Nature hates a vacuum so said Aristotle. And while science has disproved this theory in many ways, we still accept it. Did you know the earth is really flat and the sun revolves around us, because we are the center of all creation?
Human nature fills in the void. We drink down our cup of coffee and the apron-ed waitress refills it. If you refuse her, she feels scorned. Often, we intuitively know that we’re missing something. We can spend an inordinate amount of time in search of that missing piece. But what if the missing piece simply no longer exists? Why rush to fill in the empty spaces? Is there not a luxury in the vastness? Is it like a book missing it’s last pages or jigsaw puzzle with only 499 pieces? You endeavor to assemble the puzzle, picking up each piece over and over, turning it, examining it, trying it in various spaces. It is a lovely way to spend time, until you get to the end and realize that a piece is missing. You scramble around on the floor, return to the box, the closet, the shelf. While you can see the picture and you can imagine the final rendering, it is incomplete. The piece will never be found.
You read all the of a great mystery novel only to arrive at the end and discover the binding has been torn and the final solution remains unknown. You could imagine the ending, guessing at the villian’s capture and the hero’s valor and victory. But, often there is a twist at the end, an unpredictable outcome.
And you spend all this time committed to something only to find out that the cover of the box is a partial promise, because without piece #500, the puzzle is impossible. No matter how hard you WISH for something, that piece is non-existent. And who is to blame? The puzzle, for losing itself? The puzzle maker for picking a defunct puzzle? How can one know a puzzle is missing pieces? While there is some value in the leisurely pursuit of making the puzzle, it is the picture product that is the goal. And there may come a day, when the puzzlemaker is no longer consumed with trying to complete the unfinishable puzzle but would rather go play chess.