NOTHING FROM NOTHING LEAVES NOTHING

 

Every concept and idea can be unraveled like a ball of string, leaving nothing at all. But there is no actual nothing left. The absence of self or things is not nothing, not emptiness, not some new idea that stands in for the loss of an old idea. If it is seen that the human interpretation of the story of being a person in a world of separate people and things is simply that, and has no substance or actual existence, you can’t replace it with some vague metaphysical or philosophical idea of something else or there is just one belief traded for another. This is the end of belief, even in beliefs. The end of knowing, even of unknowing.

What’s funny is that no one steps outside of the mind-made world to see or know anything. Even in the tale of events, or non-events, where time seems to stop and everything is clearly seen as never having been what thoughts claimed it was, at some point the body is like a bored teenager who says, “Yep, it’s all just appearances, there’s never been any one here, yeah, but I gotta go pee and what’s for lunch?”

The nonduality speaker who shares that time itself is imaginary will tell you exactly what time their talk starts and ends. There are only appearances, but if there are no non-appearances, we could call what appears any thing at all as easily as no thing at all.

The audience members labeled seekers sometimes quote little phrases as if they have gained understanding. One man writes me that he knows everything is unconditional love because a speaker he has followed for years says it is. When I send him a quote from another speaker he follows who points out that “unconditional love” is simply a label and there is no actual description that can ever be given to what appears, he is disheartened. He has lost a concept.

Some imagine that at the very heart or core of all of “this” lies some “thing” or non-thing called Emptiness or Nothing (the kind of nothing in which the “N” is capitalized). There are various processes of thought or intuition that lead to this conclusion, even if it is sometimes presented as being “beyond thought” (in which case please express it without language). But “nothing” is a thought, “emptiness” is a thought, and you will never find meaning in thought, nor anywhere else.

No meaning does not mean things without meaning, it means the very idea of meaning or its absence is simply a concept as actual as wondering whether you have an immortal soul and what its fate will be. This is not about a meaningless world, it is what happens when there are no things to have or not have meaning. And yet descriptions happen just the same. If you go to a building you call a restaurant you will still know what that means and you will know what a steak is and how to order one (unless you are a vegetarian, in which case you will know to order a kale salad). You don’t have to believe in a dream to act in a dream, and you don’t have to know what things actually are or are not to live, any more than a squirrel needs to know the definition of a tree or a nut or even a “squirrel.”

Some will still insist that this "nothing" or "emptiness" lies beyond the realm of thought and appearances. But as Robert Saltzman has said, “In my opinion, no one can know anything about "nothing" or "Emptiness." From my perspective, we cannot even know if such a thing exists except as an idea, much less imbue "nothing" properties. All we know is phenomena--what we see, feel, and otherwise perceive--and by definition we cannot perceive "nothingness."

We may say Nothing simply suggests that no source can ever be found, that behind the world of form we can find no actual “things.” Quantum physicists and neuroscientists might agree with that as well. But no one has ever seen or perceived “Nothing.” Even meditative or mystical states interpreted as emptiness or nothingness are simply ideas in thought about a certain perceptual reference point, even if it is one in which all of the usual references and interpretations are absent.

If you claim to know or feel “nothing” or emptiness,” that’s fine and dandy, as my Grandma used to say (“fine and dandy” I mean---Grandma never talked about nothing or emptiness). But those are just ideas, no different than someone feeling they know and perceive the presence of God behind everything that appears. Emptiness and Nothing are only human mental concepts. They have no meaning except in the imaginary realm of human interpretation.

So, no, this is not Emptiness. This is not Nothing. This is not even not-emptiness or not-nothing. “You” don’t get any thing at all, no knowing, nor can you even claim unknowing. You cannot claim your presence, nor can you claim your absence.

There is only what appears and its interpretation, and when that is no longer believed….

there is not even that..

or not that

That’s all folks.

Aoetl,

The Miranda Thingie <3