It has been said of Frank Sinatra that his power as a singer was not so much in what he did with the notes, but what he did with the space in between those notes. In music, tones come out of nowhere and recede back into nothing, and their relationship with each other and those spaces combine to make up the body of a complete piece that moves us. There is no music without the space in between; it is defined by it. There are no words without the space in between. There is nothing that exists without the space in between. It is as integral and essential as the matter that defines our universe. The space in between is not empty, for too much goes on there. It is a place, however, where there are no distractions; a free space through which everything else comes forth as a result of interaction. Without it, we would be an immense, formless thing called the One. In one sense, the space in between is the glue that holds us apart. Out of that space comes creation. Within that space there occurs a sorting and assimilation of factors from all levels of experience; the immediate physical, the current emotional, the symbolic, and the accumulation of past experiences into an expression of a new moment. So much of this goes unnoticed, it is no surprise that a new thought often appears to come from nowhere. Of course that nowhere is the space in between where everything that is available to you both seen and unseen coalesces into a subtle shift that defines the direction of the next moment. Have you ever had the experience of discovering a new connection, finding a new way to see things, or seeing something for the first time within the context of the familiar? Where did those experiences come from? Perhaps it is an indication that the space in between is where thought becomes reality; the passageway through which energy becomes matter. No matter how you view it, the space in between is anything but a vacuum. And it is where co-creation occurs. Find a partner (or two or three) and stand a few feet away from each other. One of you will use your hands and body to define the dimensions and weight of an invisible ball. Make sure the other(s) can see what is being done, then, that person will toss it to one of the others, who will catch what is thrown to her, form it into a ball of a different size, shape and weight, and throw it back to another to catch. Was that a real experience? There is nothing in your hands at the beginning. Out of that nothing evolves a shape. To that shape is added weight. Once that ball leaves your hands, something happens to it enroute; the recipients interpretation of what you offered is imposed on that object and it begins to morph into something else. At first, it is an approximation of the ball that was first defined. Then, it gets translated from the vision of the originator into the vision of the recipient; essentially, run through the filters of the recipients life and his relationship with the moment. There is a point at which the ball is neither the originators nor the recipients. It becomes a unique expression of where the two meet. In essence, all interactions happen this way. An originating moment gets affected by outside influences and becomes a new moment. The acts of observation, interpretation, and response all take place in the space in between the illusion of empty time that exists between moments. The space in between is where everything that is in front of you is assimilated with everything youve ever experienced to that point in your life and pitted against the influences of the moment. Out of that relationship, something happens. The space in between is the place where you get the directions about how, what, where, and when the tools that youve been gifted with are to be used, and how they can be applied to the situation/person at hand. The power and effectiveness of what you do are determined right there. If what you choose to do doesnt work, where do you go? Right back into the space in between to find a new approach. The implication for the healer lies in recognizing that the space in between is not about the originator, it is about the new that springs forth from the interplay between originator and recipient. It is a by-product of that connection, rather than a reflection of one point of view. For the healer, working with the space in between means keeping it as uncluttered by self as possible. In that way, the special healing alchemy that results when two people come together can be allowed to come to full realization. |
