Four combinations of emptiness and form
There seems to be four main forms of combinations of emptiness and form, in the way they show up in my experience.
Emptiness in the foreground, and form as absent or mainly emptiness
One is awake emptiness in the foreground, with form absent (for instance when there is awareness in dreamless sleep) or far in the background. Here, I am emptiness, and form, if present, is also clearly and mainly emptiness.
Fusion of emptiness and form, with emptiness in foreground
Another is awake emptiness in the foreground, and form present but slightly in the background. There is a sense of being emptiness and form, and of form happening on its own, including this human self functioning on its own, absent of any doer. There is a fusion of awake emptiness and this individual soul and human self, with emptiness slightly more prominent.
Fusion of emptiness and form, with form in foreground
A third is awake emptiness slightly in the background (as a context) and form in the foreground. This is another flavor of fusion, where I am most prominently an individual soul and human self, not separate from the rest of world of form, and I am also awake emptiness. There can be either an absence of a sense of separate I here, or a vague sense of I placed on this individual soul and human self.
Form in foreground, and emptiness not or barely noticed
And the fourth is through the typical ego filter where form is in the foreground, and awake emptiness is so far in the background that it is usually not noticed. There is mainly or only an identification with this individual human self, and the rest of form, and sometimes even awareness, as Other.
Labels: awake emptiness, emptiness, human self, sense of I, talking about