The universe, as the sum total of all things and living creatures, is conceived as having its primeval origin in infinite space – Ain (Hebrew for ‘Nothing’), or Para-Brahman (Sanskrit for ‘beyond Brahman’), the Causeless Cause of all manifestation.
The Ain is not a being; it is No-Thing. That which is incomprehensible, unknown, and unknowable does not exist – at least, to be more accurate, insofar as our own consciousness is concerned.
Astronomers and physicists tell us there is more ‘nothing’ in the universe than anything else. In fact, they now say that most of the matter/energy in the cosmos is somehow hiding in all this ‘nothingness’.
In 1933, the American-based Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky (1898-1974) was studying the motions of distant galaxies. Zwicky estimated the total mass of a group of galaxies by measuring their brightness. When he used a different method to compute the mass of the same cluster of galaxies, he came up with a number that was 400 times his original estimate.
This discrepancy in the observed and computed masses is now known as ‘the missing mass problem’. Nobody did much with Zwicky’s finding until the 1970’s, when scientists began to realize that only large amounts of hidden mass could explain many of their observations.
Scientists also realized that the existence of ‘some unseen mass’ would also support theories regarding the structure of the universe. Today, scientists are searching for the mysterious dark matter not only to explain the gravitational motions of galaxies, but also to validate current theories about the origin and the fate of the universe.
In astrophysics, ‘dark matter’ is matter that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation (such as light, X-rays and so on) to be detected directly, but whose presence may be inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter.
Among the observed phenomena consistent with the existence of dark matter are the rotational speeds of galaxies and orbital velocities of galaxies in clusters, gravitational lensing of background objects by galaxy clusters such as the Bullet cluster, and the temperature distribution of hot gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
Dark matter also plays a central role in structure formation and Big Bang nucleo-synthesis, and has measurable effects on the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. All these lines of evidence suggest that galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole contain far more matter than is directly observable, indicating that the remainder is dark.
Cosmologists and physicists from Princeton University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, surveyed the wide range of evidence, which, they write, “is forcing us to consider the possibility that some cosmic dark energy exists that opposes the self-attraction of matter and causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.”
“The universe is made mostly of dark matter and dark energy,” says Saul Perlmutter, leader of the Supernova Cosmology Project headquartered at Berkeley Lab, “and we don’t know what either of them is”. He credits University of Chicago theoretical cosmologist Michael Turner with coining the phrase ‘dark energy’ in an article they wrote together with Martin White of the University of Illinois for Physical Review Letters.
About 22 per cent of the universe is thought to be composed of dark matter. The remaining 74 per cent is thought to consist of dark energy, an even stranger component, distributed diffusely in space. Our everyday type of matter/energy, therefore, only comprises 4 per cent of the universe.
In physical cosmology, ‘dark energy’ is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and has strong negative pressure. According to the theory of relativity, the effect of such a negative pressure is qualitatively similar to a force acting in opposition to gravity at large scales. Invoking such an effect is currently the most popular method for explaining recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate, as well as accounting for a significant portion of the missing mass in the universe.
Two proposed forms for dark energy are (1.) the cosmological constant, a constant energy density filling space homogeneously, and (2.) quintessence, a dynamic field whose energy density can vary in time and space.
Come to think about it, even matter that we can see is really, mostly ‘nothing’. There is infinitely more nothing in an atom than protons, neutrons, and electrons. There is more nothing in our bodies than anything else. We are full of tubes, pockets, sacs, bladders, cavities, chambers, openings, and voids.
Every cell in our bodies is mostly nothing. When a cell starts to divide to produce more cells, it first folds in on itself to create more precious nothing to work with. Even our brains grew out of the nothingness of this embryonic internal disappearing act.
Physicists cannot even say, with any certainty that matter, as most people think of it, exist at all. The components of atoms (protons, neutrons, and electrons) are not matter. They are considered tendencies. Physicists and mystics are now using the same vocabulary, it is only a matter of time before our learned men, and women of science will announce clearly, what Qabalists and Hindu philosophers have been saying cryptically for millennia.
Qabalists say that the true face of God is hidden behind three veils, each infinite and impenetrable. The veils soften the energy of God’s likeness so that Its majesty and perfection do not bring about the end of the universe.
These veils are, by their very definition, beyond our understanding and awareness. They are symbols of our limited ability to understand God.
