--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We should be empty of clutching, empty of…" description: "\"We should be empty of clutching, empty of self, empty of all the old ideas of substance. We should be ‘lost in the objectivity of world-love’, as I hav..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ba/don-cupitt-31574_brightness_we-should-be-empty-of-clutching-empty-of_1851048.png" --- # We should be empty of clutching, empty of self, empty of… ![“We should be empty of clutching, empty of self, empty of all the old ideas of substance. We should be ‘lost in the objectivity of world-love’, as I have elsewhere put it; or, perhaps better, we should let ourselves be only an empty space filled with brightness. Life lived like that is ‘eternal’…” quote by Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ba/don-cupitt-31574_brightness_we-should-be-empty-of-clutching-empty-of_1851048.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ba/don-cupitt-31574_brightness_we-should-be-empty-of-clutching-empty-of_1851048.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ba/don-cupitt-31574_brightness_we-should-be-empty-of-clutching-empty-of_1851048.png) > “We should be empty of clutching, empty of self, empty of all the old ideas of substance. We should be ‘lost in the objectivity of world-love’, as I have elsewhere put it; or, perhaps better, we should let ourselves be only an empty space filled with brightness. Life lived like that is ‘eternal’ life.” [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Letting go of personal attachments and fixed ideas opens a space for pure, luminous experience that feels timeless. **In simple terms:** Release ego and old beliefs to feel timeless, bright life. Key Takeaway Embrace emptiness to experience lasting vitality. Themes spirituality philosophy self-transcendence mindfulness Mood contemplative tranquil Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - meditation - creative work - daily mindfulness - artistic expression Key Concepts objectivity world-love emptiness eternal life Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance emptiness with personal responsibility? - What practices help maintain clarity without losing self? A Different Perspective May become overwhelmed by lack of personal identity or direction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brightness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brightness/) [Elsewhere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elsewhere/) [Empty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empty/) [Empty space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empty-space/) [Eternal life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal-life/) [Filled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/filled/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) [Lost Objectivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost-objectivity-2073242/) [Objectivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objectivity/) [Objectivity World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objectivity-world-2428219/) [Old ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-ideas/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) [Substance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/substance/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“Fifteen minutes shy of two o’clock. The thick of the night. The zone of lost objectivity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/fifteen-minutes-shy-of-two-o-clock-the-thick-of-the-night-the-zone-of/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [Why is it that, when we want to think outside the proverbial box, we often put ourselves in one? We gather our team in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-best/why-is-it-that-when-we-want-to-think-outside-the-proverbial-box-we/) [Charles Best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-best/) > [The old idea that words possess magical powers is false; but its falsity is the distortion of a very important truth. Words do have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-old-idea-that-words-possess-magical-powers-is-false-but-its/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [... we engage in politics because we don't know anything. This is clearly revealed in the way we go about it. Our parties exist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/we-engage-in-politics-because-we-don-t-know-anything-this-is-clearly/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [We owed so much to Herbert's ever cheerful industry and readiness, that I often wondered how I had conceived that old idea of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/we-owed-so-much-to-herbert-s-ever-cheerful-industry-and-readiness/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [I always fish out antique ideas, very old ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-leone/i-always-fish-out-antique-ideas-very-old-ideas/) [Sergio Leone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-leone/) > [The old idea that the joke was not good enough for the company has been superseded by the new aristocratic idea that the company…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-old-idea-that-the-joke-was-not-good-enough-for-the-company-has/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [When people speak of ideas that revolutionize society, they do but express the fact that within the old society, the elements of a new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/when-people-speak-of-ideas-that-revolutionize-society-they-do-but/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“The history of education is a seemingly endless parade of “new ideas” that are actually old ideas renamed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ravitch/the-history-of-education-is-a-seemingly-endless-parade-of-new-ideas/) [Diane Ravitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ravitch/) > [Sometimes an old idea gets relegated to the back of the line in the mad delight of a new idea, one you've never had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/sometimes-an-old-idea-gets-relegated-to-the-back-of-the-line-in-the/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Just as the line of astronomical thinkers from Copernicus to Newton had destroyed the old astronomy, in which the earth was the center, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-dickson-white/just-as-the-line-of-astronomical-thinkers-from-copernicus-to-newton/) [Andrew Dickson White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-dickson-white/) > [On tight money: It reflects a reversion to the old idea that the tree can be fertilized at the top instead of at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/on-tight-money-it-reflects-a-reversion-to-the-old-idea-that-the-tree/) [Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/) > [Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them… for really new ideas of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/cities-need-old-buildings-so-badly-it-is-probably-impossible-for/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-don-t-see-jesus-as-rescuing-the-fallen-i-see-jesus-as-expanding-the/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-new-idea-we-simply-take-a-lot-of-old/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More by Don Cupitt > [To love is to be vulnerable: if God loves, then God is mortal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/to-love-is-to-be-vulnerable-if-god-loves-then-god-is-mortal/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [“The reason why Jesus got into such severe trouble was that he tried to bring into the present a construction of the world, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/the-reason-why-jesus-got-into-such-severe-trouble-was-that-he-tried/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [To say that God is love is in effect to say simply that love is God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/to-say-that-god-is-love-is-in-effect-to-say-simply-that-love-is-god/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [The Servant who really studies