Emptiness

(From: https://tricycle.org)

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This one is interesting, here is my interpretation. Buddhist thinking says everything is “empty.” We assign values based on our experiences, studies, perceptions, what important people in our life tell us (especially as children when we have little or no “power!") 

Part of moving towards enlightenment is the ability to accept (and see) the emptiness in all things, rethink our perceptions, be careful with judgements, and then come to conclusions. 

For example, we have decided that recreational drug use is bad. We are told that drug use is bad (if not sinful!) There are laws against recreational use of drugs and an inordinate number of people are in jail for minor drug abuse. 

But over the last what, ten or twenty years,  thinking has turned to the benefits of medical use of Marijuana. 

And currently, recreational use of the drug is accepted in several states with more states removing the illegal status and releasing people from jail. 

Closely monitored dispensaries are opening and laws reflecting appropriate use of drugs are being made, like no driving or operating heavy machinery while under the influence of drugs, etc. 

So drug use is actually empty. It is what we, society, and the times we live do when we attach the value judgments!