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Nothing

18/10/2008 by Nikita

Nothingness

Not aware of the dullness between now and then
Oblivious of my existence I
Treasure the conundrums of your thoughts and
Hold on to the never-changing monotony voices of identicalness, stepping
In the dryness of an exciting
Nowhere watching the sluggishness of time
Grabbing the stillness of the wind moving soundlessly through the flatness of my thoughts
Nobody that cares, only the sameness and the harmony of my mind that
Engulfs the unanimity and wholeness of my being
Sometimes my imagination drifts in the minds of angels, then
Stumbles upon the singleness of life!
—©Nikita—18th October 2008

Image: belgers.com

What is Nothing, anyway?

It’s not anything, and it’s not something, yet it isn’t the negation of something, either. Traditional logic is no help, since it merely regards all negation as derivative from something positive. So, Heidegger proposed, we must abandon logic in order to explore the character of Nothing as the background out of which everything emerges.

Carefully contemplating Nothing in itself, we begin to notice the importance and vitality of our own moods. Above all else, Nothing is what produces in us a feeling of dread {Ger. Angst}. This deep feeling of dread, Heidegger held, is the most fundamental human clue to the nature and reality of Nothing.
Human Life as Being-There Human beings truly exist, yet our “being-there” {Ger. Dasein} is subject to a systematic, radical uncertainty. Because we know that we will die, concern withour annihilation is an ever-present feature of human experience: Death is the key to Life. The only genuine question is why we are at all. Once we experience the joy[!?!] of dread, we recognize that our lives are limited—and therefore shaped—by death.

In just the same way, Heidegger argued, so Nothing is what shapes Being generally. This reveals the most fundamental, transcendent reality, beyond all notions of what-is slipping over into what-is-not. Even in the historical tradition, according to Heidegger, Nothing is shown to be the concomitant rather than the opposite of Being. The only genuine philosophical question is why there is something rather than nothing.
Source
here

Parts of this book deserve 5 stars. Much of what Sartre has to say in it is cuttingly insightful, indeed life-changing. His writing is lucid (perhaps too lucid for philosophy – this was Merleau-Ponty’s opinion) and the book is a great read. But underlying everything, with huge passages directed exclusively to it, is Sartre’s own ontology, mish-mash of Descartes (via Husserl), Hegel and Heidegger, which falls well short of Heidegger’s own subtlety. This has led to a certain contempt among serious continental philosophers for Sartre’s work. Ironically, for all that, he has had an obvious powerful influence on many of them. This is not a book to be ignored by ANYONE….amazon.co.uk….reader-review

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980), commonly known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced [ʒɑ̃ pol saʁtʁə]), was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was the leading figure in 20th century French philosophy.

In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but he declined it[1] stating that “It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form.Read more about Sartre on this link which will open in a new window.

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Posted in Heidegger, nothing, Philosophy, poems, Poetry | Tagged Being and Nothingness, Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, nothing, nothingness, Philosophy, poems, Poetry | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on 19/10/2008 at 00:24 norrbu

    nothing is probably like zero.


  2. on 19/10/2008 at 12:15 Nikita

    hi norrbu, Yes, If you say zero, it’s “nothing”, but if we take it from a mathematical point of view, then zero is still “something”. It is the point on a scale from which positive or negative numerical quantities can be measured, so zero is “somewhere”. If there was zero growth in e.g. population, then “nothing” happened… also I see “nothing” as the absence of something…e.g. “dullness”…you can use it in many ways to describe the “absence” of “something”…the same with some other adjectives in this piece of writing. For me “nothing” is still “something” or shall I say…”to be”… 🙂


  3. on 20/10/2008 at 19:00 littleindian

    Hiya,
    I feel there are two forms of nothingness,
    the relative form is what we use/refer to usually –
    always in comparision.

    If there is a relative, there has to be an absolute form
    that is where my imagination runs dry.
    It is too difficult a concept, a state where truly ‘nothing’ exists.

    I doubt if humans in their living forms, will ever be able to understand the meaning of existence.
    Reality extends beyond our 3D and five (or eleven) senses

    I am really curious what made you dig into this?

    A clever poem that, I admire your play with words.


  4. on 20/10/2008 at 19:43 Wipneus!

    Dit is ‘n moeilike een. Ek voel ook al waar daar nothing was, was voor die skepping. Daar was niks! Sjoe maar dit is moeilik vir die verstand om in te neem! Ek kan ure oor hierdie storie sit en tob, veral as ek op ‘n donker aand agter die teleskoop staan.

    Maar ek stem Daar is altyd iets in niks!! Daar kan nooit niks wees nie. Atome, molekules…….
    Wag dat ek ophou voor ek nou weer te diep raak! 😆

    Ek hou baie van die gedig, baie kreatief!

    Dis nie vir my maklik om gedigte te doen as ek gedwing word om die eerste letters te gebruik nie! 😆


  5. on 20/10/2008 at 21:45 Nikita

    hi Littleindian!…yes, the relative form is what you find in my poem! 🙂 I don’t know if there is an absolute form as there will always be “something”…for me…although it might look like “nothing”. “Nothing” came to my mind when I thought about some replies you get sometimes when you ask a question…e.g. “what’s wrong”…reply…”nothing” lol! Thanks for your kind words about this poem. I like acrostics, you can play with it!

    Hi Wipneus! Ja, ek stem saam met jou, daar is nie “abosoluut” niks nie, daar sal altyd “iets” in die “niks” wees! nes jy daar se! Dankie vir jou mooi woorde ook, hierdie is my eerste probeerslag met ‘n woord, gewoonlik het ek laat die skoolkinders dit doen! dis nogal lekker om daarmee te speel en vir kinders is dit maklik, want niks hoef te rym nie, op laerskool leer sommige onnies mos dat ‘n gedig moet rym! wat vir my taboe is.. 🙂 Dis maklik om een te probeer, vat jou naam en skryf dit van bo na onder en skryf iets moois oor jou wat met elke letter begin…en siedaar! 🙂 ek sien uit na jou “skepping”!


  6. on 21/10/2008 at 06:41 Thea

    Hi Nikita! Ek is mal oor jou skrywe oor Nothingness (ek verwys spesifiek na die letters wat jy afsonderlik gebruik het). Dis baie mooi geskryf!

    Jou inskrywing laat mens diep dink!


  7. on 21/10/2008 at 13:19 MeghnaK

    Hi Nikita,
    A very interesting and informative post about NOTHING!!!

    Love ya 🙂


  8. on 21/10/2008 at 19:37 Nikita

    hi Thea
    Dankie, ek’s bly jy hou daarvan, dit was nogal vir my pret om dit te doen! 🙂

    Hi Meghna! Glad that you’ve enjoyed it! yes, “something” about “nothing!” 🙂



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