I am nothing.

[Marblehead]

I'm not sure what you mean by belittling yourself? I didn't want to comment on the poem, because I think that's tacky, but I did want to respond to the idea of being nothing being somehow belittling. In my eyes it's the exact opposite, you belittle yourself when you begin to identify yourself with how others view you, true freedom is only gained when one can be nothing, empty, from this emptiness there springs an infinite number of possibilities.

 

Hi Aaron,

 

Yes, this is a tricky one.

 

In this case (and the poem) I would go along with the term "emptiness". This is because if we empty our mind we are then fully available for great potential to start taking form.

 

To say you are nothing though, I think is neglecting all the great potential. And I have heard all too many times "you are nothing" used in a negative way so that it stunts the growth of the individual. This is what I refer to when saying it is belittling.

 

And to think of ourself as "nothing" without acknowledging what we already are (a potentially great and wonderful person) leaves little room for optimism.

 

You know I try to be an optimist. This is why I have stated a number of time on this boeard that we all are special in our own way. True, we are what we are at this present moment in time but we are also full of potential of maximizing our capabilities and capacities.

 

Hehehe. "Nothing" is just a bad word for me and it rubs me the wrong way.

[Aaron]

Hi Aaron,

 

Yes, this is a tricky one.

 

In this case (and the poem) I would go along with the term "emptiness". This is because if we empty our mind we are then fully available for great potential to start taking form.

 

To say you are nothing though, I think is neglecting all the great potential. And I have heard all too many times "you are nothing" used in a negative way so that it stunts the growth of the individual. This is what I refer to when saying it is belittling.

 

And to think of ourself as "nothing" without acknowledging what we already are (a potentially great and wonderful person) leaves little room for optimism.

 

You know I try to be an optimist. This is why I have stated a number of time on this boeard that we all are special in our own way. True, we are what we are at this present moment in time but we are also full of potential of maximizing our capabilities and capacities.

 

Hehehe. "Nothing" is just a bad word for me and it rubs me the wrong way.

 

 

 

Hmm... I see what you're saying, but I still like the term nothing, but I see it more as a neutral quality, one that denotes that you are not choosing to be what others see you as, but rather you are simply what you are. When you can perceive yourself as nothing, then you can begin to attain all things, but so long as you align yourself to one thing or another, then you have locked your perception of who and what you are to that paradigm.

 

My views on reality are different than most, I know there is something more, infinite energy without form, that I believe all things spring from. This infinite form is very much empty, but I choose to think of it as nothing, because even emptiness is something, nothing is without form or value, it is completely neutral. So you are not saying "I am without this" but rather that you are neither without or with, you are in between, nothing.

 

When one sees they are nothing, not in the sense of worthless, but rather without an inherent tendency towards one or another, then one can begin to see the world in a new way.

 

I think that we do not create reality through our perceptions, but rather we choose to view reality as we experience it, and sometimes that's not necessarily the actuality of reality. When one is empty, then they are saying they are not full and that is linked to fullness or filling, but when one says they are nothing, then they can neither be empty or full, but rather they have decided to step outside that paradigm and begin to participate in reality's actuality. At least that's how I view it.

 

Aaron

[Marblehead]

Hehehe. Okay. I just didn't want to see any negative thoughts going on in your head.

 

Yes, we have a slight difference of understanding of these concepts but we aren't all that far apart.

 

Hey! How could we be very far apart? We are all One. (Well, so to speak.)

Edited November 24, 2011 by Marblehead

[3bob]

no-thing

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