Empty Vessels Make Fertile Gardens

Published on 2024-02-12 on Sebastian Mellen's Blog

In a world of more, be less. More space means more time for what needs doing.

Too much emphasis on the immediate, too little emphasis on the eventual. You are made for infinities and multitudes, yet you fill yourself up and become singular.

Focus on true understanding, and momentary illusions will disappear.

It is the emptiness within a pot that makes it useful, and it is the emptiness of the mind which makes it a worthwhile vessel. Anything already full cannot be filled, anything already complete cannot be finished. An empty mind is a useful mind, a full mind is a burden.

Clutter should be tidied, thoughts should be stilled. Cleanliness should be prized, emptiness should be honored.

Nothing is finished unless it is dead. Relish the incompleteness of everything.

Strive to make your mind more like a garden than a building. Leave space within it. Let the birds roam, let the air breeze, let the flowers grow and wilt, tend to it like a gardener, never forcing, always encouraging. Build a truss for the vine or a bed for the vegetables, but let the plants grow themselves. Your role is to make way.

Miracles unfold when help is given under no pretense. You cannot force anything to happen by willing it, any more than you can force a child to grow by stretching it. Nourish, and then step back. Return always to the beginning.