Practical Uses
Applying These Principles to Everyday Life
The discovery of “nothing” is deceptively simple, yet a challenge to comprehend. It states that the universe and everything we experience, including life itself, is based on the inescapable connectedness of the physical and non-physical; of the balanced relationship between ‘something’ and ‘nothing’.
Like the fundamental makeup of the computer in which electrical charges that are positive (1) and negative (0) determine every calculation, command and process, from the simplest to the most complex, so does the fundamental structure of all life and the entire universe. The zero (0) has equal power with the one (1) in all systems. Neither component can function or create any result without the other.
Observing and explaining this obvious fact – a fact that has inexplicably eluded western observers, thinkers, scientists and philosophers for centuries – calls for a new assessment of how we perceive and understand our world and a major revision of some very basic laws of physics. The act of discovering that “nothing” is equally important and inseparable from “something” in today’s world can be compared with how a creature from a two-dimensional “flatland” might react when encountering the third dimension for the first time. Imagine the confusion, denial, disbelief, fear and other thought processes the creature might experience in the face of such a totally unfamiliar and inconceivable idea.
The question is, how does this knowledge affect us? Of what practical value is it? How will understanding these principles influence how you and I conduct our day-to-day lives? Our first response is likely to be “so what? Ordinary people aren’t concerned with such things”. Or, “This is too deep for me. I’ll leave it to the scientists to determine what to do with such information”.
The following excerpts from Lyle Jacobson’s book discovery of nothing are intended to illuminate and explain how this simple, yet all-pervading principle does affect your life and mine. It defines how our lives, our actions, our emotions and our basic values are determined every day by what we have been taught to believe about “reality”. What are the implications of learning that what we were taught and universally believe was not correct? That we have focused on only half of reality and failed to notice or comprehend the other half?
As you read these brief explanations, use your own powers of reasoning and decide for yourself.
On Success
“Truly successful people, of necessity, create successes for others and are part of the success of others. Within our own natural selfishness as individuals, there is value provided to others. True success comes from exchanging the value of solutions – yours for theirs. It is not a one-way flow. Those who build meaningful lives for themselves will of necessity add meaning to the lives of others. Long-term success in our time requires one person’s success to be a part of another person’s success. Self-motivation includes the spin-off of motivating others. Perhaps the concept of 'selfishness' should be re-defined. Selfish acts of providing solutions for ourselves can become market products, which in turn, are purchased to become selfish products for the solution of others.”
On Love
“Love is a value we place on the decisions we make to be where we want to be. Love and life are related because the love of arrival is what gives us life and is life. In contrast, we abhor the opposite of life and love: death and hate. Death and hate are the problems. Love and life are the solutions created out of these problems. The things we most dislike become the principal problems in our life. Problems are a form of death – obstacles we dislike – which are necessary opposites of life and love. Death and our dislikes are problems and obstacles on the path to life and love and the things we like. The force of repulsion is then against us; nevertheless, we use repulsion and the impossible in creating life and the possible. Death is a ‘0’ that may be replaced with a ‘1’ of life.
The root source of love can be found in one’s ability to absorb through being absorbed. In such a case, “I want to fill (1) your spaces (0) so you can fill (1) my spaces (0)” and, conversely, “you want to fill (1) my spaces (0) so I can fill (1) your spaces (0)”. A reciprocal value is created. Love is a value-for-value exchange. You allow me to be where I want to be and simultaneously I allow you to be where you want to be. The 1s of each person use the 0s of each person to reach a fill for both persons. The 1s of each have displaced the 0s of each. When two friends embrace each other, the empty of each is filled. The physical of each other organizes the space next to each other and is filled by each other. The ‘0’ of death has been replaced by the’1’ of life for both.”
On Men and Women
"In the Hindu religion, the god Shiva is represented as half female (punya or prakrti) and half male (papa or purasa). In a larger sense all the constructions in nature are part of these male/female, positive/negative opposites. These same terms in ancient Chinese culture are expressed as 'Yin' and 'Yang'. All containers are created to build the 'Punya' or 'Yin' (0) so it can reach the 'Papa' or 'Yang' (1). We differentiate the male and female of our species primarily by how nature built us for procreation. It takes little i magination to envision why the female represents the '0' and the male represents the '1' in the act of fertilization that brings new life.
The female is only empty prior to the fill. With the growth of new life she is in a positive (1) male condition. Human reproduction has created the primary differences between males and females. All other fluctuations we engage in are the same. Both sexes fill (male) and empty (female) with the same type organs and tissues and both sexes fill and empty the pathways and containers of civilization. The rules of emission and absorption are carried out and applied in the same way by both sexes, except for procreation. The female has this added ability of oscillation (procreation) that males do not.”
