Philosophical Spice

"Without something, there is no nothing."

The words of Roger Moore emanate from my television's speakers. As his character, "The Chief," hangs up the phone, the movie continues, and so does my head (albeit in completely different directions). I'm left on my bed with my dog thinking those words over again. It's a simple concept, but not one that gets a lot of conscious thought. What is nothing, but the absence of things? If there weren't anything, than there couldn't be a nothing. Nothing seems to be a "thing" all by itself. It's definable. It exists. Does it?

If you ask someone what takes up the space in between things, they're probably going to either tell you "nothing," or "air." I'm inclined to count myself among the "air" people. If there is nothing all around me, then what am I breathing in? The air we breathe in takes up all the little spaces, all the little cracks. What is wind? Does "nothing" exist only as a concept? Is it just a word we use to describe the absence of things? As in, "I've had nothing to eat today." We don't really need a word for that. Wouldn't it be just as valid to say that you hadn't eaten?

The word stems, in the humble opinion of a 22 year-old child, from our need as a species to categorize beyond categorization. We need a word for everything so we know what neat little box to put things in. Life is big and scary. There are so many questions in this universe we have no way of answering, and that drives our arrogance crazy. How dare there be something we don't entire comprehend. "Nothing," then also becomes a term of dismissal. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

What plays with my head even more is noticing where all these thoughts are coming from. In 1997, Roger Moore had a very small part in a movie that I put on because I had a bad night and needed something to cheer me up. That movie?

Spice World.

It made me realize not to discount anything as trivial or pointless. If a campy movie about an over-hyped pop group can spark that kind of thought in you, anything can. Things are only as pointless as we deem them to be, and that's our own fault and no one else's. It's so easy to become pretentious, especially in intellectual and religious types. If I don't see the deeper point behind something, then there isn't one.

The real job here lies in creating a deeper point for yourself. It's all there, you just have to make the decision to see it. I'm not even saying that everything has to have some deep, life-altering meaning in it. But if you want it, it's there.

It's like so many other things. We like to blame others for the things we miss out on. If I don't get something deep and meaningful out of a song/movie/book/experience, it's their fault for not having one. If I'm not happy, it's someone else's fault for keeping me down. If I wake up one morning mad because I'm 60 and I'm not happy with what I've done with my life, it's your fault for marrying me and keeping me down.

If you're miserable, you're choosing to be. I've met too many people in absolutely horrible conditions and states in their life, and the capacity to be happy is still there. Is it easier to be miserable? Not long term, but it definitely takes less work in the moment. If I get to blame external factors for my misery, I am refusing to see that I have any control over it.

It's like the prisoner who resents the world for the fact that he's being held captive, but doesn't know the door (though closed) is unlocked. All he has to do is get up off the floor and push, and the door will open and he's free. But then what will he do?

Once we know we can choose to live our lives the way we want; once we accept that we ultimately control the things we do (and the way we feel doing them), there is an inherent responsibility to take action. For the most part, we don't want to take action. We want to stay stuck where people can tell us what to do and how to live our lives so that when things go wrong we don't have to look at ourselves.

Sorry kids, it's not that easy.