How many things are there?

[Flavour]

is there any such thing, as nothing?
thinking about it tautologically, no, there is not.

 

[Flavour]

i am not voting because there is no option for pi.

Pi says one thing pretty clearly- there is no such thing as a perfect circle.

can we have a thread about pi please actually

 

[fudgefactorfive]

or another way of looking at it, you can have only one thing and still have nothing - you've got 1 - you've got 0 - 1+0 = 1

 

[yield]

is there any such thing, as nothing?
thinking about it tautologically, no, there is not.

A thing always/already contains it's lack or absence. The thing it is not, the unthing or nothing.

Think about maths. One and Zero.

yes ... but but but

there is One God, but he is Three in One, a bit like the Hindu Trinity except not

however presumably the essence of each of the three is spirit, it can't be matter - the Son may have been clothed in matter for a while but it's a temporary thing like putting on a hat

some fringe Christians do definitely speak in terms of human spirit (soul) being a piece or aspect of the One God

so for Christians, and I stand to be corrected on this but I presume Jews and Muslims as well, the fundamental division is really dualist - spirit and matter

I don't know. It all seems pretty arbitrary to me.
Doing a quick search I came up with this.

There are monist polytheists and panentheists in Hinduism (particularly in Advaita and Vishistadvaita respectively), Judaism (especially in Kabbalah), in Christianity (especially among Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglicans) and in Islam (among the Sufis, especially the Bektashi).

...

Christianity, being monotheistic, can be said to combine both Monistic and Dualistic assumptions, akin to Neoplatonic thought such as expressed by Plotinus, ultimately concluding that there is one transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, ineffable God.

source

 

[fudgefactorfive]

Christianity, being monotheistic, can be said to combine both Monistic and Dualistic assumptions, akin to Neoplatonic thought such as expressed by Plotinus, ultimately concluding that there is one transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, ineffable God.

that's interesting - in this scenario there is only God and no universe at all

interesting that Anglicanism (the fuzziest of all Christianities?) and Sufiism (the hippyest of Islamic faiths?) and Kabbalah (most irritatingly New Age of all Judaisms?) crop up in the list too

 

[fudgefactorfive]

i get a bit lost with Hinduism

from what I recall, Brahma is all things - Monist

but then you have Shiva and Vishnu - the former being both a creator/destroyer, and the latter being the Preserver - Shiva moves things away from equilibrium, Vishnu tends to shift stuff back

the three together are a Trinity, whose collectivity brings forth Infinite Stuff, including 33 million gods and all of "matter"

then just when you think you've got a handle on it, it's all only Maya anyway - everything is illusion, nothing is actually "real" - a Void

bit excessive imo, to have 3, 2, 1 and 0 all at once

and then other times it's all Shiva producing everything via his dancing

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Three

 

[yield]

Aristotle suggested there were four : earth (solid), fire (energy), water (liquid), and air (gas).

It's definitely an important question.

 

[fudgefactorfive]

gotta love alchemy - it's so camp and bonkers

 

[fudgefactorfive]

have just been brushing up on taoism - basically Monism but with a nice twist

upon examination (ie. assuming an observer), the One becomes Two

from there you quite easily go up to three and beyond forever

the point is to see the infinite complexity within the patterns, the shape of the One Thing - and to be mindful of your relative position as observer - while also seeing the whole thing as complete, changing, rebalancing

 

[samk]

gotta love alchemy - it's so camp and bonkers

Probably had something to do with the mercury fumes

 

[Dhimmi]

A lot.