I walk through the fog. All morning my shoes become buckets. My hair snarls. A Japanese karesansui (dry landscape). Also
buckets. Then we meet.
The surface tension reminds me of grade school, dropping water on pennies.
Robert Creeley appears as I peer at the stones. An old silent man enters the garden.
then what
is emptiness
for. To
fill, fill.
I might’ve understood it differently, but today the water was reflecting
a now-blue sky which feel’d me with that clear filling for the first time.
I wouldn’t have known the answer until meeting the Zen bowl.
Question for you— Is the bowl open or empty?
Manifesting answer: Both.
For the past 6 months I have been studying “Reality Transurfing” by Vadim Zeland. You may have seen me with my nose in a weird rainbow tomb. At first, I must admit, transurfing felt a bit like magic; it’s now becoming second nature (much like my left arm).
While I am only 1/2 through the study, one concept has completely revolutionized my manifestation practice. Which is nothing more than how I vibe (feel all my feels) each day. This is the concept of EXCESS POTENTIAL.
Basically, I realized I was creating excess potential (too much damn importance) on practically everything.
Of course, anytime you are feeling anxiety, stress, overwhelm, disempowerment you will easily discover you’re placing too much importance on your reality. I have enough mindfulness to know when negativity is dominating my vibes. However, I also learned excess potential is very sneaky…
• Small things, like the right words for the sales email (wayyy too important, what if you get one word wrong?)
• Logistical things, the perfect flight and hotel for the vacation (too important, there are many incredible options).
• Love things, the gorgeous human high on the pedestal (the gorgeousness and the pedestal = too much importance, you’re never gonna’ climb that mountain of importance).
• Fear things, the insecurities stopping me from doing the truly great thing that would serve others (newsflash–insecurity is actually self-importance hiding in egoic disguise).
• Achievement things, my pride of ‘hard work’ (the importance of struggle… umm let’s definitely make that less important).
• FUN things, my extreme excitement to attend a certain party (yep, even too much excitement creates a balancing force that needs reckoning, slightly sad but true).
• And then, silly things. Like the organic allergy-free food for the cat (the cat will be 100% fine if it’s 11pm and she has to eat one bowl of grain-pumped food).
This list could go on. In fact, as I scoured my life I realized that EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that felt like “work” had a mountain of excess potential burying it. I also realized the bounty that was flowing effortlessly in my life had little excess energy & importance attached to it.
Zeland writes:
On an energetic level all material objects are of equal significance. It is we that attribute specific qualities to them such as good, bad, cheerful, sad, attractive, repulsive, kind, wicked, simple, complex etc. Everything in this world is subject to our assessment. The assessment itself does not create inhomogeneity in the energy field… EXCESSIVE POTENTIAL only appears in cases where the level of importance attributed to the assessment is excessive.
In other words – it’s your IMPORTANT beliefs; ideas; the things you think; the dreams you have about someone or something you want, that are actually keeping it continually out of your reach. When you really start to pay attention, you will realize that most things you MASSIVELY desire, have a cloud of excess potential floating around them.
Here’s where I’ve been going wrong: I thought a clear and energized (important) desire was the ultimate key to bringing something in. Now I realize the most passionate of my desires must be empty & open like the Zen bowl.
Basically, if it feels really important for you to obtain it, it’s not coming your way anytime soon.
Now in transurfing, one of the main tasks is to learn the art of recognizing and dropping excessive importance as you experiment with the idea of balancing forces—wherever excess potential appears, balancing forces must sweep in to rebalance the material plane. To avoid the whiplash of the rebalancing force, you goal is to be open & empty so the energy can fall through you.
We will now differentiate emptiness from openness.
A few years ago, someone made me the subject of their doctoral study. I sat in hours of interviews, took tons of personality tests & other psychological indicators only to learn that the weirdest thing about me is I fall in the 98th percentile of human Openness.
‘Openness to Experience’ is a psychological indicator that requires 6 dimensions to be present & developed:
1. Imagination (fantasy for ideals)
2. Aesthetic sensitivity (creativity, love of art)
3. Attentiveness to inner feelings (strong emotionality)
4. Adventurousness (preference for variety)
5. Intellect (likes curiosity & challenge)
6. Liberalism (loves unconventional ideas (not a political party affiliation))
Now. A strong developed openness is (I believe) absolutely key to manifestation. Watch how these 6 traits correspond positively to a manifestation skill set:
1. Imagination (fantasy for ideals)
• You’re not afraid to go for the gold…. The ideal thing you want. YOU CAN VISUALIZE IT. You do believe it’s possible.
