|
THIS PIECE GOES WITH THE THEME OF THE
THEOLOGY PAGES:
We start, then, with
nothing, pure zero. But
this is not the nothing of
negation. For not means other
than, and other is merely a
synonym of the ordinal numeral
second. As such it implies a first;
while the present pure zero is
prior to every first. The nothing
of negation is the nothing of
death, which comes second to, or
after, everything. But this pure
zero is the nothing of not having
been born. There is no individual
thing, no compulsion, outward
nor inward, no law. It is the
germinal nothing, in which the
whole universe is involved or
foreshadowed. As such, it is
absolutely undefined and
unlimited possibility --
boundless possibility. There is no
compulsion and no law. It is
boundless freedom.
Charles S. Peirce, "The Origin of the Universe" (1898)
|