All About Nothing

Nothing reminds me of this..

Something from Nothing

Perhaps no one has embraced nothing as strongly as the Indians who, Seife notes, ``never had a fear of the infinite or of the void.`` Hinduism has embedded within it, a complex philosophy of nothingness, seeing everything in the world as arising from the pregnant void, known as Shunya.

The ultimate goal of the Hindu was to free himself from the endless cycle of pain found in continual reincarnation and reconnect with the Nothingness that is the source and fundament of the All.

For Indians, the void of Shunya was the very font of all potential; nothingness was liberation. No surprise then that it is from this sophisticated culture that we inherit the mathematical analog of nothing, zero. Like Shunya, zero is a kind of place holder, a symbol signifying a pregnant space where any other number might potentially reside.

The earliest known example of zero appears in a Jain manuscript on cosmology from AD 458, though indirect evidence suggests it must have been in use in India as early as 200 BC.

In the 7th century after Christ, the Indian astronomer Brahmagupta formally defined zero and spelled out the algebraic rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with it. Yet the West was appalled by this enigmatic symbol when European scholars first encountered it via the Arab world.

How could you signify nothing? To do so was to acknowledge its existence, the very position early medieval thinkers had so sought to avoid.

well,well, well.......

i think that the author is a great philosopher -just the ``Ziggy`` kind which is i believe basically about ``nothing``(- no offence) and yes i actually do love ziggy .And my reaction after reading your article after reading was ``!`` and ``?``.

i have nothing to say about this piece.... nothing comes to mind since nothing begets nothing... even though anything would have been better than nothing.... yet sometimes nothing is better than anything else since it is the basis of everything and there are great possibilities in everything that takes the place of nothing...:)

Inspite of myself, I was amused. More so, I believe, because you admited that you had ``nothing`` to do when you wrote this. That, I think was the best part of the entire essay. It gave it the mocking intent that may have escaped the reader throughout the essay. I wonder if there was any real `philosophical thought` behind this when you wrote it... or if it was, infact, ``nothing``.
-Uzma.

PS. it`s actually quite a bleak way of looking at life, I do sincerely hope that there are not too many of us looking up at the sky and seeing nothing. :)

Rehan, recently saw a bumper sticker which read:
``To all you Virgins.... Thanks for Nothing``.

Clinton had a good joke on nothing. Speaking at the White House Correspondents dinner covered by C-span (yes,when I was doing nothing), he said he was sorry about the void to be created on Thursday nights with no more Seinfeld. He suggested people start watching Congress proceedings - ``now there`s a show about nothing!``

AZ

Rehan,
Interesting stuff!!! I can never say ``nothing``, without being reminded about your expose ever again..

Incidentally, the first thing which flashed across my mind when i read your title ``All about Nothing``, was the episode from Seinfeld, where George and Jerry are sitting in that cafe, trying to come up with a theme for their future new multi-million hit pilot series on NBC. Finally it was the down to earth and basic George, who comes up with the idea as to why dont thye make a show about nothing, where nothing happens. Jerry is initially hesitant with th concept of nothingness, but to keep his friendship with George he plays along with it, such that George who is already a complex-ridden incarnate will not feel bad. It was later when the director of NBC asks them about their pilot episode plot, George starts off passionately, by saying its about Nothing, Nothing happens, nothing passes, nothing changes,,, and i can still recall the expressions on the confused faces of bigwigfs from NBC....

Strange stuff nothing!!!! yet you elevated nothing to something with your expose about it.


Regards

Asim

P.S Seinfeld Rules oK. Shame its ending after a marathon run, this summer!!!!

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You raise some provocative questions. One is tempted to think that what differentiates us from each other is in fact our degree of ownership of ``nothing-ness.`` But then, one persons nothingness could be another persons somethingness, right?

For instance, a plane crash over the Atlantic means something to the person who has just seen off his wife and kids on a flight, and nothing to the chap flipping channels eating potato chips or rather nothing.

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(temporal`s note: the first three pagraphs are my inspired comments on ALL ABOUT NOTHING.

I enjoyed your line..``nothing is the basis for most things we do.``