All or Nothing

“Kong” - The Chinese Character for "Nothing"

 “Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!”

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

In Want of Nothing

When Albert Einstein proposed his theory of relativity, the far-reaching implications of his idea on matters of morality, law, ethics, and the development of science could not be foreseen. His basic premise, as most understand them, is that universe depends on one’s place of observation. According to this view, physical laws are relative to the position that the observer’s motion holds within the universe, and therefore, observations taking place simultaneously, but in different motion, would not occur in the same time frame. This implies that things change from one perspective to another, and that mathematicians and scientists cannot presume that information gathered from their position will hold true for different positions within the universe. There are no absolute truths, only relative and plural truths. 

Einstein, an Icon of Western Wisdom

It is now known that the theory of relativity is the primary cultural force behind postmodern thought, for if the universe is relative, then truth within that universe must be relative. While postmodern thought finds its basis in philosophical proofs other than relativity, relativistic science is the link between postmodern philosophy and material sciences in the popular imagination, and this analogy permeates academia today. Postmodern thought extrapolates the central tenets of the theory into every conceivable area of observation, firmly holding that “truth is relative to your position”, and rejecting the concept of universal systems of governance. The only immoral act has become the imposition of your beliefs on others, or the standard related to your position in the universe, because what you observe as truth can not possibly apply to someone who holds a different position in the cosmos. Pluralism arises from this relativistic belief system, and couches itself in the terms of virtue, but its inductive conclusion is that there are no causalities, only the changeable and transitory of personal experience. Life has no meaning, and morality is just a human evolutionary anomaly. 

Relativistic physics on the macro level, and its quantum physics on the micro level, both openly admit philosophically that the scientific method of comparison cannot ultimately define or understand material objects, while practically insisting that it can. Quantum physics teaches that this inability reflects the principle quality of the universe, that is, the quality of nothingness to “quantum shift” into something. It states that since everything comes from nothing, when you descend to the position of the smallest existent particles, they consist of holographic vibrations in a void, ultimately nothing. Thus, nothing transforms itself from the barren wasteland of sterile impossibility to the fruitful oasis from which life springs. Nothing, which used to be the most certain thing in imagination, because it can not do anything, and is unable to go anywhere, suddenly has become exciting and full of all kinds of possibilities.

The logic behind the argument is frail, and depends on suspension of the observable cause-effect sequence, which we observe every day and in every area; lyrics from the Sound of Music puts it best… “Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could”. This, however, does not keep an entire culture from believing that something from nothing is a provable truth. To understand the cultural and philosophical implications of a relativistic worldview and philosophy, let us look at the same belief systems fruit in another cultural setting. The familiarity that breed contempt will be stripped away with a rarely heard example, and show the devastating consequences of a life based on “nothingness”.     

Nothing in Excess

Bodhidharma (“bod-HEE-dar-ma”) was the one historical philosopher to whom postmodernism owes the greatest debt of gratitude, but most Westerners have never heard of him. His name meant “lawgiver” in Sanskrit, and he became the Moses of Eastern philosophy. He was an Indian monk who established a monastery in southern China in the sixth century, and as legend has it, sat in yogic meditation for nine years, emerging to become the most spiritually and politically powerful figure in China’s religious history.  

This mystical monk, founder of the Shaolin monastery, held supernatural sway over all that came into contact with him, including the emperor of China. He became feared as a kind of Buddhist Rasputin. Those who wished to become his disciples and learn his philosophy often had to sacrifice a body part as an offering to him, to prove their worthiness to sit at his feet. To counterbalance the practice of stoic, sitting meditation that he instituted for his followers, he began an exercise form based off of Yoga and the movement of animals, which flawlessly internalized his religious and scientific teachings; we call it “Kung-fu” today. 

Bodhidharma in Meditation

His major philosophical achievement was the realization that Buddha’s teachings on the illusion of the mind, a form of skepticism, could also apply to the physical world. He then meshed his system with Taoism, which asserts that “nothingness” is both the origin of all things and the highest physical power. Thus, followers of Bodhidharma meditate on contradictory sayings, embodiments of paradox called “koans”, to shut off the mind and help realize that everything comes from nothing. The Shaolin School taught that there was no salvation, and only the realization that everything was an illusion could set one free from guilt and suffering, achieving true enlightenment. His teachings insisted that nothing gave raise to everything, and that material fades to nothingness when it is observed. He called his system “Chan”, and it is known as “Zen” in Japan and the West. Today its derivatives have reached the level of international culture iconography, and the profound affect of this doctrine can be felt particularly in Western mass media. Zen theory has become a powerful additive to existentialism, postmodernism, and evolutionary theory, and is used as a cultural support for relativistic science. It is imbued with all that is mystical and reverent, touting a path of “moderation in all things, but nothing in excess.”  

Bodhidharma in meditation for seven years

Other schools of Buddhism in China taught Mahayana theory, which stated that a merciful Buddha named Amida had accumulated so much good karma (merit) over millions of lives that he had goodness to spare. This enlightened being decided that he would create a heaven-like place, and would pardon sins and reward an eternal home in this heaven for all that put their trust in his name. Amidism forgot that the founder of Buddhism, Sidhartha Gautama, was an atheist, and rejected all forms of worship and insisting that even the supernatural was natural. They found a convenient loophole in the Buddhist belief in evolution, much as paganism has become much more prevalent in the West as belief in evolution has spread. “If a god did not create the universe” they reasoned, “then the universe could create a god.” And so they began to worship statues of Buddha.  

