How to Use the Creative Power of the ‘Space Between’

A teaching about timing and blessing for maximum results

Have you heard of ‘the space between?’

I had not. But when I read about it last night, I had a eureka moment.

No, I did not get up and run naked down the street. There’s a pandemic going on after all! But I got and still am excited.

What is the space between?

According to my new buddy, Greg Braden, in his book, Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer:

There’s a power that lives in the space ‘between,’ that subtle instant when something ends and what follows hasn’t yet begun. From the birth and death of galaxies to the beginning and ending of careers and relationships, and even in the simplicity of breathing in and out, creation is the story of beginnings and endings: cycles that start and stop, expand and contract, live and die.

Regardless of scale, between the ‘beginning’ and the ‘end’,’ there exists a moment in time when neither one has funny happened. That moment is where magic and miracles come from! In the instant of between, all possibilities exist and none have been chosen. From this place, we’re given the power to heal our bodies, change our lives, and bring peace to the world. All events originate from this powerful, magical moment.

Wow! New to me information full of possibilities. Can’t wait to test it myself. But first, let me explore a bit more.

Braden believes this concept is part of the ancient wisdom of indigenous peoples modern civilization tends to discount. He’s made it his mission to explore them at their depth, match them up with comparable understandings from quantum physics and share them with us through his writing and teaching. I’m all ears.

The Mystical Magic of Dawn and Dusk

Every twenty-four hours, the rotation of our beloved planet Earth gifts us two ripe experiences of space between. The moment immediately after the sun disappears below the horizon and the moment right before it reappears again at sunrise.

These are twilight moments, neither night nor day, but moments of suspension between the two. Tradition suggests that an opening occurs in which profound truths may be realized, healings happen, and prayers have their greatest power.

This explains why they get up early in convents, monasteries, and other spiritual communities to pray right before daybreak. And again at eventide with vespers. Here I thought it was for the softness and relative quiet as well as the exquisite beauty of the sky’s light.

Anthropologist Carlos Casteneda called this opening a crack between the worlds, in his book A Separate Reality. It’s an access point into the unseen realms of spirits, demons, and power.

Adding Quantum Physics into the Mix

Scientists are discovering that our seemingly solid world ‘ain’t necessarily so.’ At the atomic level, matter is more space than anything else.

Similar to the way moving pictures are composed of a series of still shots moving by so quickly our minds connect the dots, life also occurs as tiny, quick burst of light called quanta. Our brains synthesize these pulses to create the continuous action we see all around us.

This is a key to our healing capacity.

For one burst of light to end before another starts, there must be a moment in between. This is the creative sweet spot where for a brief instant, nothing happens and everything is possible. According to Branden, this is the place where feelings and prayers become the blueprints of life.

Here goes on to say:

The key is that our emotional state during prayer determines the kind of blueprint we create. Knowing that the Field is a reflection of our inner beliefs, we must find a way to clear our hurt and anger before we pray. If we think about this, it makes perfect sense. After all, how can we expect the MInd of God to reflect healing and peace if we’re feeling fear and hurt?

I call this manifesting principle, feel the change you want to see. Given our state of Oneness with all, including the Divine, and our co-creative powers with the Divine, it behooves us to do our clearing work first, and then enter into prayer.

How is that done?

Through the blessing of blessing!

Braden gives us a lesson on blessing derived from the Gospel of Thomas’ take on Jesus’ teaching: Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. (Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Luke 6:28)

This goes against the grain of our emotional reactions to life’s hurts and injustices. We want to lash out, fight back, get even. Or at least, scream, cry, pound a pillow to release the energy of the agony — which I recommend so we don’t lodge it in our bodies to wreak havoc later.

The Gospel of Thomas puts it this way: If you bring forth that which you have within you, it will save you. If you do not, it will destroy you.

To bring forth that pain, to get to a clean, clear place where we can invite healing, peace, and love into our lives, try this practice of blessing the pain and its inflictors as well as ourselves.

It comes with three-part instructions:

Bless those who suffer: This is obvious. Say a blessing for the ones who suffer, ourselves, others, or both. It can be a small ouchie or a huge disaster or catastrophe — police killings, shootings, earthquakes and hurricanes, war, famine, the rape of the planet, etc. You get the idea.

Bless who or whatever causes the suffering: This may run counter to our feelings, but this is the teaching. This is where our Oneness comes into play. If we are indeed all One, we are just as much part of the cause as well as the victim.

When enough of us get this, the paradigm will shift.

Blessing, like forgiving, does not mean condoning.

It means sending healing energy to — and no one needs healing more than perpetrators. We know hurt people inflict hurt on others. That’s the nature of trauma response. Accepting this is hard, but healing.

There but for the grace of Goddess go we.

Bless those who witness the suffering: This could be us. We witnesses, shocked and stunned by the horrific events, ask how could this happen?

We’re trying to make sense of something that does not make sense. So don’t even try. Instead, pray it up. Let’s confer blessings upon all those involved, including witnesses, bystanders, and the ones left picking through the rubble after the earthquakes and heart quakes of our lives.

The beauty of this practice is, we can bless and pray any time.

But remember the power of the space between.

Let’s tap into the energy available to us at these juicy times — pre-dawn and sunset. Great times to enter the stillness and the softness, witness nature at her most resplendent and most open. Speak your word into the crack between the worlds!

I’ll meet you there in prayer. Namaste!

Marilyn Flower writes political humor and satire to delight socially and spiritually conscious folks. She’s a regular columnist for the prison newsletter, Freedom Anywhere, where she writes about faith and prayer. Five of her short plays have been produced in San Francisco. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Stay in touch!