Sunyata (Emptiness (& Enlightenment))

 By becoming empty, one becomes open to completeness.

"[T]he root of all suffering lies in the ignorance of clinging, the error of mistaking the relative for the absolute, the conditioned for the unconditioned. We take imagined separation as real, supposed division as given. By virtue of self- consciousness, we have an awareness of the unconditioned reflected in our conditioned nature, a sense of the real. But under ignorance we do not discriminate between the unconditioned and conditioned, causing us to confuse them and take the relative as absolute. "The error of misplaced absoluteness, the seizing of the determinate as itself ultimate, is the root-error."[116] Sunyata is the antithesis to this error, the antidote for suffering."  — Source

While I have been emotionally emptied due to recent situations, and feel completely hollow, yet completely open, inside, I also now sometimes feel as if I am so openly full of nothing that I am filled with the essence of Being. Although I am not without thought or have a blank, non-dwelling mind, by becoming empty I am now open and filled with the substance of the universe and reality, which is a necessary path to both salvation and enlightenment.

Illusion

 I am not completely empty or devoid of desire, for I still desire her with the essence of my being, but by so desiring I am a prisoner of suffering, which is emptying in itself (and for the fact that everything inside that I consciously and emotionally gave to her I no longer possess, like emptying a house of all furniture). What if the emptiness allows the soul and mind to become a pathway, an open channel to something greater, something more full, simply because it is no longer clogged—impeded—by feelings.

Surrender

Complete surrender and the annihilation of ego in recognition of the Self.

"From the standpoint of liberation, sunyata is the skilful means that disentangle oneself from defilement and unsatisfactoriness. The realisation of sunyata leads one to no attachment and clinging. It is the skilful means towards enlightenment and also the fruit of enlightenment." — Source

This is (a) key to transcendence.

One must unlearn in order to move forward. See "The Hanged Man"

Introspection 

"Absolute Subjectivity is not the ego subject, as in the dualism subject vs object. It is called Subject only because it hints that Reality lies in what now appears to be the direction that we call inward, subjective, towards the very centre of our being, a centre so deep and profound that it is God’s centre as well, we realize that it contains no dualisms at all, either that of subject vs object or inward vs outward. Here is the marriage of heaven and hell, and dualistic language fails us." — Source

"Who looks inside, awakens.” — Jung

Emptiness as pure consciousness without thought or desire and receptive to Spirit; freeing/emptying the mind from the concept of separateness and the externalizations of objects/people/things that are not-I. Free from desire, and by extension free from personal subjective mind and base human emotion of the ego, the unity of the wholeness is complete emptiness.  Pure consciousness.

Detachment

Enlightenment: being freed from the chains of human passion and desire, from base human emotion.  All emotion seeks to satisfy a personal, selfish desire. Unshackling oneself and emptying oneself of these things is being freed, enlightened. 

By not having complex emotions, one becomes childlike. Yes, children experience the simplest of emotions, but they are still emotionally empty, for the most part, and by freeing oneself of these burdens one continues on the path to salvation.  

"Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

— Matthew 18:3

Become like children: unlearn. 

Pure, simple being: A smile while gazing at a sunset, a sunset that becomes you, within and without, signifying nothing but what it is at that Moment. Nothing more. Staring "God" in the face.

Walk into the fire with your eyes open.

"Happiness and suffering inter-are. You should not try to run away from suffering because you know that a deep understanding of suffering can bring about insight, compassion, and understanding. And that is the foundation of happiness." — Source

~Selah




**Further Reading

Wherever You Are, Enlightenment is There

Emptiness is Enlightenment