The affects can be best seen in the Japanese culture, which has been the most effectively Zen inculcated country in the world. Zen, because of its teachings on nothingness, can be easily combined with other religious system. It both effectively guts other philosophies and preserves the outward forms, so that religions it comes into contact with are displayed like stuffed, dead trophies – beautiful to look at, but no longer living. This is what occurred to the indigenous, shamanistic Shinto religion. When the Samurai and the Shogunate became the official sponsors of Zen schools within Japan in the early 1200’s, they did so as warriors impressed with the Zen monk’s stoic ability not to care whether they lived or died. As a fierce warrior class, the Samurai desired to conquer their fear, and they saw these teachings of mindlessness, or “satori”, as the most effective way in which to achieve this goal. 

The oppressed peasants, whose lives were worthless to the nobility, welcomed the advent of Christianity in the mid 1500’s under the rule of Oda Nobunaga. The pro-Christian Oda was assassinated, and Shogun’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi lined the roads with crucified Christians, snuffing out the movement by the 1590’s. The religious monopoly Zen held in Japan did not end with World War II, which was the culmination of a thousand year history of fearless, meditation-induced personal oblivion, but expanded its field of influence through its contact with the West. Japan has suffered under the nihilistic yoke of the Bodhiharma’s teachings for one thousand years, experiencing civil war, genocide, the glorification of ritual suicide, and the final expression of the most ravaging war ever waged on the world. 

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

A belief in nothingness has failed to deliver any of its promises to the Japanese people; the least expectation of moderation and insight has given way to silent despair of a suicidal culture. Tragically, Zen’s ability to still the responses of fear and guilt through intentionally numbing man’s self-awareness renders man with a quenched conscience, and leaves the practitioner without any desire to escape. It also fails to recognize the reasons for fear and guilt in human life.        

Nothing Much

The reality of void in nature is undeniable, but the true nature of void has been debated through the centuries. There are those that say void is nothing, being nothing and containing nothing; these arguments lead to the conclusion that the universe is anchored in void, and thus the universe must be a manifestation of nothingness, since the universe is dependent on void for existence. Then, there are those that respond that anything that is, exists, and if it exists it demonstrates the most important aspect of being something. The Christian response to the classical misunderstanding that void is nothingness – the historic error that has lead to philosophical difficulty with understanding the reality of the material world – and is supported by Scripture’s first statements. 

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” 

Christian philosophers believe that void is a principal way to reason towards the existence of initial cause. Clarity is always brought to the process of observation through inversion and contrast, and every known principle has them. If nature of void is mentally inverted, another element, demonstrating the attributes of the prime cause, becomes observable… Absolute Something. This prime cause would have predated the universe, because void is necessary for the function of the universe, and the prime cause would not allow the presence of void, since void could not be sustain its presence of an infinite something. Absolute Something is not a true opposite at all, for void then could not exist simultaneously with it. This prime cause is therefore greater than void, and void is dependent on this absolute for existence. Void exists, and it therefore not “nothing”. Void, then, is proven to be an illusion.

"Negation of Human Nature Through Zen"-  by Master Xia

We see evidence of void’s existence, its “thing-hood”, because space is observable to the naked eye. Looking through our telescope we see clearly that we have an unobstructed view of stars and planets, yet space is the closest thing we can theoretically label as “void.” How could we see it if it were not there, for we are defined by existence and can not see beyond our own plain of reality? Void is woven into everything that has existence, and is a fundamental aspect of the relationships that things hold with each other. To put it in analogy, it is the water on which the material ship floats, or the air in which the existential bird flies. The universe could not function with out the essential nature of space, yet it is not “nothing”. 

Christians insist that void is the original matrix in which the creation is suspended, and exists; it is not understood to be the original statement of nothingness, but should be considered the original effect.  Man consistently forgets that he can only imagine what is, not what is not. If he tries to think of nothing as space, space still retains the quality of existence in that it is there. If man tries to imagine blackness, he is imagining an attribute of something, which is. The only sincere way to approach nothing is exactly what Bodhidharma insisted his disciples do in “zazen”, or sitting meditation, which attempts to turn off the brain. When one turns his system off, then he realizes nothing, and has experienced nothing in the truest sense. This, however, is inferior to knowing and functioning – for without this function, it would be impossible to create the artificial states of altered consciousness. Thus, turning the mind off is not returning to the causality of the universe, but creating another effectual subset in which one may feel a false connection with this primordial cause. Zen and modern science erroneously identify this action-induced state as nothingness.  

Something for Nothing

Zen, Relativism, and Nihilism all share common traits. They encapsulate the same literal philosophy, which insists that reality is illusory and that behind everything is void, void being a symbol for an unimaginable nothing. This philosophy leads to nothing and nowhere, and confirms what the Scripture says about the fool, “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 

Cultures are not reasoning machines. Kung-fu looks cool, Zen feels relaxing, pluralism sounds compassionate, and postmodernism fills a psychological need to know truth. Yet, nothing always returns to nothing. Cultures have already fallen beneath the weight of guilt and pain that comes from a mind unable to make sense of the world around it because of a belief in nothingness. People who mindlessly ascribe to a philosophical trend without examining its claims are already practicing Zen, and the fancy techniques and mantras don’t change anything. Perhaps believing that nothing is the origin for everything may seem like a great mystery because your brain refuses to accept it, but even if evolution were true, your brain enables you to survive only as long as it accurately reflects reality. Continuing to believe that nothing is everything may give you a sense of smug satisfaction when “unthinking” people reject it, as if it complements your individual uniqueness; but how satisfied can you be by comparing efforts to try to be thoughtless with those who already are? Everyone is after something, including the ones who say they’re not. And after coming the long way around, I found out that that something, Absolute Something, is God. 

A Chinese Zen Portrait of Emptiness