Befriending the void - by Sasha Chapin

We’re scared of the void, scared of what will happen if we stop asserting our existence constantly. We can’t sit for thirty seconds and just enjoy the presence of being without trying to fuck with it—not without a lot of intentional practice. So we continuously bat the void away with compulsive thinking, repelling oblivion with another opinion about something. This process of rejection is, in part, what we call our identity—the barrier we put in the way of transience. And yet, we get tired of this constant avoidance of unmediated experience. It’s hard to hold an identity together. So we take drugs, or drink, or chase adrenaline—in order to temporarily touch the void that we’re so tired of running from! These aren’t horrible solutions, I like all of these things, within reason. But you can also just get to the nub and learn to befriend the void. “Befriending the void” is one of the million ways you can paraphrase the direction that contemplative practice takes you. This is not a simple

We’re scared of the void, scared of what will happen if we stop asserting our existence constantly. We can’t sit for thirty seconds and just enjoy the presence of being without trying to fuck with it—not without a lot of intentional practice. So we continuously bat the void away with compulsive thinking, repelling oblivion with another opinion about something. This process of rejection is, in part, what we call our identity—the barrier we put in the way of transience. And yet, we get tired of this constant avoidance of unmediated experience. It’s hard to hold an identity together. So we take d