White Space

What is white space? 

White space is a term borrowed from graphic design. The margins on a page, the space above a chapter title, and the space between paragraphs are examples of white space. In fine art we call it negative space—the space around the figure rather than the figure itself.

White space is a metaphor for space in our lives: the calm of a clean tabletop, the rest between appointments, the quiet after the television has been turned off. Like white space on the page, space in our homes and schedules creates order and clarity. It frames and highlights the essential. If all available space is filled, that which is essential gets lost.

We need wide margins to our increasingly over-scheduled, over-committed, over-stuffed, and debt-ridden lives. White space restores balance, and provides a refuge and a cushion. For the sake of our wellbeing, what is not is as necessary as what is. 

The Japanese have a word for such space: ma. Ma is not an absence or a lack. It means space filled with possibility. It is not the walls of a house but the void between the walls where life happens. If all available space is filled, there is no space left for possibility. This concept is beautifully expressed in the Zen parable of the empty cup:

Wishing to be instructed in the way to enlightenment, a scholar visited a Zen master. Over tea, the scholar expressed many ideas and opinions of his own about the subject. The Zen master poured his guest a cup of tea and when the cup was full he continued pouring until the tea flowed over the rim, onto his guest, and onto the floor.

In surprise the scholar exclaimed, “Stop pouring! The cup is already full!”

The master replied, “You are like this cup, so full of opinions that nothing more will fit. Come back when your cup is empty.”