The Existence of Nothing

Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we say, “I did nothing today,” or “There was nothing there” when we so plainly know that we did do something or we did see something. We might just have sat around the house all day. You did that: you sat down. Maybe you did not find anything in an empty room. There was still the room itself. So if you can find all these things, why can’t you discover nothing?

Nothing is self-developed of the absent conscious thoughts about anything. Anything can be something as long as it has someone to make sense of its existence. Nothing is the absence of meaning, value, worth, relevance, standing, or significance, or a particular thing that one might expect or desire to be present. Or the inactivity of a thing or things that are usually or could be active.

 You are already born with something, and some people are just born with more somethings. All of us are born with life, body, and a mind, so why look for something rather than nothing? But in a world filled with so many somethings, where could people find nothing?

This difficulty in understanding nothing dates back a long time. The ancient Greeks had no concept of Zero and hated the thought so much they refused to incorporate zero into their number system. Nothingness is a philosophical term for the general state of nonexistence, sometimes reified as a domain or dimension into which things pass when they cease to exist or out of which they may come to exist.

Ideas about the subject below are given by different people I have asked. My thought on the subject is that “I think nothing means absolutely everything that isn’t considered a thing, so nothing is something”. This thought refers to everything that people do, use, say, touch, see, or think about, those things are something, and everything else is nothing.

Now not everyone thinks that way. Many people think of nothing as an action. A few people who think this way are, Emma Duyck, she said “I think nothing is the way that people or anything responds to what they believe is nothing”, Individual #1 said, “Nothing is when something is doing nothing”, Individual #2 said, “Nothing is no effort”. These all represent actions away. A longer explanation on the matter that I have is that “the meaning of nothing is to simply not do anything specifically by being engaged in an activity in any way, shape, or form.” This idea came from Jacob Kolb. The last opinion I got can relate to a lot of people. Ailene Dominguez said, to me, nothing is to not have or not doing. For example, I ask my friends what they are doing. They would say nothing as if they are free to do something. I feel this can relate to people because I am sure that this has happened to some of you in some way, shape, or form.

There may be opinions in the shape of actions, but another group of people thinks of nothing as avoid. One of the individuals I asked to comment on just stated one word, that being void. Even though a synonym to void is nothingness, it does not necessarily mean to avoid is nothing. But I have been outvoted in this matter because another response I received, by Individual #4, said, “I think nothing is an empty void”. A void in question is a space. So nothing could be avoided.

But do not stop reading yet! Because I have an interesting opinion by individual #5 that was said. Individual #5 said, “When I think of nothing, I think of an empty feeling. Nothing is just a void of pitch black, but not a color at all. Nothing is when there is absolutely no one or anything around. My opinion of nothing is that it is sad. Saying I have nothing, I feel nothing, is numb in a way”. I thought this statement was very inspirational and a completely different side to what nothing might be. When the person says that “Nothing is just void” It highlights why nothing is seen so differently for so many people.

Nothing related to an absence was a consistent favorite. I had a few people say the same thing, so I grouped them as Individuals #6, and they said, “Nothing is the absence of something”. I also had something similar, “Nothing is the lack of something”, this one was by Ben Bradshaw. Nothing related as an absence was probably so common because of how simple the concept is. Nothing is everything missing from something, or when used in a sentence, most people would say something like, “there is nothing there”. I think that is why so many people use it this way.

Now some people think nothing is something in some way or another. I would consider my opinion to be included in this as well. One suggestion by Individual #7 said, “Nothing is anything that does not include thought”. A few others I received were, “I think that nothing is a way of expressing a lack of anything, and therefore something.” This was by Zachary Fitzgerald. One Individual felt very strongly about this idea. #8 said, “Nothing means something; it just depends on how you use it. People use the word when they sometimes do not want to say anything, like, oh, it is nothing. It can also mean the absence of something like there is nothing there. This was a very strongly opinionated answer, and I feel that this may also be a correct statement.

Now a completely different side to this is the people that say nothing only means nothing. Individual #9 said, “Nothing is just boredom. It is empty. People assume when you say nothing, it means something when nothing only means nothing. Unless you say nothing when there is something then you should say something. This one confused me for a bit, but now I understand it. One other opinion was, “I think nothing is, nothing. It is the void of absence, and it is the filter space that takes up a lot of things, even if there are things inside of nothing, nothing means nothing,” given to us by Nate Pratt. These both make sense in a way because when talking about nothing, you do mean nothing. This next one I have does not quite fit in the category, but it also kind of does. “I don’t have an opinion because we are talking about nothing,” by individual #10. This does add to the fact that we are just talking about nothing.

Now the last two I have do not fit into a category. The first one I have is by Tammy Johnson. She said, “I think nothing is being without. It is a complete separation from something. I think nothing is impossible.” It does not quite fit into the nothing means nothing category, but it does not quite fit into the nothing means something category. This last one I have is different from the rest and is also lengthy. Nathan Beck said, “Well, the literal definition of nothing is wrong because matter can not be created or destroyed, so there can never be the idea of nothing. When talking about the feeling, it is very uncommon for someone to feel nothing. Scientists found that no matter who you are, you will always feel fear when you experience a lack of oxygen. So nobody feels nothing. I think that nothing is nonexistent. There will always be something. That was my final quote to add because of how interesting the opinion was to me.

So if there are so many things nothing may mean, why can we all not decide? The way a person thinks is going to be different from the way that another person thinks. We are all different in this way. So is there a correct and perfect definition of nothing? The answer is no. There are many different definitions. You have to pick which one you like the most.