and nonhuman entities: animals, plants, and objects. The
effective resonance of these entities depends upon the forms of interaction between the
identical void and different forms of complex being of the different entities. In the
refinements of these forms is the possibility of future developments of cobeing, new and
purified forms of communication and interaction between humans and between humans
and nonhuman nature.
According to the principle of identity, all complex beings connect in the pure void. In so
far as individuals are complex entities composed both of void and existence they share a
partial identity towards the pure void limit. The identical void aspect of beings is
inextricably mixed with the separate existence of those beings; thus individuals share
essential cobeing in an indissoluble part of themselves. This cobeing is the foundation of
the social union. It leads both to a natural empathy between individuals and towards a
fundamental identity of being, and thus of value and interest, among separate persons.
Correct organizations of society should correctly reflect these dual circumstances of partial
identity between people due to the void part of their nature and of the separation and
diversity of interests of different people due to their independent existences.
Cooperation arises from the willingness of individuals to suspend the pursuit of their
separate ends, thus contributing their individual voids to a social void among these people.
This cooperative void is available for the freer play of the being of the individuals involved.
Thus liberty begins with the voluntary restraint of action arising from the individual void
which allows freedom to evolve from the social void. The social void may be formalized in
institutions such as the American Bill of Rights, the law, universities and religion.
Cooperative action also flows from the common void which allows individuals the room to
rearrange their originally divergent impulses of being into a commonly directed impulse of
action.
The capital accumulations of society, including genetically efficient food plants, invention
and production of tools, construction of roads, water works and cities, the growth of
institutions enlarging the common peace of daily order and the rise of knowledge are
expressions of the common void, which cogenerates with the individual voids of mature
human beings.
Peace, although widely desired, also sometimes engenders a usually secret fear. Underlying
this dichotomy is the concept of peace as a negative and thus limiting state, the mere
absence of war and conflict. Now we can understand peace as an extension of the common
void and thus as a dynamic state of being bringing forth an enlargement as well as an
increased harmony of being. It is hoped that this concept of void in complex being will help
bring forth an extension and refinement of the void of peace.
We have on several occasions found our way of words leading us toward the garden of
peace. The logic of peace follows from the universal connectivity of the all, in which any
conflict must be at least partly a breaking of the connections which form the self. Further
on, we have found cothought and cobeing as aspects of the connected all which also bring
us into mutual identity with all other beings. Finally the clear free space of the void shows
us that there is always room for all to grow in peace.
Frederick Joseph Staley
Copyright(c) Frederick Joseph Staley 1998