Nothing above the Clouds

                                                    

Somewhere in our galaxy there may exist a world completely and perpetually shrouded in thick clouds. An intelligent and civilized race of people live there, but they have not advanced to the stage of having invented the airplane or a hot air balloon. They have never been able to go above the clouds.

To them, the sometimes light and sometimes dark clouds happens to be the limit of their universe. A vague light, which is their sun, shines through the clouds in the daytime and provides heat for them, but they cannot tell that it is a spherical sun. They consider the heat and light source to be but a part of the clouds. They have never seen the stars in the night sky or the definite form of their sun.

Some of them speculate as to what, if anything, exists above the clouds. Some contend that the clouds extend into infinity. Some contend that the clouds reach a limit and that that is all their universe happens to be. When asked what might be beyond that limit, they can only answer absolutely nothing.

Those who speculate that the clouds reach into infinity believe that nothing exists above them but the clouds. They know only one difference between something and nothing above them. Those who speculate that the clouds reach a limit which happens to be all there can be to their universe also know that only one difference exists between something and nothing above them. When they say that absolutely nothing can exist beyond that limit, they merely mean nonexistence. Those who contend that the clouds reach to infinity do not believe in nonexistence. To them, the shining sun and stars above the clouds equals nonexistence even though they do not believe in it.

Those who contend that the clouds reach to a limit to their universe believe in nonexistence, but they believe that nonexistence and the limit to their universe happens to be the same thing. They would never admit that no difference exists between nonexistence and absolute nothingness.

Should these people never invent an airplane or a balloon to take them above the clouds to see the stars or their sun, then to them, the stars and the sun would always equal nonexistence. This story is meant to demonstrate that to intelligent consciousness the unknown holds no difference between something and nothing. Intelligent consciousness happens to be absolutely required to tell the difference between something and nothing in a meaningful reality. Animal consciousness can tell the difference between something and nothing, but they can have no ideas about the differences between something and nothing.

Humans use observation, experimentation, and logical speculation to penetrate the unknown in order to discover the differences between something and nothing within it. One may penetrate the unknown with a false theory and find only nothing, such as the idea of ether in space. Another may penetrate the unknown with a true theory that both time and gravity are regulated by the speed of light. In both cases, the unknown has been penetrated to discover the differences between something and nothing. Should an unknown dimension exist which humans can never penetrate, then whatever something or nothing that may be in that dimension will forever be equal to nonexistence or absolute nothingness. Whether we think of our universe as being infinite or finite, the impenetrable unknown will always be equal to nonexistence or absolute nothingness.

In the absence of consciousness, absolutely no difference whatsoever can be discerned between something and nothing which would make reality impossible. Before finite intelligent consciousness existed, an Infinite Consciousness had to have always existed who can discern all of the possible differences between something and nothing in order to establish an eternal reality. Psalm 147:5.