Nothingness & emptiness

We humans tend to think that we are special. We like to think that we are apart from and can control nature. We can never be other than nature itself and as such subjected to its laws of impermanence. There is no permanent unchanging self to be found anywhere. What is born must die. Aging, sickness, death and separation is our lot. Unlike plants and animals we are capable of intelligent thoughts and creativity, of love, kindness and compassion but also of the great cruelty and horrors. We create stories, concepts etc and believe them to be true. Imagine what would happen if "Earth" was to be struck by a giant comet tomorrow. What then is the meaning of life? No one has the answer but know only this: All is impermanent, unsatisfacory and not self. Nothing is to be clung to as me, mine or myself. ----------------- Emptiness The teaching of "emptiness" (shunyata) or "no-thing-ness," tells us the impermanent nature of all forms and states of being in relation to the five aggregates, and that nothing posseses what could be considered an enduring, unique identity. Insight into this basic truth leads to wisdom. The primary principle of shunyata is that everything, including the "self," is interrelated and mutually dependent, without inherent existence.