Nothing is Something

The Guardian for this meeting was Raffila Millgrove. The comments are by Raffila Millgrove.

Raffila Millgrove: Hello Raffi! Nice to see you.
Raffila Millgrove: Hi. You too.
Raffila Millgrove: Would you like to address the theme of this week?
Raffila Millgrove: Oh yes. I would. Thank you.
Raffila Millgrove: Storm suggested i used this space to express a thought today.
Raffila Millgrove: Please go ahead.
Raffila Millgrove listens to Raffi
Raffila Millgrove: As the new kid on the block, I am not too well-acquainted with the active guardians. Listening at chats on this week's theme, I have not yet heard anyone speak of their 'tradition' as atheism. Although there maybe some who don't currently follow or believe in the traditions of a specific religion, it seems that most were brought up in a household where someone held a faith.
Raffila Millgrove says please continue
Raffila Millgrove: Because I have had over 20 years of exposure to a rigorous, intense tradition of atheism, I felt it might be helpful to indicate that atheism also can be a tradition, one we might wish to acknowledge as we are considering this week's theme. I had a concern it was likely to be overlooked.
Raffila Millgrove: At a PaB chat, attempting to present this viewpoint, I found myself clarifying, repeating. I wondered if the words I used were not up to the task. Was there resistance to the concept that "nothing is something"? I am not sure.
Raffila Millgrove: My husband, who boxy once called "mr raffi" sometimes attends PaB meets, by way of sitting at the screen, reading comments and offering his own. Once or twice, I have typed his thoughts because he wanted to contribute an idea. The tradition of atheism in his family was hard for me to understand in the early years with them. Eventually I did get a grip on their thinking. I've become close to others who also have embraced atheism. In their own families, they are strongly establishing this tradition for their children.
Raffila Millgrove: I felt a need to see their views represented. Partly because they are hard to understand for many of us. I hear in some statements an implicit wonder or even maybe a pity that what is so obvious to others is somehow hidden or withheld from those who use the tradition of atheism as a resource. It appears they were missing a piece of the puzzle or hadn't truly looked for what is there. There's an insistence on a force, a god(s), an energy, a soul or a spirit. Whatever it is named, something is "inside" or "outside" everyone. In this view, "nothing" is excluded. It's not a valid "something." What they believe is therefore discounted.
Raffila Millgrove: Hoping that someone else might be better at expressing this idea, I searched the logs for words by another. Maybe these excerpts from the scribe project in an entry called, "Belle Energie Ici" by Solobill will say it better than I did.
Raffila Millgrove: My apologies to Solobill, if I have taken his words out of context, but his sentences offered a chance to suggest again the idea that atheism is a tradition used by some as a resource. He wrote:
Raffila Millgrove: This sharing – and receptiveness to what others offer us – presents us with opportunities to see things differently than perhaps we otherwise would. Physics tells us that darkness is a lack of light; a child will tell you that darkness isn’t a lack of anything, but something quite tangible. Is she wrong?
Raffila Millgrove: But going beyond the knowing heart, “if I put that aside... the universe goes dark.” This is toeing the abyss; the final resting place of the last vestiges of self that look at no-self and can cringe back in fear of nothingness. What is beyond this? Neither self nor no-self, the sages tell us.
Raffila Millgrove nods slowly.
Raffila Millgrove: Well thank you Raffi for sharing that with us.
--BELL--
Raffila Millgrove: You're welcome. I wish you luck in trying to claim this and post it. Hugs to you. xo