“I want to learn to do nothing. Be empty of attachment to things. To allow things simply to be, without my needs and projections.” ~ Natalie Goldberg, Long Quiet Highway (paid link)
Doing nothing is not easy for me. It’s not that I’m constantly physically active – far from it. I’m not a doer, but I am a thinker. What’s hardest for me is to give my mind some space. Yet, I firmly believe that cultivating a state of nothingness – which to me means being totally present, without preconceived ideas or expectations, is an extremely worthwhile activity.
It’s the state where creativity and right action is seeded.
Just as the ground in winter appears to be dormant, we know that there’s actually a lot happening underground. This time is necessary to prepare the way for new growth. The same goes for us.
I wondered how photography teaches me about nothingness. Last week, this article from National Geographic, What Does Nothing Look Like?, drew my attention. Photographer Murray Fredericks visited Greenland over the years 2010 to 2013 and photographed “nothing.” Take a look at his amazing photographs.
“What I’m really fascinated with is the psychological impact of a photograph. Why does a landscape image have such an effect on people? Even when it’s an image of nothing.” ~ Murray Fredericks, National Geographic
Perhaps the answer to his question is that nothingness is so pregnant with possibility.
His photographs make us pause and feel something. The paradox is that they’re really pictures of something. We just don’t normally consider bare land, space, and light to be photographic subjects.
Stopping the perpetual doing might also help us in our relationships with others and even ourselves. In his article, The Disease of Being Busy, Omid Safi says:
“I want my kids to be dirty, messy, even bored — learning to become human. I want us to have a kind of existence where we can pause, look each other in the eye, touch one another, and inquire together: Here is how my heart is doing? I am taking the time to reflect on my own existence; I am in touch enough with my own heart and soul to know how I fare, and I know how to express the state of my heart.”
If we take the time to practice doing nothing, maybe we’ll find our heart, or the heart of someone else.
How to Practice
* Take a pause in your day. Easier said than done. This is also called meditation. Start with five minutes and just be and observe your thoughts without judgment. Who knows? This could develop into a full blown meditation practice.
* Learn to pause and focus your attention before clicking the shutter. Know what you’re photographing and why.
* Practice photographing space or light like Murray Fredericks. Or, photograph nature in its quiet state, like the birds above. They teach us how to be.
* Take a daily rest. Again, just five minutes will do. Lie down. Close your eyes and give your mind and body a rest.
Is this something you find hard to do? Do you see the value in doing nothing?
Wonderful article and links. Thank you
Wonderful post Kim. I have been cultivating the practice of doing nothing since I retired in 2010. It is not an easy thing to do but slowly I have welcomed in the heavenly emptiness which, it turns out for me, is, as you say, “pregnant with possibilities.”
Wonderful and timely post, Kim. I find doing nothing to be challenging for me too — my mind is constantly buzzing. The “just five minutes” idea is useful — in fact I’ve been using the book, FIVE GOOD MINUTES, to start my day. Very helpful! Thanks for the links.
Such a beautiful time-lapse video and photography by Murray Fredericks. I can feel a state of nothingness when I practice Pranayama (yoga breathing) and at the same time discovering that I am complete without adding anything. Thank you for your thought provoking article and the photo of those birds on the beach.
The photos in What Does Nothing Look Like are Something! Even though they are barren landscapes of ocean, ice or sky, they are wonderful views that bring about emotions of wonder and awe and delight…especially to those of us that are open to seeing what is not labeled. Nothing is such an oxymoron. Doing “nothing” is still doing “something” as in meditation; we clear our mind to concentrate on our breathing which is something. Sitting anywhere alone, being still and quiet is something. I don’t believe that achieving a state of “nothing” is doable or real but being present and aware and being able to clear away all the clutter, noise and labels in our minds is worth the attempt to do “nothing”! Great post for making us think more about the art of nothing.
Oh, yes – doing nothing – keeping my mind from churning – is very difficult for me. Although 10 minutes of meditation each day is helping me learn to be quiet with myself. Thank you so much for sharing the work of Murray Fredericks – such stunning “nothingness”.
It’s difficult for me to do nothing, but I do try! And the more I reap that habit, the more I notice those around me who have the need to be busy all the time. I was there, too, once upon a time.
I enjoyed the series of images by Fredericks. Thank you for your thought provoking post!
A great read and reminder to the value not doing, and just Being.
“His photographs make us pause and actually feel something.”
I find that when I am really feeling something, I am really present. I am very much in the moment. Photographs of ‘nothingness’ bless us with that opportunity for opening to pausing and feeling, which leads us into our state of Beingness.
Turns out I’ve been photographing ‘nothing’ for years, although nowhere near as beautifully as Murray Fredericks does – these pictures are stunning. Western culture fails to see nothing as a positive thing, only an absence of something that it’s implied should be there – a lack, a loss – but in the words of the Tao Te Ching, ‘it is the empty space that makes the bowl useful’ – the emptiness, or nothingness, is a positive thing. There’s a whole lot of something in that nothing, and I think what Fredericks might mean by calling it nothing is that there’s no obvious subject and background. We often go looking for ‘something’ to photograph, meaning a subject that stands out in comparison to what’s around it. In contrast, everything in these images is important but it’s all of equal importance.
Thank you, Kim, for a thought-provoking post.