"Nothing" is something that can be anything? So it's nature cannot be possibly specified by thoughts or words?

Question

Is mine an approximate definition, perhaps a little Zen-like? As a complete definition is not possible.

Answer 1

The seed of creation in what appears to be nothing.

This is exactly right. Just as in a small seed, nothing of the leaves and branches and fruit can be seen in the seed, but it is all there in it's potential to be a fruit tree.

Yes, that's it, the unseen is the source of what we see.

Answer 2

Words and more words. I applaud your search for answers but cannot help feeling that there is a real danger of falling into semantic games, fun on their own but not necessarily fruitful. All definitions are transient and dependent on current knowledge; look at 'absolute zero'. To try and understand the nature of nothing is to peer into the abyss. You cannot define nothing as a blank canvas by your own statement, that is something; a word is something, even the symbol 0 is something. How can nothing be anything or indeed have a 'nature' at all? Even a vacuum is something, it is an empty space, although of course that only applies to a 'perfect vacuum' that no-one has achieved yet. So maybe nothing is an absence of matter, perhaps a black hole is nothing but then of course we know that matter disappears into black holes so even they are not perfect. The problem with words is that any concept you think of can have a word invented for it, so does the word nothing make it something? Your turn

Answer 3

I agree.

I would like to say this way..... everything is nothing since it can not last for ever..... hence 'nothing' can manifest to be anything and everything.

I get this from my own simple maths too..... zero can be represented by any number of positives and negatives, so long as they sum up to cancel out in totality. That is how the entire perceivable and imaginable Universe or Universes have come out of Nothing... and that is why the dynamic zero-sum principle applies.

The only other alternative option could be that everything is always there, albeit changing all the time... in other words a grand Continuum.... in this scenario, Nothing has no place.... everything can be every other thing, but never Nothing.

Therefore, if at all Nothing is to be defined, it has to be seen as capable of manifesting into anything and everything.

Answer 4

No, by it's definition, Nothing is a complete lack of Anything. Therefore it can't be anything, because that would negate the nothing. It's nature is clearly defined in several thoughts and words, such as: Void, lack, empty, zero, and vacuum.

Answer 5

driving_blindly....

Your question and answer is correct...It just needs a little "fine-tuning "....Nothing will always be something because it is anything, which is everything....So the Nothingness is the inclusion of ALL, not the lack of something..Once you label something in Nature, you are given the illusion by Society that you can control it...But the BEST way to control Nature or anything in it is to not label it nor control any aspect of Nature, THEN she will give you total control, without controlling....

Do you Follow Me so Far????

I'm real good at this stuff.....I read alot of philosophical, Zen, mystical, Buddha stuff over the years(lol)...

Answer 6

You are to be commended, my friend! ... You have asked an ill-defined question and in the process have managed to pass its undecidable/erroneous/ irrelevant (take your pick, please) assumption(s) as a "definition"! ... WOW, one usually hears about such feats of magic in mythological works of art; but I never thought I would actually bear witness to its pseudo-logical incarnation, as well.

Interestingly enough, you've even convinced a number of people to "agree" with you (then again, I suppose that was the easy part)!

BTW: No condescending remarks intended (in the above observations) whatsoever. ... Good Luck!

Answer 7

Nothing is nothing. Empty without anything. But Anything can be nothing because anything is everything including nothing. Its kinda like up is always up but down will eventually turn into up.