Spaces

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, as we approach Imbolc (1st February,) we are halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Signs of spring are minimal and yet something has begun to stir in the cool darkness underground. I think of this time of year being like that pause at the top of a ferris wheel, poised before it turns downwards, appearing to gain momentum as it goes. As the winter sky is still visible between the bare branches of the trees, it seems like a good time to notice the spaces in-between all things, to pay attention to the stillness present in the midst of the noise and commotion.

Image by Unsplash

We know that we are made up of 99% space and only one percent matter. While our bodies, the rocks, the cars, chairs, trees and all the stuff of our lives may appear to be solid, it is the dance and movement of the electrons which creates the illusion of solidity. What is mostly there is space. Easy to forget somehow.

I once worked through Betty Edward’s book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which teaches how to observe and draw what one actually sees rather than going by ones’ inner perceptions. Going through the exercises in that book markedly improved my drawing skills over a short time. One of the exercises involved observing a chair by drawing only the negative spaces in the chair; those spaces between the legs, the carvings or the struts. I chose quite an intricate chair, and concentrated for a couple of hours, observing the shapes of those spaces and drawing them, ultimately forgetting that this was a chair, just losing myself in drawing the shapes. By the time I had finished, I saw on the paper the shape of a chair, and yet I had not drawn one solid part of it. My brain felt like it had been tipped back to front. For the next half hour or so, everything looked quite different to me; I had a sense of the space in everything, including in myself.

Image by Unsplash

When I am overwhelmed by all there is to do, when I am fixed upon the content and events in my life, by what happens around me, by what is in the news, when what I perceive is mainly concrete and intractable, when I find myself tending towards despair, it is a sign that I have lost sight of the vibrant potential that lives in the spaces and the stillness. These are good moments to remember the space to matter ratio.

Snowdrops by Unsplash