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Singularity

Suppose, if you will,
that three worlds intersect,
so that greens and blues diverge
at a tiny, nonexistent dot.
Now put a rock upon that point,
and then atop it some fine day,
place an even smaller speck,
whom we'll call No One Insignificant.

No One lives in Singularity,
which at once is and isn't

a paradoxical limbo

of existential gestalt.
What, when and where is to be,
which surely begs the question:
If one is somewhere and nowhere,
does one be, or does one not?

    If my feet tread the ground,
   
it does not seem to notice.
   
Though I cry out to the heavens,
   
the sky does not know my voice.
   
I look down at the water,
   
and there is only my reflection,
   
who knows nothing of my loneliness,
   
for every tear disappears.
   
I am intangible, infinitesimal,
   
inconsequential, invisible.
   
In the absence of a witness,
   
how can I prove I live at all?


Nature tells us through science
that we are all largely nothing
- 

that the bits which compose us

are never truly anywhere.
How can we rightly conclude
that we are nothing like No One?
Perhaps we should wonder
if we touch what we touch.

Earth, air, and water
diverge at a rock.
No One has the answer.
How incredibly ironic:

    A mournful song fills the breeze,
    and storm clouds gather to listen.
    Tiny beings taste sorrow's salt
    as shock waves rend their world asunder.
    Singularity keeps the solitude
    of No One Insignificant.
    A grassy meadow greets a footfall,
    and the Earth moves just slightly.

Author notes

Do you really think you're alone?

A contest entry

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    I plan to revise this poem: please leave constructive criticism!
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Comments

1 - 12 of 12

  • Night Hope gold member
    October 28

    Edit | Reply
    I'm never truly alone. I have my Self to entertain...well, myself. Hmmm. What other stuff can I offer ya. Ummm.

    "That was Zen. This is Tao."


    You're an awfully smart lil' critter, ain'tcha, Scribe?



  • drifting cloud silver member
    September 25

    Edit | Reply
    Your poetry shows talent. Lots to think about here.
    'Nature tells us through science
    that we are all largely nothing'

    'How can we rightly conclude
    that we are nothing like No One?'

    'the Earth moves just slightly'

    hmm... the physical is nothing by itself, I believe, but something is experiencing the physical.


    • JustBe gold member
      September 25
      Edit | Reply
      Thank you for reading, and for the compliment. I'm not sure what got into me that I felt the need to post such a pissy comment myself, and I'm quite abashed. Who am I to so cavalierly sweep aside someone's expression of wonder at the universe they see before them? Just goes to show that the road to the highest peaks of old and wise must pass through the low valley of young and stupid. Kudos to you for apparently not taking that personally. You even found a way to say something nice. That's awesome.

      The line you are talking about was inspired by the debate between J. J. Thomson and Ernest Rutherford after Thomson discovered the electron in 1897, and by the way Rutherford's subsequent finding that atoms are about 99.99999% empty space (which is an actual experimental number) seems to contradict (though it actually does not contradict) the Quantum Mechanical depiction of matter as composed not of particles, but rather of diffuse waveforms smeared across all of space. Theoretically, an unimaginably small portion of each of the tinest bits of you is in the Horsehead Nebula right now, yet at the same time the tiniest bits of you are overwhelmingly composed of nothing, with all their mass localized and highly concentrated in a spectacularly tiny volume.

      What do you mean when you say the physical is nothing by itself? Do you mean like in the "brain in a vat" gestalte that Descartes used to reason that "I think, therefore I am (Cogito, ergo sum)?" In other words, maybe all of reality is a dream in your head? It's impossible to disprove the idea, true, but I think Descartes was wrong.

      I like the Buddhist notion that the self does not exist at all. It's an idea we invent to protect the ego, and as an entity it is nowhere. It allows us to make excuses for our behavior and to avoid greater awareness, in other words, if we can say something like, "I am defined by this set of made-up ideas, and I behave in this or that way because I am this or that kind of person." The effect of this way of thinking of oneself is especially extreme in the West, where so many people have become convinced that what they do for a living defines them: "Who am I? Well, I'm a lawyer. Lawyers make more money than bus drivers, therefore I am better than bus drivers."

      Instead of "I think, therefore I am," I prefer something less definite like, "I think, therefore something happens."

      Anyway, thanks again for your coomment.
      ~Morgan

      • drifting cloud silver member
        September 26
        Edit | Reply
        I do believe in Oneness. We are all part of the One, but ‘currently asleep in dreams of separation’ - the best that words can describe it. So, ‘God’ seems separate from us, but in truth we are One. I study ‘A Course In Miracles’, but not exclusively, if your wondering where I get some of my ideas from.

        I do not believe we are physical things. We definitely are not a body of whirling, spinning spacious dots that are replaced in and out all the time. Even in the astral plane of vibration, we have astral bodies, but it still is not us. We experience the body, but we are not the body. What we are is indescribable to our human minds.

        “I think, therefore I am” - Descartes
        “The consciousness that says ‘I am’ is not the consciousness that thinks” - Jean-Paul Sartre (New Earth p.55 by Eckhart Tolle)

        Oh, and I have no problem with your reaction. I have had many, many similar reactions like that myself. I am trying to change my response. ACIM helps me with this. Thanks for the test! - Bonita


  • Pisces rainbow gold member
    September 25

    Edit | Reply
    you have a very interested write with much to ponder
    existance is to exist
    we are a creative race, forever creating or are we even creating,
    perhaps we should wonder if we touch what we touch
    we do experience that we touch what we touch, but is it true,
    I really enjoyed the dept and all that you put into your insightful write

    a pleasure
    God bless you my friend...


  • Heath Thompson
    December 15, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    Yep - interesting write. Do you really think you're alone? No. You can not be alone - you are no-self.


  • SeptemberFaith
    December 15, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    I think this is a perfect example and fits this contest quite well. You're words are very elegant. Bravo

    Criss

  • Bob Fox
    November 14, 2008

    Edit | Reply

    My

    Never have i looked at it thay way. One dep and thoughtful write. Perhaps at time we create our own little deadban where nothing happens.


  • PrabhuDayal Khattar silver member
    November 2, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    Humm..discussing singularity with such a depth makes me to ponder over this issue which have now become more important than the non- singularity..and you did it..wonderful thought..


  • Erica Carnea
    October 14, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    i love this
    of No One Insignificant
    i like this bit alot
    love always
    erica carnea
    xx


  • rhondasail
    April 30, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    I am reminded of that famous line...'we live as we dream...alone'...can't remember who said it but your philosophical prose here makes me ponder it anew...along with that line, "In the absence of a witness, how can I prove I live at all?" Great meditative material...Peace, Rhonda

  • a u r a
    April 9, 2008
    Edit | Reply

    splendid

    you have said it all and all so artfully

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