If we start from before the ‘Centre of All’, the Ultimate Singularity, the Qabalists informs us that it all starts with the three unfathomable qualities of nothingness that in the dawn of pre-creation somehow ended-up contracting to a singular point. These three unfathomable qualities of nothingness or veils are respectively called Ain, Ain Soph, and Ain Soph Aur (in Hebrew). The three levels of nothingness can consequently be described as follows, namely:
· Ain – Undefined nothing (‘Limitless Void’, ‘Negativity’) that is so nothing that it negates the concept of nothing-as-an-absence-of-something. We cannot even say, ‘It is nothing’, because there is no ‘it’ and there is no ‘is’ on this level of nothing (no universe – nothing). This is possibly ‘000’. Is this the time when the eleven dimensions in the scientific M-theory were created, or before?
· Ain Soph – Limitless infinity (multidimensional [?], ‘Limitless’) or defined nothing. There is now an ‘It’ (the empty universe – dark and void) in the statement ‘It is nothing’. This is possibly ‘00’.
· Ain Soph Aur – Limitless Light (Positive Emptiness). There is now an ‘It’ (the empty universe – filled with light) and an ‘is’ in the statement ‘It is nothing’. This is possibly ‘0’.
The three veils are really just one, indivisible, and inseparable Nothing. We split them notionally only to make sense in terms of our human need to classify and understand. What God is in Itself is not given to humans to know. God is the Absolute of faith; existence is the absolute of reason, existence exists by itself, and because it exist. The reason of the existence of existence is existence itself.
Hindu philosophers said for many millennia that God (THAT, or TAT in Sanskrit) is necessarily Unchangeable – their being nothing to change It. Nothing into which it could be changed. Moreover, that there is nothing but Itself that It could be. It being All that is. There is nothing else that It could change Itself into, as there cannot be anything created from nothing. Even THAT could not create Itself into any Reality other than that which It is, anymore than It could change Itself into Nothingness or Non-Reality.
The Hindu philosophers also believe that THAT could not divide Itself into parts, for there was nothing else to divide It. There is nothing by which It could be divided, or with which to separate the parts – moreover, if It were divided there would be two or more THATS or Realities, instead of but one, and Its Infinite nature would be destroyed, something which they deemed impossible. Therefore, it was held that THAT was Unchangeable and Invisible.
These Hindu philosophers asked the following questions, “When the universe disintegrates, what is it that absorbs it? What is the Reality behind, and under the world of change and destruction? Upon what permanent foundation does the universe of impermanency rest? What is there that will still exist though there be no universe; no heavens; no gods; no anything?
The answer agreed upon by the Hindu sages being ‘Infinite Essential Space’. Therefore, ‘empty’ space was considered as a Reality that could not be thought away even by the use of the most powerful imagination. Nevertheless, their conception of space was not that of immense, infinite Nothing – for the Hindu sages abhor ideas of Nothing, and will not admit that Anything can proceed from Nothing – instead, their idea of Essential Space was that of an Actual Reality – an Absolute Substantial Reality from which all things were manifestations, emanations, expressions, or thought forms.
They thought of Infinite Essential Space as a ‘No-thing’, but not as ‘Nothing’. To them Space was not only ‘an infinite capacity for extending objects’, which is the physical aspect of it – but something more – an Infinite Bare Abstract Subjectivity, which the human mind was compelled to admit in all of its conceptions, and yet was unable to think of as ‘in-itself’.
Subsequently, Western philosophers have thought that the Hindu metaphysicians taught that ‘All is Nothing’, but the ‘No-Thingness’ of the Hindu philosophers is very far removed from the ‘Nothingness’ of the Western mind.
It therefore seems that everything proceeded out of this very special ‘Nothing’. This makes ‘Nothing’ the ultimate Creator, not Elohim, or Jehovah, or any other ill-tempered bullies of the Hebrew Old Testament. Therefore, Nothing created God. Nothing is beyond God. Nothing is greater than God is – Absolute Nothing.
You can think about the Elohim creating stuff like crazy; you can think about Jehovah Elohim blowing life into Adam’s nose, you can even think about a devious, stinky cloud killing the firstborn babies in ancient Egypt, but you cannot think about Nothing!
Anything you can think about – anything you can capture and hold in your mind’s eye – is automatically disqualified from infinity hood, or Nothingness, and therefore cannot possibly be the Ultimate Deity!
Qabalistic tradition informs us that everything proceeded from the Great Primordial One, and the Great Primordial One proceeded from a very special kind of Nothing – actually three very special kinds of Nothing – notionally speaking.
It therefore seems that I can think nothing more about Nothing!
Love Tinka