his Master gradually becomes like his master; gradually learns that he himself is the one who in the end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/the-servant-who-really-studies-his-master-gradually-becomes-like-his/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [All life is dying life – including the life of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/all-life-is-dying-life-including-the-life-of-god/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [A God out there and values out there, if they existed, would be utterly useless and unintelligible to us. There is nothing to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/a-god-out-there-and-values-out-there-if-they-existed-would-be-utterly/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [I am suggesting that we can and do regain eternity when we are so immersed in life, in moral action, or in aesthetic contemplation,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/i-am-suggesting-that-we-can-and-do-regain-eternity-when-we-are-so/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [Capital T truth is dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/capital-t-truth-is-dead/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [“For it was only via the idea of God that we were able to develop all our ideas about a unified self, reason, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/for-it-was-only-via-the-idea-of-god-that-we-were-able-to-develop-all/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [Religious ideas such as the idea of God have functioned as regulative ideals for us to aspire after: we too could become unified and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/religious-ideas-such-as-the-idea-of-god-have-functioned-as-regulative/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [“Those who first acquired language and tried to think the human situation were utterly overwhelmed. They could cope only by imagining that there were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/those-who-first-acquired-language-and-tried-to-think-the-human/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [Remember that the past fifty years has been the age of the Big Bang cosmology. We have learnt to see all reality as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/remember-that-the-past-fifty-years-has-been-the-age-of-the-big-bang/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [A belief is made religious, not so much by its content, as rather by the way it is held.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/a-belief-is-made-religious-not-so-much-by-its-content-as-rather-by/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/christmas-is-the-disneyfication-of-christianity/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) > [“Nothing out there tells us how we must live: we and we alone can now with confidence knowingly trust our own hearts, and admit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-cupitt/nothing-out-there-tells-us-how-we-must-live-we-and-we-alone-can-now/) [Don Cupitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) [Explore all 16 Don Cupitt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-cupitt/) ## More Brightness quotes > [God's glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-grudem/god-s-glory-is-the-created-brightness-that-surrounds-god-s-revelation/) [Wayne Grudem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-grudem/) > [Only an empowered personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen souls to worship Krishna. By distributing the holy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvati/only-an-empowered-personality-can-distribute-the-holy-name-of-the/) [Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvati/) > [The studious silence of the library ... Thought is the thought of thought. Tranquil brightness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/the-studious-silence-of-the-library-thought-is-the-thought-of-thought/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Daily simple, sincere, and mighty prayers lift our lives to a higher spiritual altitude. In our prayers we praise God, give thanks to Him,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-f-uchtdorf/daily-simple-sincere-and-mighty-prayers-lift-our-lives-to-a-higher/) [Dieter F. Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) > [But woe to him, who left to moan, Reviews the hours of brightness gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/but-woe-to-him-who-left-to-moan-reviews-the-hours-of-brightness-gone/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [A joyful life isn’t about others; it’s about the brightness that is associated with being alive. Your path to it is through anything that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-beck/a-joyful-life-isn-t-about-others-it-s-about-the-brightness-that-is/) [Martha Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-beck/) > [Without good humour, learning and bravery can only confer that superiority which swells the heart of the lion in the desert, where he roars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/without-good-humour-learning-and-bravery-can-only-confer-that/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [For pain is perhaps but a violent pleasure? Who could determine the point where pleasure becomes pain, where pain is still a pleasure? Is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/for-pain-is-perhaps-but-a-violent-pleasure-who-could-determine-the/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [His form had yet not lost All her original brightness, nor appear'd Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess Of glory obscur'd.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/his-form-had-yet-not-lost-all-her-original-brightness-nor-appear-d/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [More than anything, one is struck by the light. Light everywhere. Brightness everywhere. Everywhere, the sun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryszard-kapuscinski/more-than-anything-one-is-struck-by-the-light-light-everywhere/) [Ryszard Kapuscinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryszard-kapuscinski/) > [Squeeze your eyes closed, as tight as you can, and think of all your favorite autumns, crisp and perfect, all bound up together like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/squeeze-your-eyes-closed-as-tight-as-you-can-and-think-of-all-your/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [Writing is to descend like a miner to the depths of the mine with a lamp on your forehead, a light whose dubious brightness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-cendrars/writing-is-to-descend-like-a-miner-to-the-depths-of-the-mine-with-a/) [Blaise Cendrars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-cendrars/) > [What a view, i said again. The river was blank and mindless with beauty. It was the most glorious thing I have ever seen.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-dickey/what-a-view-i-said-again-the-river-was-blank-and-mindless-with-beauty/) [James Dickey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-dickey/) > [It is no secret that the moon has no light of her own, but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/it-is-no-secret-that-the-moon-has-no-light-of-her-own-but-is-as-it/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Christ is already in that place of peace, which is all in all. He is on the right hand of God. He is hidden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henry-newman/christ-is-already-in-that-place-of-peace-which-is-all-in-all-he-is-on/) [John Henry Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henry-newman/) [Browse all 287 Brightness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brightness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We should be empty of clutching, empty of self, empty of all the old ideas of substance. We should be ‘lost in the objectivity of world-love’, as I have elsewhere put it; or, perhaps better, we should let ourselves be only an empty space filled with brightness. 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