There Is Only Nothing

Do you want to know the greatest truth in life?

The greatest truth is that there is only nothing.

What do I mean by this? Let us embark on this explanation from a point of familiarity.

You, as a human, live your entire day surrounded by things we can refer to as stimuli. Your mind is stimulated when you argue with your friend or parent. Your mind is stimulated if someone cuts in front of you in the queue. Your mind is stiumlated when someone compliments you.

Your mind is always stimulated. The entire day. Even when you are walking home, or sitting alone, your mind is running. Thoughts are always flying around.

Was I rude that day? Did I do enough work today? What does she think of me? What I will do tomorrow?

Your mind is never quiet. This, however, is not to say that it ‘should’ be quiet or that an ever-active mind is ‘bad.’ I am just observing a fact. And the fact is that you are constantly mulling over the past, and imagining different futures.

So far, so simple. Even the least attentive of us recognise this reality. Though, I’m going to go a little deeper now. I hope you can come with me.

What is the utility of thought?

Well, clearly it’s a very useful tool. I have to think before I cross the road (albiet not very hard). In the space of an instant, my brain deciphers the meaning of those familiar traffic lights. I am also able to understand the sad state of affairs that would materialise if I ran into a moving car.

It goes without saying that thinking is the superpower of the human being. A gazelle recognises the danger of a lion; we can recognise the danger of moving traffic. However, a population of gazelle cannot exercise their power of thought in a way that a population of humans can. Do you know of any hotel, city, or school for gazelles?

The mind itself cannot comprehend its own powers. But, let me ask you: Do you feel like you have superpowers? Do you feel amazing or at peace all the time?

No. Virtually no one does.

Why? Because of this thing called “thought.” It is the whole and absolute culprit.

We have accepted that much of the day is spent thinking. Thinking about past events and what the future may bring. What is the general nature of this sort of thinking?

Anxiety. I don’t mean the sort that people see a therapist or take medication for (though such things would also fit under this umbrella). Anxiety is the departure from peace — it comes when we feel something is missing. It is this feeling that underpins much of the thinking a human engages in on a typical day.

Consider a time where you replayed an embarrassing social interaction in your head. What leads a person to exert thought — and experience the subsequent anixety — over such a thing? Perhaps they feel their self-image was tainted. Perhaps they wanted to look better in front of the people they embrassed themselves to. Perhaps they think they lost an opportunity to make friends.

Whatever the reason, a person conjures such thoughts because the present is not enough. This is necessarily true: If everything felt just right in their life, they would not exert thoughts over such things.

The feeling that something is missing is unshakeable. Social approval, recognition, wealth: There is a long list of things a person is always longing for. The list, in fact, is infinitie.

Let us return to my leading point stated at the beginning: There is only nothing. Virtually everything in a person’s life functions as a stimulus. Thoughts then enter their mind. Sometimes, these are useful and mechanical: I need to exercise some degree of thought to open a door or cross the road.

All other thoughts breed anxiety. This is because all other thoughts centre on attachment and desire. One can only desire something when they feel something is presently missing. This is why a person cannot stomach ‘living in the present.’ Thus, their coping mechanism is to stick their head in the sand of thought.

“There is only nothing” captures the fact that peace and freedom only comes when there is nothing: When the all the feelings of missing something are eradciated.

A person clings to many things in their life. A partner, their children, their job, their wealth, their status. Their day is thus spent embroiled in thought over such things: Their mind is constantly whirring to assess and plan how these attachments can be maintained and progress.

It is only when there is nothing that a person’s mind finds peace. It is only when a person realises that all their attachments are the architects of their suffering that they realise the greatest truth.

Only nothing brings peace.