Quick Review
Every realthing (every thing or situation in the real world) is a story.
Our inner Goddess Samsara learned or created these stories, in order to help us meet Basic Human Needs.
We cling desperately to these stories. This clinging, is the essence of what it means to be ‘real’. If we say a thing is ‘real’, then we are desperately clinging to its story.
We emptify a realthing (in other words, we realize a thing or a situation’s Emptiness) when we accept that the realthing is only a story, and we stop clinging to that story.
(If the above notes don’t make sense, check out the ‘Samsara the Goddess’ essays.)
Avoid the G.R.U.N.GE. Five ways to WRECK Emptiness:
G-rasping: believing there is a thing called Emptiness, reaching for it, and craving to possess it.
R-emembering: grasping for a remembered experience or practice, instead of practicing in the present moment.
U-nderstanding: understanding a practice without actually doing it. Understanding is useless at this point. You’ve got to LOOK! Again and again and again.
N-egativity: abusing yourself because you’re not feeling successful at a practice.
G-igantic E-go: big egos beware. These games ARE DESIGNED to shrink your ego down to the size of a grain of sand.
Introduction
THE FOG OF IGNORANCE is thickest, within human relationships. Maybe we can cut through some of that fog by emptifying the realthings, that are PEOPLE. Is this possible? Is this ethical? What’s left after a person gets emptified? A pile of ashes? Poo?
In order to simplify our exploration, let’s focus on emptifying OTHER people, and put off emptifying the realthing which is ME (a gigantic topic) until later.
Emptifying OTHER people is helpful and it’s excellent Emptiness practice. It becomes difficult however, if you love, hate, fear, or crave the other person, or if past karma is involved, or if they’re tied to your survival needs (like territory or status).
So, lets look at a simple relationship (if there is such a thing). Imagine we know this person, who’s somewhat of a pain-in-the-ass, but who also meets some of our Basic Human Needs. His name is Harvey. (You know the type.)
The Emptiness of Harvey
For starters, it may seem unfair or even RUDE, to emptify Harvey without his informed consent.
Nope! Emptifying someone is a precious gift. Harvey is a realthing. His story was authored by our inner Goddess Samsara. So by definition, his story is mired in history, desires, aversions, judgements, associations, ancient karma, and so on.
When we emptify Harvey we free him (actually we’re freeing ourselves) from Samsara’s delusions. We try to see him for who he is, at the present moment, without preconceptions, judgments or old grudges. Isn’t that a cool gift?
OK. So let’s emptify Harvey. (We can do it SECRETLY; no one has to know.)
The Game
Look at him. Be aware of feelings, memories, judgements, and associations that arise.
Now, ZAP all that stuff into forgotten dreams (I don’t know how else to describe it). Briefly imagine blank paper. It’s almost like he’s been existentially stripped, clean and naked. His deepest essence stays, but everything else is blasted into thin air, or totally amnesia-ed for a moment.
If the blasted stuff re-materializes, ZAP it again, and again. If necessary, RE-ZAP Harvey every four or five seconds. (The Goddess doesn’t like emptification so she’s going to keep pushing her stories.)
I’ve survived and even ENJOYED awkward social situations this way.
For an instant, let Harvey be reborn. His negative stuff is a vague memory. We give him his freedom; he’s all possibilities; nothing has to happen; anything could happen. We’ve thrown a monkey wrench into the ‘Harvey’ section of Samsara’s Inner Library.
What do we learn?
Take a step back and ask, ‘What might we learn from Harvey-Emptiness?’ There are many of possibilities:
The Goddess made mistakes when she wrote Harvey’s story. Harvey has changed since we last met. WE’VE changed since we last met. Our negative judgements were in error. We didn’t understand his delusions, or out delusions. Perhaps Harvey was doing his best. Perhaps there was childhood trauma or old karma, his or ours or both. Maybe we discover Harvey’s beauty. Maybe we’ll re-discover his ugliness. Maybe he’s a monster. Maybe Harvey is a Buddha. Etc. etc. etc.
And there you go, Harvey emptified.
But there’s a downside. What’s damn certain is that after a brief moment of emptification, Harvey and I, will both slide back to our old ignorant ways. For Emptiness-of-People to persist, we have to practice it hundreds of times.
The upside is that we may get addicted. We’ll start emptifying Harvey and other problematic people without even thinking about it. Just imagine for a second that someone is a blank slate. It’s easy. We may even discover a divine desire for Harvey’s wellbeing, and unleash a wave of Bodhicitta.
Groups of people
The emptification-of-people also works with groups. Social situations involving groups of people ARE realthings. There’s a story, about the situation, and you are clinging to it.
Suppose you enter a gathering and find yourself overwhelmed with anxiety, paranoia and panic. This happens to me ALL THE TIME. Here’s a solution:
In your mind’s eye, emptify everybody. Mass-emptify the whole crowd (pretend you’re Harry Potter waving his wand). Keep the basic stuff like names and a shadow of past experience. Strip the crowd of craving, aversions, trauma and prejudices. Both yours and theirs.
Wave that wand, and set everyone free or a second. And this will probably work, FOR - ONE - SECOND. When the samsaric fear and paranoia rebuild, emptify everyone again, and again and again. I’ve done it say 20 times in a row before I got tired.
Say ‘EMPTY’ to yourself each time. I recently spent 10 minutes at a potluck repeating: ‘EMPTY EMPTY EMPTY EMPTY EMPTY EMPTY…’ AND IT WORKED! They’re not who I thought they were. My nightmare story was a big mistake. The situation was a wacky realthing made up by my inner Samsara, who creates my real world.
Are People Really Empty?
In other words, when we let go of our delusions and attachments, to a walking talking PERSON’S story, what’s left?
The cool thing about realthings, besides helping us to survive and prosper, is that they give us a glimpse of clear-light and the luminous void. (Remember, Buddha Nature and Samsara Nature are like two sides of a coin. You can’t see the realthings of Samsara Nature, without also seeing Buddha Nature’s luminous void.)
When we emptified a simple realthing like ‘finger touching table’, we caught a glimpse of swirling mysterious luminous void. That glimpse could theoretically take us all the way to Nirvana. (You couldn’t have gotten a good look at the mysterious swirling stuff if you hadn’t emptified your self for a split second.)
But when we emptify A SENTIENT BEING, particularly another person, the luminous void coughs up something else. It coughs up a tiny trace of Ultimate Bodhicitta.
Dang. Now I’ve got to define ‘Ultimate Bodhicitta’. It’s NOT ‘The Mind of Enlightenment’. The mind of Enlightenment is ‘Emptiness, Bodhicitta and Renunciation’. Ultimate Bodhicitta is a force of nature, like gravity or light, which shines brightly and nourishes our deepest sense of wellbeing, love and generosity.
Anyway, if you emptify a person, out pops a sparkling particle of Ultimate Bodhicitta.
Conclusion
I talk too much. Don’t forget to play the game. Whenever you’re feeling a twinge of discomfort in someone’s presence, emptify their butt for a second and see if it helps.
Thanks for reading.