emptiness
                                                                                                                          is a cupless cup
                                                                                                                          without shape
                                                                                                                          formless and lucid
                                                                                                                          luminous with light

                                                                                                                          precisely positioned
                                                                                                                          between
                                                                                                                          heaven and earth
                                                                                                                          where the space within
                                                                                                                          is completely transparent
                                                                                                                          unspoken, without words

                                                                                                                          where
                                                                                                                          a single raindrop
                                                                                                                          fragile and compliant
                                                                                                                          essential in form
                                                                                                                          falling quickly or gently
                                                                                                                          may be caught
                                                                                                                          and collected

                                                                                                                          to be seen
                                                                                                                          as a reflection
                                                                                                                          unstated in its purity
                                                                                                                          as a thought
                                                                                                                          arising out of
                                                                                                                          of our beingness

                                                                                                                          coming into being
                                                                                                                          faintly glowing at first
                                                                                                                          as the vividness
                                                                                                                          of daybreak
                                                                                                                          becomes brighter
                                                                                                                          and brighter

                                                                                                                          as we awaken to each day
                                                                                                                          each thought, understood
                                                                                                                          explicitly expressed
                                                                                                                          guided by wisdom

                                                                                                                          in the mystery, which is God
                                                                                                                          which is creation
                                                                                                                          which is infinite
                                                                                                                          which is reality
                                                                                                                          which we create
                                                                                                                          from ourselves

                                                                                                                          where we hold
                                                                                                                          with breathlessness,
                                                                                                                          many new beginnings
                                                                                                                          being and becoming

                                                                                                                          where we hold
                                                                                                                          each new creation
                                                                                                                          in the holiness
                                                                                                                          of the heart

                                                                                                                          arising out of
                                                                                                                          each sacred moment
                                                                                                                          of the day,
                                                                                                                          in the smallest of things
                                                                                                                          in kindness freely given
                                                                                                                          and unasked for
                                                                                                                          accepted with graciousness

                                                                                                                          in compassion found
                                                                                                                          in the strangest of places
                                                                                                                          almost alien in encounter
                                                                                                                          in grace given
                                                                                                                          out of our desire

                                                                                                                          to heal and repair each human heart
                                                                                                                          where all people
                                                                                                                          are one

                                                                                                                          where we empty ourselves
                                                                                                                          to become
                                                                                                                          as one






Ron Starbuck
from Wheels Turning Inward
Copyright 2009, 2010

The Kenosis Hymn - Philippians 2:5-8
Kenosis is the Greek word for emptiness.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death--
   even death on a cross.


In Buddhist philosophy, Śūnyatā (shoon-yuh-tah) is the voidness that constitutes ultimate reality. Śūnyatā is seen not as a negation of existence but rather as the undifferentiation out of which all apparent entities, distinctions, and dualities arise. Its full implications were developed by the 2nd-century Indian philosopher Nagarjuna and the school of philosophy founded by him, the Madhyamika (Middle Way), is sometimes called the Sunyavada, or Doctrine That All Is Void.

Genesis 1 (21st Century King James Version) - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 

The opening photograph at the top is of the South Reflection Pool at the World Trade Center Memorial site in lower Manhattan, NYC, taken on November 4, 2011.