Abstract This article examines how the void in the Japanese garden of Ryōan-ji functions as an active affordance that expands imagination, challenging enactive theories that prioritize tangible presence. By integrating phenomenological analysis (Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty) with an enactive approach (Rucińska, McClelland), it argues that the void, far from a mere absence, fosters mental projection and reveals a dialectic between presence and absence. Ryōan-ji, with its minimalist design, demonstrates how structured absence enhances creativity, suggesting that imagination transcends the observable to inhabit the possible.