More About Nothing

I've got nothing on my mind.

Take a look at the sky and imagine the Universe. I've just read that scientists have determined that all the clutter out there, stars, moons, planets, etc. and all the elements they are composed of, represent less than 5% of what's there. The remaining 95% is nothing. They have given the nothing names, dark energy and dark matter, but it is really still nothing, invisible, unidentified, unknown.

I love a mystery. When you've got that much of something, even if it is nothing, it has to make you wonder. If 95% of the Everything is nothing we may have a really useful, and obviously abundant, resource to work with, so let's put our heads together and think about nothing. I do it by myself all the time.

Lao Tsu, who used to pitch for the Taoists and was a contemporary of Confucius, was a big fan of nothing. He said: Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub; it is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; it is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; it is the holes which make it useful. Therefore profit comes from what is there; usefulness from what is not there. Which, he added, is why you never draw to an inside straight. It just isn't there. It is clear then, that nothing is good for something. We just need to figure out what.

Scientists also point out that as the universe expands, that is, as nothingness expands, it will ultimately be sameness, starless and lifeless...forever. Another famous philosopher, Woody Allen, after noting this, laments, "More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroad. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." Alrighty then, Woody.

I've got nothing to do today and that's okay with me. Doing nothing from time to time is an important part of remaining helathy according to Larry Dossey, M.D., whose book "The Extraordinary Healing Powers of Ordinary Things" could use a shorter title, but includes a chapter on nothing. Since being healthy is something I want to continue to be, I'm going to proactively do nothing as often as I can.

I'm just not sure I know how.