Notes on Zero

1) Phenomena, in order to appear, require noumenal space within which to appear. Though certainly it had already been intuitively cognized previously for millenia, the birth of 'zero' as a philosophical and mathematical concept took place when awareness of this noumenal space, in which phenomena have their being, was first articulated coherently in some practical sense. As a friend and I discussed recently, it was the Indians who first articulated the concept of zero.

2) More importantly, for a more intimate perspective: What we are in reality is this very noumenal space, or Void, in which the whole manifestation, the entire universe and all of life, appears.

3) Not only the cosmos but also our bodies and our mental activities appear within this noumenal space that we are. The body that we call our own is as much a part of the visual display as a tree or a shooting star, having its own ephemeral place among appearances. Our thoughts and feelings, too, are equally a part of this display, and our incessant self-talk makes up a large portion of the 'soundtrack'.

4) But to all of these phenomena are applied the words 'neti, neti', meaning 'not this, not this'. That is, we are not these appearances but are that to which and within which they appear.

5) Thoroughly experiencing, not just conceptually understanding, our own phenomenal (physical and psychological) absence is what is meant by transcending body consciousness, going beyond the body idea. The body, along with the sense of separate selfhood, appears phenomenally within the empty and boundless space, an emptiness called the Void, which is the true 'self'.

6) You are the single imperceivable no-thing in which countless perceived 'things' appear and disappear, arising and subsiding - and this imperceivable no-thing that you are is refered to in mathematics as 'zero'.

7) This is also what 'higher than the highest and lower than the lowest' alludes to, as do 'smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest' and 'nearer than the nearest and farther than the farthest', all well known yogic descriptions of the imponderable nature of what some call God and others call Mind. Smaller and lower and nearer than all because there is absolutely no-thing there, "it" is truly dimensionless. And yet it is also higher and greater and farther than all because it is, in a sense, the Nth dimension, the immeasurable womb of emptiness out of which the measurable dimensions flow. Thus all perceived phenomena are wholly contained within and enveloped by this no-thing that we in reality are, be they galaxies, mountains, mole hills, our own daydreams, an ocean, quanta, or a grain of salt.

8) Consider where 'you' were one year before you were born, and also where 'you' will be one year after you die. Think about that 'presence as absence' as you contemplate this line from Wei Wu Wei:

"I am the presence of the absence of all that seems to be."

9) The word 'kha' means void, vacuum, or space in Sanskrit. It also indicates the empty space at the hub of a wheel, the space through which the axle which holds the wheel in place and on course is inserted, allowing the wheel to go around and roll smoothly. When the axle and the 'kha' space fit well and the wheel turns smoothly, we call it 'sukha' - which is to say 'happiness'. When the 'kha' space and the axle are poorly fitted, and the ride is rough as a result, we call it 'dukkha' - which is to say 'suffering'. So what gets into the empty kha space and causes the wheel of suffering to turn so roughly? Self-sense, or ego; the fear-based body consciousness which is the mother of the 'me and mine'.

10) 'Kha' in Sanskrit shares the same Indo-European root as English words like excavate, cavity, cavern, and cave of the heart.

11) Think of a stainless, flawless mirror, void of images yet capable of reflecting anything presented before it perfectly. Suddenly, however, rather than reflecting objects appearing somewhere outside it, this perfect mirror is now generating countless streams of images arising right within itself. Of course that empty mirror, stainless, void, free of all "images", is you, the real you. Consciousness arises quite spontaneosly as images, and you call this your 'birth', lending to the spotless mirror a series of sensory patterns out of which narratives grow, and with these narratives an I-sense, which is the sense of self called ego. Suddenly, after 25, 59, or 92 years of serialized self-imagery, all on their own these streams of sensory images spontaneously subside, run out, disappear, and this is what we call death. The self-narrative no longer has sensory input with which to sustain the sense of self, and the ego which relies on this input now finds itself insubstantial and redundant. "I am not the 'I' I thought I was!" And now the ego, along with its independance, its individuality, and its personhood, dissolves like a lump of salt in the ocean of non-being. The stainless mirror, the no-thing that you really are, once again free and clear of reflections, remains unchanged: zero.

12) Imagine a "frameless" window. (Don't imagine a wall). That frameless window is where you experience Consciousness. Everything that passes before the frameless window of your Consciousness is what you are conscious of. But it is you who are the frameless space in which Consciousness arises, manifests creation, and in time disappears. You are the frameless space which abides with or without the Consciousness, and that is precisely where and when the 'here and now' meet eternity.