The Spiritual Void

 We had our discussion group tonight, and we talked about the spiritual void.  The idea behind it is that people often feel an inner void within themselves that can come from an insatiable greed or desire for external things. When people are too attached with the satisfactions of the external world (or the constant pressure to survive and succeed) then they will start to experience a kind of void in themselves and be terrified of it.
  I have a slightly different take on this, and that is not to take the spiritual void as a lack but more so as an invitation to the spiritual life. So often, people are terrified of that sense of lack that they hardly see it for what it is, namely as a form of decompression that happens when we experience times of non-striving, or non-satisfaction. These instances of void often fail to happen in daily life because we happen to be surrounded by many distractions that can take the edge off the pains of withdrawal and decompression. But once we are caught in the cycle of desire, the fear of lack becomes so much greater and more awesome than the actual sense of lack in and of itself.
   Taking walks and even being alone can be good ways to reintroduce the void, along with meditative practices. Acquainting oneself with times of non-progress and "not getting anywhere" can yield profound experiences, such as the realization that "needs" are really only wants. Once we stop believing that our wants are our needs, there is this burden that is lifted off our shoulders, and we start to see ourselves more for who we are, not all of our strivings and addictions.
   If we think about the case of someone with substance abuse, it's not hard to realize that the substance and its accompanying pleasures are just a mask for the fear of void. But this void is not a bad thing at all: it's an opening to an experience of non-striving. But because I think this void means that I lose my self, or sense of self, I feel panic and anxiety. I think that the void experience does need to be taken in small doses, to acquaint oneself with the differences between want and need, and to realize that the sense of self is not so solid and real that we will die in not having it around.