Out of Nothing: Something

When you have nothing, you create something. 

I learned this truth during my week of meditation.  During that time, the only chance I had to get up and do something was when I had a meal break. 

Now, during this week, I couldn't go out for more food; I could only eat what was in my kitchen.  And what I discovered during one meal break was that my bananas and strawberries were getting too ripe.  Every other time, I would have just eaten the overripe bananas as they were, though all the while disliking them.  And I would have eaten the strawberries as they were, and by dipping them into tons of white sugar.  This time, however, I thought, "Why not combine the bananas and the strawberries?"  So I did.  And I thought, "Why not add milk and make a strawberry banana milkshake?"  So I did.  What before would have been an unsavory snack of overripe bananas and sugary strawberries, now became a quite healthy and delicious tasting strawberry banana milk concoction, no sugar added. 

That experience makes me realize that when we have nothing, we create something.  We go into ourselves and think of ideas and carry them out, and sometimes we do amazing things.  But when we have stuff already made for us, like pre-packaged food and movies and iPods, and we know we can just go out and buy more stuff, we stop working our brains so much; we become merely consumers.  And we consume and consume and consume.  But the problem with only consuming, and not creating, not producing, is that life becomes one big blur of consuming, without the chance to discover the things, or realize the things, or create the things that can give life even more satisfaction and meaning. 

I guess I just wanted to say that sometimes it is good not to have something.  It is that not having it that pushes you to create something else, and perhaps leads you to something better.