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The idea of nothing has bugged people for centuries, especially in the Western world. We have a saying in Latin, Ex nihilo nihil fit, which means 'out of nothing comes nothing.' It has occurred to me that this is a fallacy of tremendous proportions. It lies at the root of all our common sense, not only in the West, but in many parts of the East as well. It manifests in a kind of terror of nothing, a put-down on nothing, and a put-down on everything associated with nothing, such as sleep, passivity, rest, and even the feminine principles. But to me nothing - the negative, the empty - is exceedingly powerful. I would say, on the contrary, you can't have something without nothing. Image nothing but space, going on and on, with nothing in it forever. But there you are imagining it, and you are something in it. The whole idea of there being only space, and nothing else at all is not only inconceivable but perfectly meaningless, because we always know what we mean by contrast.

Alan Watts#37

PhilosophyLifeDualitySpace

About this quote

What does it mean?
People fear nothing, but nothing is powerful and necessary for something to exist. Nothingness is not a lack but a presence.
In plain terms
Nothing is powerful and necessary for something.
What can you take from it?
Value emptiness and rest.

Where it applies

  • creativity
  • meditation
  • rest

Putting it to work

  • embrace silence
  • rest

Questions to consider

  • What is nothing to you?
  • How do you rest?

Another view

Action is often needed.

More from Alan Watts

  1. The difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible. When we look through our telescop…

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  2. To the philosophers of India, however, Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to think…

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  3. Technology is destructive only in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe.

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