The elements of a symbol are defined only by the
space that is a part of its construction. Like the wind, the effect of
space is gauged by its effect on the things within it or surrounding it.
The concept of space, the void, is a profound part of our experience.
To reach a state of “emptiness” is, for many, the ultimate spiritual
experience and a way of connecting to the Absolute. When John Lennon
wrote “Imagine,” whose lyrics gradually strip away the trappings of the
material world, it was this idea that inspired him.
To be aware of the possibility of space within a flat,
two-dimensional representation is to give that shape substance and a
new kind of reality that lifts it off the page and makes it real. Space
is not flat and cannot be confined by lines on a piece of paper. The
page and the shape on it do not exist in isolation, but are a part of a
greater cosmos. This book and you, the reader, are a part of this
equation.
The concept of zero is a space. Indeed, the
realization that “nothing” can be “something” marked a profound leap
forward in man’s development. All creation myths begin with a Void,
symbolic of potential.
Although attempts to explain the
concept of space are inevitably faulty, it might help to think of a
blank page. Before a mark is made upon the paper,
the potential for what might appear there is so vast as to be
unimaginable, a consideration which causes consternation for some
artists and writers. Without this space, there is no arena for anything
else to exist. This absence of any thing means that no thing is the most
important symbol in the World.