On Human Sexuality
“The sexual act of all creatures is a dramatic example of an oscillation that demonstrates the fundamental base for all other oscillations. The purpose of what we do is to reach the fill of absorption. The question arises, if the fill is the purpose of the sexual act, then why don’t we just fill and remain in the filled position? The pleasure is in the fill and in order to experience it again and again, we come to the empty again and again. This is an elegant expression of principle and the reason for universal action.
All structures are designed for the construction of an empty to reach the fill. A female construction is designed to be filled by the male. Some females are destined to be filled only once, but the most successful females continue to empty so they can return to the fill. To reach a fill for ourselves is what we enjoy in life. The empty is what we dislike, but it's necessary to return to the fill that we like.
To seek alternative positions during sexual intercourse is to search for a better fill for each. The attempt is to absorb better by being absorbed. The better I fill my spaces the better you fill yours. The same driving force is behind our actions outside of sexual encounters. Our life is devoted to building better females (holes) with better emptying processes so we can return to the male (fill) in a more rapid and complete way. Nature continually confronts us with new problems that require us to build new solutions. Our continued existence demands this male and female improvement and is the reason why we evolve.”
On Morality
“In discussing moral with its opposite, I will contrast morality with non-morality. A precise definition of non-morality is key to arriving at a rational concept of morality. In defining moral and non-moral it is important to attain consistency without demanding that one person’s morality be the same for all others. When any “morality” is forced upon an individual, the force creates coercion and a slave condition for that individual. Whenever force is used to establish “morality”, it imposes upon society what others have decided is moral. When morality is forced upon an individual, he/she does not have a moral condition of his/her own choosing.
The definitions of moral and non-moral are synonymous with the definitions of freedom and non-freedom (slavery). Human freedom is the success of reaching human absorption, which is the ability to fill human spaces. Non-freedom (slavery) is the failure to reach absorption and the filling of human spaces. The opposites of freedom and non-freedom are interchangeable with the opposites of moral and non-moral. This interchangeability between antonyms is a derivative of the binary (0-and-1) foundation of nature. The definitions of moral and non-moral are designed to replace traditional concepts of morality and non-morality. To remove the devastating consequences of traditional morality will require a fundamental change in thinking.”
On the Marketplace
“The marketplace is an example of the fluctuations of death and life, problems and solutions, hate and love. The market is composed of buyers and sellers. The sellers offer life, solutions, and the things we like. The buyers are buying to eliminate the negatives of death, problems and the things they dislike.
Why does the seller sell these solutions to the buyer? The prior existence of the negatives for the buyer motivates the seller to procure these positive solutions. The ‘0’ of the buyer’s negatives is necessary for the seller’s procurement and sale of the positive (1). The seller recognizes that his success is based on solving the problems of the buyer. The seller provides the ‘1’ of the solution for the displacement of the buyer’s ‘0’ of the problem. Without the ‘0’ of death, problems and the things we dislike, we would not have a marketplace in which to offer the ‘1’ of solutions, life and the things we like. In fact we would not even have a civilization.”
On ‘Selfishness’
“Selfish motivation is the process for the individual self to reach a filling and absorbing process. To many this may appear to be a selfish act. Many people believe selfishness is a deplorable human trait. But the necessity of a marketplace to attain high quality living and long-term survival indicates that the selfish desires of human absorption must be accompanied by providing absorption for something or someone else. To be selfish in an effective way is to provide selfish situations for others. The market creates this situation through the trading of selfish desires. Without a selfish nature, humans would not exist. The ability to co-exist is a direct result of the selfish acts of creating value for ourselves and then using this value to trade for the value generated by the selfish acts of others. All value arises from the effort involved in self-created problems leading to self-created solutions.”
On ‘Non-Selfishness’
“Those acts where someone only gives to others may appear to be non-selfish. But in such cases, the giver is also the receiver. The enjoyment of giving comes from a selfish motivation. Humans live to enjoy the gain of spatial fulfillment. It may appear that some others live to inflict pain upon themselves, but in some way their final goal is to gain spatial fulfillment. For many, the selfish gain of mental rewards is sufficient spatial fulfillment. Selfish motivation is to reach a fill for oneself; however, the fills necessary for human survival are those successful fills for oneself that also provide successful fills for others.”
On Freedom and Sharing
“Human Freedom (1) represents the success of the ‘1’ in using the ’0’ through the forces of attraction and repulsion. When emission and motion for people are successful in reaching absorption, they have freedom. Freedom is the use of human action in filling human space with the physical (1) of choice.
Human Slavery (0) is the failure to use the ‘1’ and ‘0’ successfully in reaching absorption. Slavery means repulsion is not used as an effective guide for attraction to proceed. The 1-and-0 of people who are enslaved have reached 1-on-1 and 0-on-0 encounters. They lack the ability for attraction (0-to-1 and 1-to-0) to proceed with emission reaching absorption. Slavery (0) is human inaction in not filling human space with the physical 1 of space.
