We take nothing for granted. Let’s try that again. We take nothing for granted. We like explanations, comprehensible explanations. Yet, we accept nothing without much ado. In math we call it “zero.” Nothing. Let’s provide a synonym: Emptiness. How many cupcakes are on the empty dish? Zero.
It seems easy for us to accept both the concept and the symbol 0, so we really do take nothing for granted unlike the Greeks and other ancients who argued over the existence of nothing. The concept must have been difficult for them. It wasn’t until 1,500 years ago in India that śūnyatā, the concept of emptiness, became a useful symbol among mathematical symbols.
Imagine all those centuries of struggling with nothing for nothing, that is, with nothing to represent nothing. It’s really a telling tale. We steep like a teabag in something, a world of somethings. Even in relatively empty outer space, we imagine a containing universe, not a containing nothing. Why should we, then, bother with a representation of nothing?
Quick, remember the number line? How do you get from 1 to -1. You have to count the mark where the zero lies. So, 1-2=-1. For you that is an easy subtraction problem, but think of explaining it to the ancients. They had no zero. They were befuddled by the concept of nothing. You take it for granted.
Now, look at the void in your thought. Place is what you know. Place is something. Picture no place. That’s what the ancients went through.
Why am I making a big deal about nothing? It’s more about conceptualizing than it is about nothing. You take for granted that nothing is something you can deal with, at least mathematically. Look around. There are those who can’t conceive the importance of your special somethings because they can’t accept the principle of their existence. Similarly, you might think others are overly concerned about “nothing” because you, like the ancients trying to understand the concept of zero, can’t understand the importance of “nothing” from another’s perspective. Where you see emptiness, another might see a useful concept or an actual something.
It seems easy for us to accept both the concept and the symbol 0, so we really do take nothing for granted unlike the Greeks and other ancients who argued over the existence of nothing. The concept must have been difficult for them. It wasn’t until 1,500 years ago in India that śūnyatā, the concept of emptiness, became a useful symbol among mathematical symbols.
Imagine all those centuries of struggling with nothing for nothing, that is, with nothing to represent nothing. It’s really a telling tale. We steep like a teabag in something, a world of somethings. Even in relatively empty outer space, we imagine a containing universe, not a containing nothing. Why should we, then, bother with a representation of nothing?
Quick, remember the number line? How do you get from 1 to -1. You have to count the mark where the zero lies. So, 1-2=-1. For you that is an easy subtraction problem, but think of explaining it to the ancients. They had no zero. They were befuddled by the concept of nothing. You take it for granted.
Now, look at the void in your thought. Place is what you know. Place is something. Picture no place. That’s what the ancients went through.
Why am I making a big deal about nothing? It’s more about conceptualizing than it is about nothing. You take for granted that nothing is something you can deal with, at least mathematically. Look around. There are those who can’t conceive the importance of your special somethings because they can’t accept the principle of their existence. Similarly, you might think others are overly concerned about “nothing” because you, like the ancients trying to understand the concept of zero, can’t understand the importance of “nothing” from another’s perspective. Where you see emptiness, another might see a useful concept or an actual something.
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