A Mind Like Space

We might think of the mind as being like clear, open space. All kinds of things can arise there, but the space itself is not affected.

The more we practise inclining the mind to notice space, the easier it becomes to actually open up some space in the perception and experience some relief.

Working in this way loosens the knots in the mind, and it also introduces a space so that you can start moving between anxieties and distractions and not struggle with them so much. Just staying with the questions, life grows calmer

In this regard, we could review the three principles of heaven, earth, and human. Heaven is regarded as space. It provides some psychological space in your state of mind, the sense that there’s enough room for you to work. The space of heaven is primordial mind, free from conditions.

Such an insight arose as a result of mindfulness, or of qualities like calm or investigation.

The Buddhists had a helpful analogy here. Picture the mind like a waterfall, they said: the water is the torrent of thoughts and emotions; mindfulness is the space behind the waterfall. Again, elegant theory—but, easier said than done.

About all this, for now, we simply want to point out that it can be very helpful, when the awareness is unwisely sucked in in this way, to pay attention deliberately to a sense of space.