The value of negative space
Photograph by Karolina Grabowska via Pexels
Rev. John Zehring
My wife has been taking classes in drawing where she is learning about the use of negative space in art. Negative space is what it sounds like: it is what is not the object. One artist and photographer described it this way: “Negative space is the space around and between the subject of an image. Negative spaces are actual shapes that share edges with the positive shape. Just as important as the object itself, negative space helps to define the boundaries of the positive space and brings balance to a composition. Seeing negative spaces involves learning to see in a new and abstract way.” Another pointed to the value of negative space: “This compositional technique involves using empty spaces around the main object to create balance and enhance compositional harmony.” For an artist, the benefits of using negative space are to create balance, define boundaries, help the viewer focus, enhance harmony, and simplify what is viewed. Next time you look at art, see if you can identify the negative space.
Music is similar. Most musicians can play the notes that are written, but as Austrian pianist Artur Schnabel noted, “the pauses between the notes…that is where the art resides.” Negative space. When I taught public speaking at a university, the students and I examined great speeches where the speakers mastered the art of using pause and silence. When a speaker comfortably pauses the words and intentionally employs moments of silence, listeners lean forward, eager for what comes next. Skilled interviewers and journalists do the same: after posing a question and receiving an answer, the interviewer will make eye contact with the interviewee, pause, perhaps nod, maybe use a hand gesture to indicate that more is desired, and then instead of the interviewer talking, it is the interviewee who fills the silence. Skilled fundraisers or sales representatives likewise use silence to their advantage: once they have “asked for the order,” they have a saying that the next one who speaks loses. Actually, it is not a matter of winning or losing, but simply allowing the person who is asked to act to reflect, process, and respond without interruption. Counselors too know the value of not talking too much but allowing silence to prompt the counselee to continue speaking. Those who are skilled at producing publications intentionally use what they call “white space,” where there are no words or images. White space, like negative space, aids the person viewing the publication to focus, simplify, define balance, and understand boundaries.
If negative space so benefits art, music, publications, talking and listening, imagine how much it must benefit the soul. One of the finest expressions of negative space for the soul which I have encountered comes from Thomas Moore, a psychotherapist, former monk, and author of the New York Times bestseller “Care of the Soul” (1992). Moore wrote, “At the sight of nothing, the soul rejoices… Withdrawal from the world is something we can, and perhaps should, do every day…Just as a loaf of bread needs air in order to rise, everything we do needs an empty place in its interior.”[i] Long before the current threats to justice and abolishment of regulations to protect the vulnerable, Moore observed “Our heads are crammed with information, our lives busy with activities, our cities stuffed with automobiles, our imaginations bloated on pictures and images, our jobs burdened with endless new skills, our homes cluttered with gadgets and conveniences. We honor productivity to such an extent that the unproductive person or day seem a failure.”[ii] Many of my friends who advocate and labor for justice and fairness for all people could benefit from Moore’s encouragement to engage in some nothingness and withdraw from the world, not to avoid responsibility but to reemerge with renewed energy, insight, and focus. Negative space can lead to renewal.
If negative space so benefits art, music, publications, talking and listening, imagine how much it must benefit the soul.
People of faith who are deeply about justice, inclusion, equality, and the care of all God’s children, especially those on the margins, have plenty to be angry about these days. Our anxiety level can glow white hot. We have a leader who relishes shocking and startling with dramatic violations of norms and good sense. Many are being rounded up or deeply affected by his rapid-fire changes. Some might say that democracy itself is being threatened and the values of our nation undermined. It can make people who care want to shout, cry, protest, resist, or avoid the news altogether out of a confusion about not knowing what to do or how to respond. We want to yell loudly that this will not do. I have noticed that people who care deeply can become off-centered or overwhelmed, and think we might be well-served to seek some negative space in our lives. There is a need for moments of not responding, but of simply allowing negative space in our lives to restore our sense of balance, harmony, and focus. Even more, negative space may lead us to recognize that this still is God’s world and that we are also citizens of God’s Kingdom.
I have a beloved family member, passionate about being busy and seemingly productive, a multi-tasking master at to-do lists. That is his currency, and so, his conversations with me inevitably are about asking me “What are you doing today? What are your plans? What are you going to do tonight?” I don’t believe it is his intention, but it can feel like I am being called to account for how I use my time. I have a different currency, and usually answer that being retired, I have changed the verb from “to do” to “to be.” I am being whatever I feel like being in the moment, and that may or may not lead to doing. I resonate with the Psalm “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10). It can be enough just to be, and to be still, and to do nothing important or productive to the eyes of others. My hope for the day is to rejoice and be glad, for this is the day the Lord has made. That hope often arises out of choosing to embrace some negative space in my life, out of which arises balance, focus, harmony, and simplicity, but also a closer and humble walk with my God, who becomes known and exalted out of stillness.
Rev. John Zehring worked in higher education for a couple decades and then served United Church of Christ congregations as a pastor in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. He is the author of dozens of books. His most recent book from Judson Press is “Get Your Church Ready to Grow: A Guide to Building Attendance and Participation.”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
[i] Moore, Thomas. Meditations: On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life. New York: HarperCollins, 1994, p.4.
[ii] Ibid., p.1.
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