In the literature there are several degrees of emptiness, but emptiness is something that you "find" as you progress through the path. People make this mistake

In the literature there are several degrees of emptiness, but emptiness is something that you "find" as you progress through the path. People make this mistake where they think the quest for emptiness where one does not feel anything. From my understanding, the closer you are to emptiness the less afflictions you have. This is extremely useful. To bring your point home, the happiest people I know are the ones who are less afflicted, mostly due to their meditation practice. Of course, meditation practice varies wildly across the board, as well as the quality of the technique, teachers, practitioner, etc.