A Story of Space, of Forgetting and Remembering

Once upon a time, long long ago, in the time before time, which is not so long ago since this time we speak of is Now, there lived a vast empty space.

This space existed everywhere, all at once, simultaneously. It was omni-present. Yet it had no substance or form to point to that we could say it is “here” as opposed to “there.” Indeed, it existed nowhere. There is nowhere we could really point to to say there it is, for it existed in no location, and yet it was undeniably here.

One day the nothingness of space wanted to create matter, a non-thing creating a thing, but it was puzzled with the idea of how it could put matter somewhere given that it was already everywhere. “Ah,” it realized, “I may be everywhere, but there is nothing here to prevent matter from taking up this same space where I am. I love this matter so much that I want it to be right here with me, so close that the two of us will actually be one. It may look like there is matter over here and space over there, but if you look close enough, you’ll see that matter is actually mostly empty space. I may look to be outside of matter, but I’m actually deeply embedded within matter as well… the sweetest and most intimate kiss imaginable. Form will be infused with space, inseparable from it. We can talk about space and matter, but they’re really both me. Ah, what joy. I’ll have a playmate to play with that will actually be me, taking the form of something else. What a glorious game this will be!”

and space very much liked the idea of this game, so it made it so.

BOOM!!

The Universe as we know it was created.

Infinity was Born

And space was happy, basking in the glory of itself as the infinite manifestations of the One empty locationless non-thing that it is. It itself is the source of all form, inseparable from it, intertwined with it.

And space went around thinking to itself, “Oooh, a planet. I am that. Hey, a porcupine. I am that. How shiny! A spoon! I am that! Oh look, a human! I am that too!”

Space found all of its infinite manifestations incredibly beautiful and wondrous, so amazing in fact that it wanted to look and look and look at itself and what it could be and do. It was a most curious looker. Space couldn’t really do anything but be with something, aware of its existence.

And so it was that the emptiness of space was simply here, being with all of its manifestations, including the manifestation which chose to call itself “human.”

Now this particular manifestation of space called human chose to have a verrrry interesting experience. You see, the “human” space that was looking decided to somehow forget about the formless aspect of itself and experience just the form, a transition from pure formlessness to both form and formlessness to finally only form.

And so it was that these humans began to experience themselves as only form. With this imaginative creative decision, space suddenly had the grand opportunity to experience itself as if there was literally something else, apart from itself. Wow! What an amazing new experience!

Separation was Born

“Here I am,” said the space-filled human, “and there you are. You and I are not one, for I am this form and you are that form.”

As these humans began to forget about the formless, they began forgetting about things like energy, universal presence, and the Source from which they arose.

And it was discovered that this experience was quite painful. Humans were very unhappy with this choice on some level, for it no longer was possible to experience such a sense of fullness and completion. On a very deep level, these apparently separate humans longed for a reunification with the Oneness that they intuitively picked up on within.

Slowly the formless began to be rediscovered. People discovered electricity. People discovered x-rays and gamma rays and microwaves… all these powers that extended beyond the realm of physical form. People intuitively picked up on some sort of larger power and argued over its nature. People experienced a sense of Love from within, but argued on whether or not it was purely a product of biological reactions or if it actually had some deeper home arising from this mysterious formless nameless something/nothing.

Remembering the Space

Over the years, some of these seemingly separate space-filled humans remembered that indeed they were much vaster than they eye could see. They were actually this infinite empty space arising as this person. In fact there was really no one here. It was really just this one nameless presence that had no boundaries.

“You crazy man!” other separate people cried. “You’re a looney! What are you talking about? Can you prove what you’re saying? No? Of course not!”

Slowly, bit by bit, one person at a time, more people began remembering about the space within them that they were never disconnected from.

They began to consciously experience a sense of nothingness that was full of everything, a sense of nameless and qualityless space that is full of everything that exists. They called it the pregnant void, and other mysterious terms.

“Everything is the same one empty non-thing,” said these people who remembered. “I can’t tell you what I am, for all that I could say arises within what I am. I can only point the way. You must remember for yourself what you actually are. It is the only way for you to truly know.”

“I don’t get it,” said the people who had not yet remembered, “but something sounds amazingly familiar about what you have to say. Something rings true about this. Let me see for myself what you are talking about.”

and so they began practicing a multitude of techniques in the hopes that they could discover what is already here. They began hoping for a particular experience of what they are, or to create something new… when the reality is that what they have been looking for, the vast emptiness of space, has been here all along.

As the restless seeking and searching began to subside, there was a resting that arose in its place, creating a space for the emptiness that simply IS to recognize itself.

“Ah, yes, THIS! This has been here the whole time. It never went anywhere. This sense of something that was missing from my life was actually here all along! What a deep sense of completion and fulfillment in a very non-human sense that is present. It is beyond what we call human, resting in and as something so much more.”

and so this space, which used to look at the different manifestations of itself and think that it literally WAS that as opposed to anything else it could look at, began to reawaken into its deeper nature, consciously remember its true infinite depth.

There is an infinite presence here, but it is no one. It is no thing. It is empty. and yet it is everything. It is everywhere. It lacks nothing for it is the infinite everything. All joy, love, and peace arise from it. Where else could it come from? There is nothing else but it.

and this space began looping back upon itself, remembering what it really is, seeing its emptiness yet again, and reveling in the bliss of nothing.

This space that had remembered itself through a person, people call enlightened.

“What are you so happy about?” people asked the enlightened one.

“Nothing.”

“Tell me about God, the ultimate Creator of All That Is.”

and the enlightened one was silent. His silence actually was his answer. The silence of space IS the ultimate Creator. Any verbal answer is the created, not the creator. Silent space has no shape, no form, no beard, no name, no nothing. It’s empty. It is space. Empty and pure, and yet full of All That Is, inseparable from it.

This space that had remembered its innate emptiness would witness its human manifestation as a grand creation of this infinite space. This space would speak words through this body about returning home, and that our true home was here and now.

This space would speak words about how it is everything and nothing, both the source and the manifestation, the creator and the created, and that all dualities are really the same one thing… nothing.

Space could be nothing, everything, and/or just one individual. Wow… What an amazing play that space is putting on!

It was when space saw itself that it laughed. A laugh of recognition and remembrance.

“Just what I always wanted,” said space to itself, “to be everything and nothing, and I already am that. What more could I have ever asked for?”