Contrary to popular opinion, slavery (0) is a necessary prerequisite of freedom (1). The condition of slavery prompts us to learn and achieve the knowledge to attain freedom. Repulsion and not being able to be where we want can result in gaining the knowledge that reveals the motion necessary to arrive at freedom. The ‘0’ of slavery is necessary before it can be filled by the ‘1’ of freedom.”
On Maintaining Life
“The purpose of Chinese medicine is to maintain the flow of life, which is called ch’i. The parts of the human body are represented by Yin and Yang. The Chinese physician aims to keep a balance between Yin and Yang, which keeps the ch’i of life flowing. My interpretation of what ch’i represents is a flow between the emptied Yin and the filled Yang which maintains a balance between emission (empty) and absorption (fill). The ch’i of the flow of life is a balanced flow of a ‘1’ to a ‘0’ and a ‘0’ to a ‘1’. The flow of the human body is a flow between the Yang of life (1) and the Yin of death (0). Ch’i is this necessary oscillation between the ‘0’ of death and the ‘1’ of life.
Hunger and starvation increase the Yin over the Yang and old age is an imbalance in the reverse direction. In old age, the holes (Yin) within us are lost to the debris of unwanted Yangs. If the Yin of the empty (0) is unavailable, we cannot reach the nourishment of the Yang (1) and the filling process. Starvation and the inability to find the Yang (1) of food is a Yin-on-Yin (0-on-0) repulsion. The 0s of the human body are only met by the 0s of no food until in later stages (old age) of our lives the Yang (1) of food loses the availability of the 0s within our bodies. This is another repulsion of Yang-on-Yang (1-on-1). Both types (0-on-0 and 1-on-1) arrive at the same result with the loss of life and the oscillating Yin (0) and Yang (1) of Ch’i. There must be this cyclical pattern of balance between the Yin (female) through emission (excretion) and the Yang (male) through absorption (ingestion).
Corollary #4 is important to each of us because to understand the significance of the Yin (0) will give us direction toward increasing our longevity. If we could create a perfect empty (0) with respect to our system’s emission (elimination) process and also keep the availability of the fill (1) of absorption – food, air, water – there is no reason why we could not live indefinitely. The Ch’i would continue and life would flow on and on.”
On the Purpose of Life
“Some may ask, ‘Is this all there is to the purpose of life?’ Determining the destination and finding a path to reach that destination is the essence of all human challenges. Success, achievement and fulfillment are all reached through the completion of the journey. The ending of a successful journey adds the necessary knowledge (position) to undertake another journey. Continuing success enhances our self-confidence and encourages us to seek and find greater adventures. Positional absorption for the human body is the purpose of human life and the motion of energy is the means to this end. All the energy in nature is directed toward this goal. The direction of motion/energy for reaching position is provided by the forces of attraction and repulsion.
The rewards associated with reaching destinations are not the dull and repetitive daily journeys that often confront us. But these same journeys were once important and exciting moments when these motion-to-position events were first accomplished. The excitement of life is in finding and taking new paths toward new goals. The trodden paths can become boring and uneventful. Excitement follows the unexpected events of attempting new directions. The energy acquired and used for building and traveling on new roads represents the price paid for reaching the life event of position. The price of energy is in the production of energy and the effort required for its use in solving problems during the journey. One of the great human challenges is for us to become galactic absorbers. The motivation for all human action is to fill our spaces for the attainment of human goals. Universal action involves the energy used in reaching absorption. The human mind first establishes mental position (knowledge) and then the mind commands the body’s motion for physical position. The adventures of life spring from new motion-to-position events. This concept of universal purpose provides enough meaning – at least for me – for identifying the purpose of life.”
On Life (1) and Death (0)
“The ability to experience comes from the ability to live. Living includes the experiences of both life and death. Having left the realm of the living, those who die cannot experience their own death. It is only the living who experience life and death. By introducing the ‘0’ we can reach a better identification of life and death. How do we experience death while alive? As will be explained, during an individual’s life, death comes from life and life comes from death. Life and freedom are derived from the ‘1’ and death and slavery are derived from the ‘0’. It is the contrast between pairs of opposites which allows definitions. Freedom (1) defines slavery (0) and slavery (0) defines freedom (1). Life (1) defines death (0) and death (0) defines life (1). The ‘1’ defines the’ 0’ and the ‘0’ defines the ‘1’. This interchangeable relationship between the ‘1’ of life and the ‘1’ of freedom and the ‘0’ of death and the ‘0’ of slavery – as well as all opposites – is created by the ‘0’ and ‘1' base for all opposites.
