Uit de leeszaal (60)

‘In western thought, space is empty and has to be occupied with matter. Time is empty and must be filled with activity. (…) We like our lives to be carpeted wall to wall. (…)
The Japanese describe empty space as kukan, which comes close to our understanding of it; but they also recognize ma, which is something very different.
There is little in any of the precise Indo-European languages, certainly not in English, to compare with ma. In that syllable is a guarantee of equal rights for the interval, an assurance that empty space and free time have their own value and integrity. Ma is an ability to see and feel space, which is perceived as an area of change, of hue and brightness. It recognizes the huge burden of meaning which is carried by small silences, and the fact that the interval calls for more, rather than less participation, simply because it is incomplete.’
[Lyall Watson, Heaven’s Breath, p. 271.]