Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Something about Nothing

Nothing is an impossible concept, and it is a popularly held belief, outside of the Buddhist community, that to become nothing is to die, to no longer exist, it is hard for me to see any value in this process. Furthermore it is amongst the most impossible tasks, the first law of thermodynamics states that no matter or energy can be created or destroyed, merely converted. To become nothing would violate this core law of existence! This is the thought that I have every time I'm confronted with the concept of Nirvana, it just seems undesirable to me, to no longer be... However I found this piece very interesting, she uses this concept of nothing to illustrate her middle aged angst (very different from teenaged angst, more dramatic, sometimes), she feels it is all for nothing and indeed life can seem like a zero-sum game. But in this piece, as well as The Ghazal of the Better Unbegun, I feel like the speaker is denying experience and the value of that in and of itself. Accomplishment should be measured in the good one does, the impact they make, not what they take with them. To make yourself less each day is to diminish the good you can do for the world, I think.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with what you say completely, and am glad to have read your response, I found this piece to be incredibly depressing. The idea of becoming nothing is so undesirable to me that I could not relate. Also, "Through your life, you are smart enough to see that it all amounts to nothing, even success amounts ts to nothing" but she is trying find Zen? Seems conflicting.

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