When nothing is as it appears, the ideas are real objects of knowledge. And the belief in the existence of material objects is merely a mental condition… Since the objects may well be a fabrication of the mind… according to Bishop George Berkley

Every action begins with an idea.

Something comes from nothing…

Or does nothing come from something?

The French philosopher, René Descartes defined an idea as that which fills the mind when we conceive a thing. The truth of an idea must be determined by clarity and distinctness. His philosophy first eliminates everything and replaces those things that without which existence is impossible.

Johann Freidrich Herbert stated that objects are composed of three elements, the Thing, Matter, and Mind; first, a unit of several properties, second, an existing object, and third a self-conscious being.

The brain is a product of the will to know, and the hand the product of the will to hold, and our mind creates thoughts to prove the necessity of the thing being willed.

James Freeman Clarke, writing in “Ten Great Religions”, stated “the Welsh Triads believed there are three kinds of knowledge; knowledge of the nature of each thing, its cause, and its influence. Three things which continue to grow less: darkness, falsehood and death. Three things which constantly increase: light, life and truth”.

An ancient philosopher once said: “He who has not even knowledge of common things is a brute among men. He who has an accurate knowledge of human concerns alone is a man among brutes. But he who knows all that can be known by intellectual energy, is a God among men.”

That Which Is, Is Not

The philosopher Diodorus held that nothing can be moved, since to be moved it must be taken out of the place in which it is and put into the place where it is not, which is impossible because all things must always be in the places which they are.

Menedemus stated: That which is not the same is different from that with which it is not the same.

The Cyrenaic sect, founded by Aristippus of Cyrene (435-356 B.C.) believed that all that is actually known concerning any object or condition is the feeling which it awakens in man’s own nature. Pleasure is limited wholly to the moment; now is the only time.

The Epicurian philosophy, founded by Epicurus of Samos (341-270 B.C.) can be summed up as:

  1. Sense is never deceived; and therefore every sensation and every perception of an appearance is true
  2. Opinion follows upon sense and is super added to sensation, and capable of truth or falsehood
  3. All opinion attested, or not contradicted by the evidence of sense, is true.
  4. An opinion contradicted, or not attested by the evidence of sense, is false.

When Nothing Is By Error

Sir Francis Bacon coined the inductive system of reasoning where facts are arrived through observation verified by experimentation. And his secretary, Thomas Hobbes, held that mathematics was an exact science, while Thought was essentially a mathematical process.

Hobbes stressed the significance of words, declaring understanding to be the faculty of perceiving the relationship between words and objects for which they stand.

Dr W. J. Durant followed Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, reasoning that being subject to mathematical laws, time and space are the foundation of exact thinking.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte held that the Known is merely the contents of the consciousness of the knower, and nothing can exist to the knower until it becomes part of those contents.

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Nothing is real except for the facts of one’s own mental experience. And for there to be something, it must exist even when no-thing is as it appears.