2. Aesthetic sensitivity (creativity, love of art)
• Ability to harness ideas, play, and create ways to your manifestation. To feel the beauty & coherence of a stunning co-creation. You love the art of it. Not afraid to make it your own.
3. Attentiveness to inner feelings (strong emotionality)
• You can follow your Energy-scale, because you can acutely feel your Energy-scale. (E-motion = energy in motion)
4. Adventurousness (preference for variety)
• When the weird impulse shows up, you jump on that plane or follow the strange pull off-&-away from your usual course.
5. Intellect (likes curiosity & challenge)
• You like to dive in & flesh out new knowledge. You’re ready to learn what you need to learn & grow the skills you need to grow.
6. Liberalism (loves unconventional ideas)
• Not afraid of fringe, woo-woo, unconventional ideas (such as manifesting itself).
As my testing indicated, I resonate strongly with these characteristics. I’ve always felt open to new ideas, experiences, adventures, teachings, transmissions, ways of being, etc. In fact, I make a point to greet each day with an open curiosity about what could appear in my energy field. BTW—I always follow the good-feeling impulse. BUT, even with ALL this openness to experience I was still not open to receiving my long-sought manifestations.
While openness is certainly an aspect of letting things in (like the top of an open bowl), I understood something new as I stared at the Zen bowl—emptiness.
If you’re a true-blue manifestor I know you’ve heard Abraham say: It’s as easy to create a button as a castle. So, do you want to create your castle?
Enter: emptiness.
Lao Tzu, the Chinese philosopher behind Taoism, once said:
If you want to become full
Let yourself be empty.
Emptiness (as I have been learning) is distinctly different from openness in one marvelous way.
Emptiness feels more like you are a frequency container (it’s TRULY ready to hold the specific frequency it was made for (& when combined with openness – you are able to allow anything not made for this container to pass right through) emptiness is the subtle art of holding with care.
After all, if you want tea, if you want water (if you want wine or blue sky) you will need something to hold it.
I realize this may sound a bit cryptic, but stay with me…. I am about to decode this transmission.
Please consider the following words by poet Jack Spicer:
I think that the first thing of becoming a poet [a maker] is a kind of spiritual exercise, and it’s emptying yourself as a vessel.
A vessel.
A container.
An ocean floor.
A river bed.
A tea cup.
A palm.
All of these examples contain a supportive structure. A steadiness. A limit. You must be ready to support the reception. To gently let it linger & flow. To hold it with care. ARE YOU TRULY READY TO HOLD WHAT YOU WANT? Because if you’re not, it won’t show up.
HIGHLY OPEN HUMANS are very skilled at letting the energy fall through. The bad energy AND the good energy. The entire experience falls through. We are open on both poles. Crown and root. We love the fall. We love the rise. We love the fall. We love the rise. As I pondered the zen bowl I realized, I have not been ready to hold what I want. YES, I have been open, but I have been bottomless. I could see now, that openness, unmatched with emptiness, is the slip I have been feeling.
OPENNESS—use this strategy when you need to let something in. Be vulnerable. Be ready. Be available.
Also use this strategy whenever you’re bumping up against negative emotion, let it openly pass through you.
EMPTINESS—use this strategy when you desire to enter the full embodiment of the next thing. The new structure. The new grid. Emptiness is spiritual architecture. You’re ready to hold, nourish, & grow the unknown dimension & plane.
Emptiness is ALLLLL about the grid of reception. RECEIVE my people. Let yourself contain love, riches, happiness. Be filled.
Emptiness is a new space I’m inhabiting. A few months ago I let something slip I wanted to stay, again too open to contain it. As I did it, I was conscious of what I was doing (it was a choice of openness). However, I AM ready to hold. I am ready to not let something I deeply care about fall through. Next rain, I will be working my bravery & emptiness to let it stay, while staying open to whatever shows up.
❤️
You are all manifesting genies. Love to you my #beautyhumans, may your emptiness be with you.
xx
Art by Lucy Knott