The Philosophy Tales - The Quest
In the depths and wisdom of space, at the edge of reality, a lone man travelled across a strange land in the pursuit of something great. It seemed his search had lasted as long as time extended; travelling over six hundred thousand plethrons; which was a long, long way. Despite his old age he was not weary, nor did he waver as his belief in something greater had kept him strong. It had kept him alive! The land he travelled across was by far the most treacherous. Freezing winds as strong as a herd of wild horses stampeded over his blistered body. The hail like bullets battered down upon land and sea. The sky emerged as a shattered mirror, the ground a pebbled desert of glass and the whole world was a luminous white.
Qqqcccrrrrkkk! A jagged crack suddenly ripped through the ice; parting the floor beneath him into two. “Argh!” he shouted as he nearly fell in, but instead hung by the strap of his bag from a shard. Being an experienced traveller, he was equipped with all sorts of gadgets and tools. Carefully, he manoeuvred around and pulled out his durable ice pick then used it to climb to safety. It would have been a long way down, but he soldiered on, prepared for any battle, persevering.
The seasons were different there. The moon would never fully rise above the surface, nor would the sun and the planets appeared as though they were crashing toward where he be. Consequently, the days and nights were much shorter, with dusk and dawn seemingly lasting forever. He hardly slept, and awoke each time by a siren like howl of a carnivorous creature; a kindred traveller.
Hoowwwlllll! This time, he was already awake. He had not stopped, sensing the proximity of the 'Great Something' was close. As he reached the peak of a humongous mountain that had taken many weeks to venture up, a peculiar noise swept passed the fragile hairs that lined his ear canal; a silent ringing persisted . The strong forces of nature seemed to immediately subside and he thought his eyes blurred the view. Removing his shield from his aged face, some of his skin was removed with it. Tiny crystals had formed in the wrinkled crevices of his blemished countenance and his lips were chapped blue. He rubbed his eyes trying to focus, squinting into the distance. There was nothing wrong with his eyes.
"Hergh," he gasped, as shock overcame him; travelling down his frozen nerves, cracking his insides. He wailed in pain with every muscle left in his body, but no object was present to give this act to the ear. The silence travelled endlessly. There, in front of him, his belief was realised. It was 'The Great Something'. “Ex Nihilo" he mouthed, it was 'The Nothing'. Before him, all around, there was emptiness. He looked back at the battered land and at this point, at this peak, the world seemed to dissipate into 'The Nothing'; turning gaseous and intangible, before vanishing. Equally, the world seemed to emanate from 'The Nothing:' forming, solidifying and hardening.
The bold traveller removed his ragged glove from his left hand, exposing his tender flesh to the bitterness of the cold and reached slowly out into the unknown. Unbelievably, his hand seemed to run away from him like water rushing over a fall. He suddenly retracted, scared 'The Nothing' would cast his hand into the abyss. However, his hand was intact. “How can this be?” he questioned, “How can 'The Nothing' create this world?” Standing on the borders of this contradiction he wondered if he himself, at that moment, was being created or destroyed.
'Aha! Maybe,' he thought, 'it was just that things had never travelled any further then this point. So, if I throw something into 'The Nothing' then there may be something.' This seemed to be a half reasonable hypothesis to make. 'Now, what something shall I throw?' he thought to himself, looking about. He hesitated for a minute, not quite sure, and then he picked up an icy rock from beneath his feet. Giving himself enough space he threw the rock as hard as he could into 'The Nothing', his body nearly flew with it. He closely watched on like a hawk watches its prey as the rock fragmented into a rainbow of light, glowing with every imaginable and unimaginable colour possible then finally disappeared. His fear was confirmed and 'The Nothing' remained.
Behind him the day was already turning to night. The sun and the moon set; the stars rose, yet all remained still before him. He could not sleep, even if he wanted to. How could he have? He wore his bemusement with such intensity. How utterly baffling this all was. Straining his wits he thought, 'If the rock, could not travel through 'The Nothing', does that mean that the sun cannot travel through nothing either, but only through something? How can this make sense? How can anything move if there is always something in its way?' The world had become a plenum of glass pebbles on the edge of a vacuum according to reason. Maybe it was his mind that created such nonsense. Perhaps it was his belief that had caused such events. Perhaps indeed it was.
The traveller believed there was something greater, yet he did not know what that something was. Obviously his belief had led him here, but did his belief in the 'Great Something' cause 'The Nothing'? Did his belief create 'The Great Incomprehensible Nothing?' 'The Nothing' certainly was great, but was 'The Nothing', something? The simple answer is no. The bold traveller believed in a 'Great Something' not in 'The Great Nothing'. Conclusively, as 'The Nothing' wasn't something he dismissed this idea as absurd.
In turmoil the man reflected on his life and his journey; the journey he had taken to find what he had always sought; something great. But now, with aching bones and a heart full of dismay, he had failed to understand it. Standing on the edge of reality, where the darkness never looked so full of life and the stars and the moon so bright, he thought ‘how could all of this be possible?’ And was there any meaning to any of it? He would be hopeful if there was even a speck of meaning in this void. The bold traveller had realised how much he does not know, if anything at all apart from that.
Frustrated, angry and confused his blood rushed away from his brain, and furiously flowed to the core of his heart. 'I must know.' he thought in a state of intense conviction. Taking a deep breath, sucking every minuscule particle of the world as he was able to into his lungs, he leaped out of the something and into 'The Great Nothing'. Hoooowwwwwlllll! It was morning and the bold traveller was gone. Did he find the answer? No one knows. No living being would come across 'The Nothing' for over five million years. When they did, they did not have to jump in to understand, as they had advanced way beyond the powers of reason we have today, but I will tell you one thing for certain; they did not have even an inkling of passion as the man who made a great leap from belief to knowing.
By Ellese Elliott
Dedicated to Gregory Wood
The Philosophy Takeaway 'Something/Nothing' Issue 24
