Palliative care is ma-space practice. 1 Ma (negative space) MA is a Japanese word that can be roughly translated as “gap,” “space,” “pause” or “space between two structural parts.” The spatial concept is experienced progressively through intervals of spatial designation. In Japan, MA, the word for space, suggests interval. It is best described as a consciousness, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity, and the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from gain vision. MA-that's not what creates compositional elements, this occurs in the imagination of the person who experiences these elements. Therefore MA can be defined as experiential place understood with emphasis on interval. MA also has been described as “the emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise not yet fulfilled,” and “the silence between notes that make music” cf. Isaac stern review below. Other illustrations appear in this old poem: Thirty spokes meet in the hub, though the space between them is the essence of the wheel, Pots are formed from clay, however the space inside them is the essence of the pot, Walls with Windows and doors from the house, though the space inside them is the essence of the house. https://en.google-info.org/14904296/1/ma-negative-space.html 1Ma (negative space) MA is a Japanese word that can be roughly translated as “gap,” “space,” “pause” or “space between two structural parts.” The spatial concept is experienced progressively through intervals of spatial designation. In Japan, MA, the word for space, suggests interval. It is best described as a consciousness, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity, and the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from gain vision. MA-that's not what creates compositional elements, this occurs in the imagination of the person who experiences these elements. Therefore MA can be defined as experiential place understood with emphasis on interval. MA also has been described as “the emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise not yet fulfilled,” and “the silence between notes that make music” cf. Isaac stern review below. Other illustrations appear in this old poem: Thirty spokes meet in the hub, though the space between them is the essence of the wheel, Pots are formed from clay, however the space inside them is the essence of the pot, Walls with Windows and doors from the house, though the space inside them is the essence of the house. https://en.google-info.org/14904296/1/ma-negative-space.html It is a privileged praxis in the “between” spaces, the liminal not-yet, the don't know, the often unlit, unmapped “negative” space [as in photo negative] of serious illness and dying. This fruitful space is inaccessible to those seeking only verifiable results and objective knowledge. Ma space is the province of palliative care proper, and particularly of the spiritual care professionals and volunteers on interdisciplinary teams. The nurses’ aides, medics, advocates and academics who pilot this insurgent discipline through the in-between spaces of the canons/canyons of serious illness know it well and revel in its potential for intimacy and connection.