After the Ecstasy, the Laundry...
Nothing. That’s what it is. Nothing. There’s no leaves, no flowers. Just the bare limbs outlining the sky like scribbles on a blank page, left there from when a toddler got ahold of the pen.
I feel like I have nothing to offer. There is nothing left in me.
There’s an old Zen story about how a student went to ask about meditation, and while in consultation, the teacher began to pour tea in some waiting cups. The student went on and on, gesticulating wildly about meditation and what its purpose was. During this discourse, the teacher continued pouring tea, until all the cups overflowed and tea began to wash over the side of the table. Feeling his robe grow damp, the student began to shout at the teacher, “Old man, what are you doing? Can’t you see that you’re pouring too much tea?”
“Ahh… so I am. And so it is with you, my friend. You are already so full of ideas, that there is no room left for learning. If you were empty, then you could learn something.”
Chagrined, the student realized the error, and wisely, shut up.
Does my bare emptiness mean I am ready?
*****
What’s Five Minute Friday?
A blog-prompt project dreamt up by LisaJo Baker, which you can read about here. The skinny is that you spend five minutes of writing, generally unedited (I correct typos, WAY too OCD not to do that, and set up links), on a prompt that she provides just after midnight via a tweet, then spread the word, and link up. Interested? Join up. Check it out.
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