The void starts with the sort of negative self-impressions that were discussed in the beginning paragraph. These negative self-impressions lead to negative emotions such as loss, anger, and panic, as has been mentioned above. I want to be clear here: These and other negative emotions exist for a reason and are very useful in finding one’s way throughout life. Many dangerous things in life exist for a reason: much of human evolution would not have been possible without fire, chainsaws were a huge step forward for lumber and tree management, and explosives have been instrumental in the creation of tunnels, the mining of material, etc. The usefulness of negative emotions in general is to help us come to terms or cope with the changing world around us, at which point they are designed to pass once the scenario has changed or as time is put between the scenario and the user. Sometimes people have trouble letting the negative emotions “wash over them” and then recede, much as a wave might do if one is standing on the beach. This can be because the user rejects the negative emotion in the first place; they refuse to let the wave hit them and avoid it at all costs. But while they successfully evade the wave and stay dry, they don’t realize what they really need to do is let the wave drench them. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.) On the flip-side, this can also be caused by someone believing they need to stay drenched, so they run to catch to every wave that they see, and when the waves recede they lay down on the sand to cover themselves in as much seawater as possible and “wallow” in the pools.
The void can be reached through either of these methods. It boils down to thoughts and feelings that need to be processed not being processed, and creating what could be thought of as a queue in the threads of our mind. New thoughts cannot come in and be processed until the thoughts currently in the pipeline have been processed. It is difficult, if not impossible, (though nothing is impossible in the mind) to reach into the pipeline and take these emotions out. Even if it were possible, I would not recommend it. These thoughts must be processed to change the state of the system, even if only by a bit, in order for the new thoughts to have the most impact. Reaching “into the pipeline” and taking out thoughts we deem undesirable would require going back in time to prevent ourselves from going down that period of thought to begin with. This of course would require knowledge of the thoughts, which makes the point of going back to prevent the thoughts from happening moot, and so on and so on. It’s the classic time traveler’s dilemma.
So the void can be thought of as existing form all of these held-up, denied, or rejected thoughts that have caused the pipeline to come to a stop. These thoughts do not, cannot, just wither away and vanish. They are charged with energy, and as such bounce around uncontrollably when not allowed in the pipeline. These thoughts become fragmented, fuzzy, and distorted from the bouncing and the neglect, but do not lose their energy. This turns into the whirling maelstrom of half-formed ideas and almost-thoughts that can be thought of as “The Void”.
