We are often afraid of the Dark. But it seems too, we often avoid the Light. Yet I believe our greatest fear is a fear of nonexistence, or nothingness. We fear this possibility, though we are unable to perfectly define or even imagine such a state. Upon trying, we are always left with consciousness, or empty space, or some other theory of 'something' possible. And if when we attempt to visualize Nothing, we are left with Something, we realize that 'Something + Nothing = Something'.

Last week (and the week before) I maintained that we all (individually and collectively) instinctively seek balance. I ended last week's post with the following: "In a sense, Perfect Balance equates to zero; so in a sense, that search for Perfect Balance - Perfect Stillness - Perfect Peace - is a search for Nothing. And in a sense, in this world Nothing is impossible, and beyond this world Nothing is waiting to be discovered." One recently-read thinker described these word games that treat 'Nothing' as 'Something' as Paradoxical Twaddle. This paradox is (at least in part) due to our empirical inability to define Nothing as anything other than Something. And this lack of comprehension scares the living daylights out of most of us because (though we cannot put it into words) we can feel nothingness as cold, dark, silent, and lonely. Some may claim that this foreboding sense of nothingness is proof enough that Nothing is a very real possibility. I believe this fear can be offset by either a) ignorance, or b) one's active, contemplative search for Happiness. I have chosen the latter.

Even in a vacuum state, which it seems is the closest we can come to replicating our concept of nothingness, there is actually a lot going on. In terms of negative energy, a vacuum state is less than nothing; which makes it something. In the same sense, I can imagine my empirical nonexistence (before birth and after death), but I cannot for the Life (or Death) of me imagine my self-identical nonexistence. From a different angle, the fact that I can identify a 'me' coupled with the fact that I am here, (I strongly believe) means I was meant to be here and I was meant to have an impact; so when I am no longer here (or if I had not shown up) empirical facts will be (or would have been) different. I am not independent of the rest of this world, because (I also believe that) all things in this world that have a self-identity form a synergistic bond creating a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. We may not always recognize or acknowledge this synergy, and even when considered many may deny its existence, but for the sake of Balance my existence depends upon our existence. This means that while I am no more or less necessary than anyone else, I am AS necessary, and my impact will live beyond me and by some accounts may have lived before me.

Scientists have now shown with quantum entanglement that the impact of one particle on another can be felt through time and space. Two photons that never coexist in time and are thousands of miles apart can become entangled, having impact on one another. Associating this science with the inexplicability of a self-identical consciousness, how can one not believe that there is some Transcendental Truth (perhaps undiscoverable in this lifetime) that will answer 'Why me - here - now? And, will go on to show the interdependent bond between all things that have a self-identity; even across all facets of time and space.

Yes, this could be (extending a description) Transcendental Twaddle. Yes, this world may just be brute fact. Yes, there may have been Nothing before the brute fact of existence, and there may be Nothing afterward. And yes, I may simply be fulfilling my existential destiny to create an essence from this brute fact.

And yes, I am contradicting my thoughts from last week by now arguing that Perfect Balance - Perfect Stillness - Perfect Peace is not possible, in the same empirical sense that 'Nothing' is not possible. But it is not a contradiction when one considers the very real possibility of a transcendental existence. I still maintain that we all (individually and collectively) seek that Perfect Balance, (but now add to that) instinctively driven by a pure consciousness unencumbered by the trappings of our humanity. In our empirical existence, one's consciousness cannot help but to become intertwined and muddled with one's humanity; yet I still feel (instinctively) the division and purity of that consciousness when I self-identify. When I attempt to imagine 'Nothing' I remain - my consciousness remains; so upon physical death, it seems impossible that my consciousness does not remain. That energy of self-identity must live on in some way.

So Perfect Balance = Pure Consciousness = Empirical Nonexistence. In this world we fear that Empirical Nonexistence equates to Nothingness. I maintain it does not. In this world Nothing is impossible, and beyond this world, driven by Pure Consciousness, Nothing (as Something) is waiting to be discovered.

Consider:

• We know empirical existence, which is a spectrum from chaotic disorder to ordered complexity.
• We do not know transcendental existence.
• Certainty is the antithesis of true faith, and also works against Truth.
• Within our humanity we are saddled with opposing forces or sets of opposites for which we instinctively seek balance.
• We live in an empirical existence of chaos and complexity; we strive for an unknown transcendental existence of balance and simplicity; and while I am not certain, I believe that this transcendental existence abides.