Does nothingness exist?

Two friends, two opposite views of life. Roger, an atheist, believes we are headed for nothingness — until Tom asks him a simple question: what is nothingness? So begins the conversation that gives rise to this entire path.

This story is presented in the form of a supposed dialogue between two friends — Tom and Roger — with completely different views on life.

After a brief silence, Roger asks:

— Tom, why do you keep defending the existence of God? There is no scientific proof of God, so I do not believe in Him. I only believe in what I see and in what science proves. Get ready, my friend, get ready for the end, for nothingness.

Tom laughs at his friend's dramatic tone and asks:

— So we are going into nothingness? What is nothingness?

Roger takes his friend's question like a punch in the stomach and, surprised by what Tom has asked, replies:

— Nothingness is nothingness, it is non-existence, it is the void.

Tom, who already expected his friend's answer, asks:

— You say that the existence of God has no scientific proof, so it makes no sense to believe in His existence. But what about nothingness — does nothingness have scientific proof?

Roger, once again surprised by Tom's question, replies:

— Tom, stop philosophising. That question of yours makes no logical sense. Of course nothingness exists, everyone knows that.

Tom asks further:

— How can nothingness have scientific proof if it does not exist? Yes, nothingness does not exist, my dear Roger. And even though nothingness does not exist — which obviously means it has no scientific proof — you still believe in its existence.

— It does not exist? — asks Roger, incredulous at his friend's statement — Of course it exists. If something exists, then nothingness must exist too. Nothingness is the opposite of everything.

— Now it is you who are philosophising, Roger. Nothingness does not exist. Since it does not exist, it cannot have scientific proof. Think with me: does man know everything about everything?

Roger answers quickly:

— Of course not, what nonsense, we are very far from knowing everything about everything, if we are ever able to know everything about everything at all.

Tom then asks:

— How, then, can you believe in the existence of nothingness? How can you speak of nothingness if you do not know everything? How can you consider nothingness to be the final destiny of the soul?

Roger is astonished by his friend's argument and says:

— Such a thing had never crossed my mind.

— That is natural — Tom replies — Few people devote themselves to such reasoning. Almost everyone lives a very mechanical life: they are born, they grow, and they depart from this life without ever having questioned this order of ideas.

Roger, clinging to a lifeline like a drowning man to sustain his atheistic thinking, says:

— Wait a moment, Tom. There is something you are missing.

— What? — asks his friend.

— Science speaks of the vacuum and, more recently, quantum physics speaks of the quantum vacuum. Is that not nothingness? — asks Roger.

— For someone who does not know everything, yes, the vacuum, or the quantum vacuum, could indeed be nothingness. But it is not. And as we have already concluded, no one knows everything about everything.

Roger, not entirely satisfied, insists:

— But Tom, does quantum physics not show that there are events which happen without a cause? Particles that arise spontaneously from the vacuum, without any apparent reason? Would that not be proof that chance exists and that nothingness can produce something?

Tom answers calmly:

— That is an excellent question, Roger, and it shows that you keep yourself informed. But there are two errors here that must be separated. First, the quantum vacuum is not nothingness — it is a field of energy with well-defined properties, governed by precise mathematical laws. A field of energy with laws is not nothingness, it is something. Second, when quantum physics speaks of events without an apparent cause, the key word is apparent. It means that we do not yet know the cause, not that the cause does not exist. It is the same principle as nothingness and chance — they express the limit of our knowledge, not the absence of reality.

Roger falls silent for a few moments and says:

— So the quantum vacuum, far from being proof of nothingness, is one more proof that there is always something rather than nothing.

— Exactly — says Tom — The question is not what quantum physics still cannot explain, but that everything it discovers confirms the same thing: there is always order, there is always law, there is always something.

— Yes, that is true, but just as I cannot say that nothingness exists, you also cannot affirm that nothingness does not exist. Right?

Tom looks at his friend and says:

— My friend Roger, in a way I can, because to this day there is no scientific evidence that could point us to the existence of nothingness. And we have already realised that the vacuum, or the quantum vacuum, is not evidence of the existence of nothingness. On the other hand, if you think about nothingness, you realise that it is nothing more than a completely abstract concept, devoid of any meaning. It is truly an absurdity.

Roger is impressed by his friend's reasoning. He never expected the conversation to lead him to clash head-on with his own convictions and to reconsider them.

When Roger was about to speak, Tom says:

— There are completely absurd expressions that people commonly use. Some people say, for example, I want a roll with nothing, or I want a roll without nothing. The correct thing would be to say: I want a roll without anything. A roll without anything is a roll without any other food or ingredient.

— That makes sense — says Roger — We often use certain expressions to which we pay not the slightest attention. They are absurd expressions, repeated from generation to generation, without ever being abolished from everyday vocabulary.

— A great truth, Roger. When we do not know that we are using an absurd expression, how can we eliminate it from our vocabulary?

Roger, settling comfortably on the sofa, says:

— I confess that I was very impressed by your reasoning on the question of nothingness.

Tom takes the glass of Port wine that his friend hands him and says:

— It is understandable that it should be so. One of the great pillars of atheism has been destroyed. Yes, I am referring to nihilism.

Roger, curious, asks:

— Nihilism? Explain that to me better.

— Nihilism is the belief that existence has no meaning, purpose or value. And its ultimate foundation is precisely nothingness — the idea that in the end everything dissolves into the void. If nothingness does not exist, nihilism loses the ground on which it stands. There is no way to argue that existence is meaningless if there is no nothingness to receive it in the end.

Roger, taking a sip of his wine, says:

— But I remain an atheist. It is not because nothingness does not exist that I abandon my conviction.

Tom laughs and says:

— I expected that from you, my friend. So, after death, where do we go? You can no longer say that we go into nothingness.

Roger already expected his friend's question and says:

— It is true, I can no longer say that we go into nothingness. But we simply cease to exist.

Tom, taking something to eat, states:

— No, my dear Roger! Neither the body nor the soul ceases to exist. The body is transformed; the soul is a matter for another conversation.

Roger, intrigued, says:

— Transformed? Explain that to me.

— Science itself tells us that energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is only transformed. The physical body, after death, does not disappear — its elements return to nature, they are transformed. The matter that constitutes us existed before us and will continue to exist after us. Therefore, not even on the physical plane is there annihilation. There is transformation. The question of the soul, that indeed will be left for another conversation.

Roger laughs and, also taking something to eat, says:

— If the soul is a creation of God, and God does not exist, then no soul exists either.

Excerpt from the work The Great Discovery, by César Manuel Malainho de Oliveira.
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