Nothing is as Nothing does...

Sitting here on my break this afternoon I am reminded of a warm spring afternoon spent in Buddhism class, years ago. Our Professor, Dr. Kawamura, was explaining (with some inner glee, I might add) the concept of 'nothing' to a classroom full of almost entirely western thinking people. Now, for most western brainers, certain Buddhist concepts are hard to relate to, and the idea that nothing exists (or doesnt exist) is no exception. I was enjoying the "discussion" maybe as much as my Prof was, as one of my class mates persisted to argue that "nothing" really did, in fact, exist. "Ofcourse nothing exists," she postulated, "It is right here, everywhere around us. Even nothing is something."

Dr Kawamura smiled sagely until her rant had finished, and then he calmly said, "Well, you had better be careful walking to the door (gesturing widely to the big empty space between her and the door) because you might bump into it."

Hmmm. I wonder if bumping into nothing would hurt. Or not...