Journey to the Void

So it has been said that there is a time and place for the void. Can we ever return whole from it? What is the void? The void is pain, the void is suffering, it is desolation, and it is nihil. Come with me and let us take this time to explore it, and probe the empty space of nothingness.
First stop along the path is deprivation. It is the shortest path to exploring the void. You enter its gates, and it is terrifying. You vow that as long as you have the power you would wish to never go without again. Deprivation takes so many forms it is hard to narrow it down, but allow for my part certain simplicity in dividing into two categories. Material Deprivation occurs when we are without the basic necessities of life. It can take the form of hunger, lack of clothing, or lack of shelter. With the loss of these essentials a true akin is felt to the impoverished. Hunger particularly is the easiest path to feeling the undeniable unanimity of the human experience. Once you have gone hungry once, you will wish that no one would ever have to go hungry again. Emotional or Spiritual Deprivation is the next one, and this one is a little more complicated to diagnose. It occurs when we feel cut off from humanity. We can feel victimized, alone, defeated or lost but they all amount to the same thing. We are deprived of an aspect of humanity. It is a dreadful pain, more acute and much more devious than some of the material deprivations, and it is also a lot harder to cure. The loss of humanity occurs in isolation. Some event triggers a mechanism in our mind to tell us essentially that we are not welcome, and not accepted. In such an individualistic society most of us who end up with this feeling usually lash out. A fierce cry against the absurd. The scars left from the emotional deprivation can last a person’s whole life. In some cases it can be the cause of the end of some people’s lives.
The next level of the void is occupied by pain and suffering. The young girl who feels disconnected from reality, who chooses to cut herself, pain is the only feeling she believes in anymore. The man captured by some U.S. secret ops forces, he is stripped and tortured because the men doing it believe his pain can prevent some pain of others. We suffer, we feel pain, and we become accustomed to it. In this level of the void, the people trapped in this part of the void experience a break with reality. The mind is constructed in such a way that pain is experienced in a systematic way. The first stage is shock. The individual is shocked by a sudden unpleasantness. The next stage is a prolonged sensation that is uncomfortable. We begin to feel cold. The third phase is the worst. In order to prevent the total collapse, the mind recoils back in horror, and the body no longer registers a sensation. This type of pain is the most insidious. Sometimes pain is the only true proof of reality, so when pain becomes the recoils sensation, and the mind no longer connects with the body it severs its most useful function. It no longer provides alertedness, but instead it wearily pushes us onto oblivion. Appropriately enough, the final stage of pain provides us with a very close experience to the deepest stage of the void.
The deepest stage of the void is death. It is the unequivocal ceasing of all bodily functions. The mind dies cut off from the blood pumped by the heart which has stopped beating. The skin grows cold, and the body becomes rigid with rigimortis. Death is the deepest stage of the void, but also the most peaceful. All pain and deprivation recedes into a cool dark sleep. We no longer feel alienated, or excluded. Death equalizes us all. It cures every illness, and it even provides the final calm in a life plagued by turmoil. Death is a beautiful woman clothed in black. Her skin is soft, and her touch is gentle. She has no voice. Death does not judge. It only embraces. We are embraced if only once in our entire life by this beautiful specter. This is also the most dangerous part of the void. Many who have spent too much time recollecting on death have drastically cut short their lives, and although life may be filled with hardship, it also gives us the chance to experience a range of being. With deprivation, pain, and ultimately death we still are given little glimmers of light. Like a chance to share a meal with those who really need it. The ability to help a person who can not walk to have their arm over your shoulder, to walk step in step, shoulder their burden. Or the glimmer of happiness a man can experience at the sight of a beautiful girl’s smile. Oh on this last one, I would take an infinity of pain so that I could see just one lovely woman’s smile.
Let us not tarry to long in the void. Let us leave. Do you feel more enriched? A deeper understanding? Do not speak. I ask for a moment. Let us bow our heads. We must have a moment of silence for those who were unable to make it out of the void. Some people will send a lifetime lost in deprivation, pain, suffering and death, without knowing the soft taste of a woman’s lips. I wish I could share their burden. I would give everything would that they all suffer a little less, and they all feel just a little less alone. Verisimilitude wishes pain to stop, and wishes the world to be engulfed in love and happiness.