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Nothingness
By DaveS | June 29, 2008
Like the insatiable curiosity of child asking “”Why?” or “Where did that come from?”, people have been discussing and debating the origin of life for as long as… well, as long as there have been discussions. I recently came across a blog article by Bobby Revell that is titled Zen and Enlightenment I found most interesting.
As Bobby writes…
The argument I have with most religions, such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism is they seem to have an answer to life’s most important questions, like who are we and what happens after we die. It’s the same problem I have with atheism which also provides these answers to a certain extent.
Actually, yes. Most religions, and even lack thereof, do provide answers. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Some folks naturally want and need answers. They are comfortable taking that leap of faith not to mention filling the need not to feel alone in the universe. Could this be one of the reasons why religion was created? The need not to feel alone or unsafe and to fit in the grand scheme of things.
Naturally, this got me wondering. Was there ever nothing? Could nothingness have ever existed?
Almost all of the discussions, hypotheses, debates, etc. I’ve come across require a “something” to exist in order for the subsequent chain of events to take place. Much like a tumbling row of dominoes with each successive domino relying on the previous to fall. An infinite row? Even an omnipotent being such as God would be “something”. Can or could nothingness have ever existed and if so, how can something have come from nothing?
Here’s an article from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for anyone who might be interested in reading more about nothingness. Not a light read but quite interesting nevertheless.
Well, I suppose I should get up and do something. Doing nothing has a tendency to annoy my wife when the something that I am currently doing doesn’t involve doing chores.
Topics: Philosophy | 4 Comments »
4 Responses to “Nothingness”
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July 12th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Alright Dave, you have comments turned on! Thanks so much for the link. In the Zen philosophy, nothingness is what the entire thought process is based on. Think of it like this: everything has an opposite…right? Therefore, the whole of reality also has an equal opposite – the other side of the coin. It is known as “the void”. So yes, nothingness exists. Or…nothing exists, all things are becoming.
I respect all religions and think it’s generally a good thing to have in your life. I am a very spiritual person, and I do believe in God, though I am not really religious.
Anyway, very good post 🙂
July 12th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Hey Bobby! Thank you.
Yeah, in order for there to be “something” there would also have to be a “nothing”.
For me, there has always been more questions than answers for each answer tends to lead me to another question.
A shadow is a nothing that exists. If there was nothing between 2 objects then they would be touching, there would be no space therefore the nothing could not exist in the first place. But what if that nothing was a shadow?
I gotta stop reading that article from Stanford. 🙂
Dave
October 19th, 2011 at 12:02 am
Hi Dave, atheism does not provide any answers to anything except the question: does god exist? According to what I’ve read during my debates with atheists, it is simply the lack of belief in God/Allah. Atheists can have a very wide range of beliefs Raelian atheists for example believe that we were created by aliens, they do not believe in god therefore they are atheist. Similarly many buddhist/hindu sects are atheist as well but they believe in the concept of karma and reincarnation. Atheism is not a belief system or religion in itself in fact it may even be a part of a religion.
October 19th, 2011 at 9:26 am
Hi Yasmin. Well, if athesim does provide an answer to whether or not God exists, and who or what may or may not have created their existance, it is indeed providing answers to some… my opinion.