Life (1) depends upon our action and success at using the forces of repulsion and attraction to reach the emission and absorption phases of choice. Life springs from the action leading to the success of filling our spaces. The ‘0’ is replaced by the ‘1'.
Death (0) involves our inaction and failure to utilize these two forces of attraction and repulsion to reach the emission and absorption phases of choice. Death is the inaction that does not lead to the filling of our spaces. The ‘1’ is not replaced by the ‘0’.
What happens when those near and dear to us die? They continue to be dear but they are no longer near. While living, they brought life to us because we were able to move toward and reach absorption with them. They fill our spaces as we fill their spaces. To absorb includes the act of being absorbed. A love that works is reciprocal because to love another is part of the ability to be loved by that same other.”
On Hot and Cold
“All opposite are related to each other through the ‘0’ and the ‘1’. Hot and cold are opposites. Hot has a greater frequency of in and out processes than does cold. To produce a hot area means transferring greater motion/energy from one area to another. Hot is motion/energy input that also produces cold from an adjacent energy output. Having a hot area also means having a cold area.
For motion/energy to arrive, it must depart elsewhere. Arrival without departure is impossible. The hot of more energy also produces the cold of less energy. A hot condition with the addition (+) of energy in one area means a cold condition with the subtraction (-) of energy in another area. Excess hot must yield somewhere else a deficit cold, and a deficit cold must yield somewhere else an excess hot. The compaction of hot generates the rarefaction of cold. Thus, balance and symmetry is maintained.”
On Order versus Disorder
“In housecleaning, the “goal” is to return order (1) and disorder (0) to the proper state of readiness so these 1-and-0 states can be readily exchanged. Housecleaning creates a balance for reaching emission-to-absorption events of choice. A dirty dish requires washing to bring it back to the disordered (0) and empty negative state before the dish can reach another ordered (1) and filled positive state. For human survival, it is important to keep these 0-and-1 states ready for use. Humans cannot fill other systems or fill their own systems unless the prior empty stage (disorder) is available to them. Nature requires this 0-and-1 balance for a stable universe. The question follows: With this new binary perspective of order and disorder, how can the universe reach a total state of disorder (entropy) when DISORDER must always be in balance with ORDER – the opposite of entropy? Opposites must always be in balance. Interpreting nature’s laws is entirely different when the 0s are entirely coequal with the 1s.
Disorder is defined as the empty anti-matter state of any object and order is defined as the filled matter state of any object. This definition of order and disorder defines a universe that is in an overall balanced state. Frequency is the emission and absorption oscillation that each structure uses for survival. When order-and-disorder exchanges do not occur, then the structures will make way for other structures that produce this equilibrium.”
On “Messes”
“Our entire lives involve making messes and cleaning them up. A mess follows the enjoyment or gain of “making” the mess in the first place. Satisfaction is found in the utilization and occupation of spaces (holes) that are necessary for humans to fill. When the filling process of order is complete, the displaced items that remain are perceived as unwanted disorder. However, the real disorder is the ‘0’ of the empty containers (for example shelves) where the now unused items belong for their proper storage. By replacing these items where they belong for storage, we restore order to the storage containers by filling their holes. When we return our unused food on the table to the refrigerator shelves, the refrigerator now has more order because its spaces are filled. The table now has more disorder because its spaces are unfilled. It may appear that a return to a clean empty space on the table would represent order instead of disorder, but the cleaning and maintenance of the table’s holes maintains disorder by creating more space (0) so that the fill of order (1) can be readily accomplished again. By restoring order through filling the storage containers, we have cleaned up the “mess”. The cleaning of the mess from the table’s surface now brings us back to an empty disordered state necessary for another filled and orderly state.
Where humans fill spaces, they replace disorder with order and where spaces are emptied, they replace order with disorder. Having access to well-maintained spaces is having access to orderly (fill) processes. We usually consider a clean and well maintained spatial area as “orderly”: However, the space is disorderly because it enables greater accessibility for the occupation of order. We clean to provide the disordered state with the possibility (1-to-0) of reaching the ordered state.”
The foregoing excerpts from the book discovery of nothing serve to illustrate how an understanding of the inherent binary principles of every aspect of life can be successfully applied to how we think, act and live every day for our betterment. It takes little imagination, for example, to extend Jacobson’s explanation of life and death as a continual balanced process between emptying and filling into the areas of wellness and sickness.
Every part of our physical body, from muscles and bones, organs and cells to blood circulation and oxygen distribution, involve the intricate exchange of filling holes (0) with nutrients and life-sustaining elements (1) while emptying filled spaces (0) with unwanted waste and toxic substances. The more complete and balanced our emptying equals our filling, the better state of health we maintain and the longer our potential for sustaining our very life in a perfect natural state.