Space

Space - what do you imagine when you think of this word. An open space in a field? A room? A private area? The world above the earth? Something sacred? Or might it make you think about how small and insignificant we are within the larger universe? Or how about particular space?

We tend to fill space with thought, activity, things. Take a moment and think of the space between two words. You can see it on this page but can you hear it? It requires attention to a small thing. Just say a short sentence out loud listening to the space between each word. It's a bit difficult. Now try a longer sentence such as this one:

There is perhaps no better a demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.
 Carl Sagan in Time magazine January 9, 1995 describing the pale blue dot image of the earth taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft 6 billion km away in 1990

 

Space exists when we look for it 

How hard was it to pay attention to the space between the words when you tried to grasp the larger thought? For me, I kept getting to that big picture that he describes. I really had to focus on the words to get the space.

This is a lovely way to engage meditation for even a few moments in the middle of the day or on the go. You just take that time to work through a sentence and hear, feel and engage the spaces between words. You can go further trying to find the spaces between thoughts. These are places of quiet and calm where a breath can be inserted - one that is focused upon. Breath is our life space.

The hypothesis of time

Is the space between two words

Silence can rule

And so can the rush of impatience

Love can be found there

Along with hatred and spite

It can be no more than a breath

But the space between two words

Is the universe

© Peter Choate, 2016