The Deepest Thought You Can Think (It’s a Trap like Zeno’s Paradox)
Of course, the title is a paradox.
Say the one that comes to mind for you and I’ll think you one deeper.
Say something about oneness and unity and I’ll tell you something about infinity. Here’s the part where you say, “Everything and nothing are really the same — two sides of a coin whose name is ineffable” (unless you call it the Tao and imply the one which cannot be spoken because you’re of a more Alan Wattsian breed).
But really, what does it matter?
I don’t mean the asking of impossible questions (when done with awareness, it can be like playing freeze tag with your ego), but I’m more so referring to the need to get to the bottom of things: The clutching of solids in a vibrating world.
This desire for certainty doesn’t even need to be as esoteric as I’m positioning it:
- The clutching for a salary.
- The clutching for a universally applicable health regime.
- The clutching for a routine of any kind.
With all of it, the original thought applies: Pick something and I’ll tell you something better.
Hand Over Hand
You cannot get both hands on top of each other at the same time. Only one can end up above — forever out of reach; as elusive as the end of a rainbow.
And yet, we live in a world of finite things. If two people stack hands to the top of a baseball bat, someone will end up on top (no takesies-backsies). We can talk about Zeno’s paradox* as if he’s found an error in the physical universe, but the reality is that the paradox he has thought only applies in the realm of thought. No one is kept from walking because they believe motion ought not to be possible.
Infinity
I was reading an Emerson essay and I was so wonderstruck by a quote in the piece that I couldn’t move past it. It was as if I were one of those schmucks in Zeno’s head when he couldn’t stop halving things (Is there a pun in that?). The quote was this:
“Time and space are but inverse measures of the force of the soul. The spirit …
‘Can crowd eternity into an hour,
Or stretch an hour to eternity.’”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson**
The soul (which, for the sake of secularization, let’s think of as the Self with a capital S) is the head to spacetime’s tail. The Self — we, us — can think to infinity. In our thoughts:
- We can stack one hand on top of the other without ever ending the game.
- We can think further out than the universe’s cold, dark end and before its beginning.
- We can mix the thoughts of the dead thinkers with the thoughts of the living, and create new concepts.
All of these are beautiful ideas, and maybe they’re even the deepest thoughts I can think, but all I’ve done is call the water wet.
Imagine
The reason I write this is because, whether by personal algorithm or a shift in trends of internet culture, my Medium feed has been stuffed to the brim with different variations of:
“Get [sort of] rich doing something you [normally] like but [it’s hard and] you will probably be writing this exact type of article [to another schmuck who wants fast, easy money]”
Now, I understand both the pain of no reception AND the pain of reception for sellout work (the former hurts worse than the latter), but damn is there no interest left in thought-full, thought-provoking work?
It seems to me that what gets the hits these days is writing about “how to get the hits.” It’s a business model, sure, but it’s also our modern-day Zeno’s paradox (as in, how meta and niche will you get?). It seems that we are paralyzing ourselves — frozen by the thought of writing only for wealth and status.
But nihilism leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so I’ll add this:
He is the modern exception to all the uber-productive hogwash that makes the rule.
Read one of his books — maybe it’ll spark a deeper thought.
*Specifically, the paradox of motion.
**He added a quote in his essay without crediting it. I would guess it’s a bible verse but I’m truly not sure.
