Nothingness Theory
Reader's Commentary
Table of Contents
Theological Commentary by Msgr.
Walter Niebrzydowski
Creation in Nothingness Theory
Epistemological Commentary by Msgr. Walter Niebrzydowski
Creation
in
Nothingness Theory
Nothingness is
relative non-existence. Absolute
non-existence is postulated by the logic of the theory. Theologians pick up from here and say that
absolute non-existence is the closest science can get to what they would call
the Fullness of Existence, which is God.
Then, the
explanation why there is something rather than nothing is that relative
non-existence (nothing) is attracted to the Fullness of Existence. This process creates something, and
so the Fullness of Existence in theological terms is the Creator.
Also God is
conceived as the Being whose essence is to exist. That’s why He is absolute. All other beings are contingent participations
in Absolute Being. By the way, only
theology permits us to address God as He, a personal being who creates out
of love. In philosophy Absolute Being
is still an It.
You should know
that the technical Medieval Latin term for creation is creatio ex nihilo
(“creation out of nothing”). Nothing meant no pre-existent matter. This is an advance over the Genesis account
where God’s creation is portrayed as creating order (cosmos) out of
pre-existent chaos (the tohu-wabohu in Hebrew).
Also, creation is not to be conceived as a single act. Creation is exercised by maintaining or preserving in existence whatever is. Theology next postulates divine providence, which guides and directs the evolutionary process without interfering with natural laws. The attractor of chaos theory and information theory is indicative of this underlying order, which emerges over time.
Thesis:
If there is something,
then there must be
Something Else.
For,
this is a corollary of
Nothingness Theory,
which shows that
the cosmos in the state of
No Thing,
is in relative non-existence.
Absolute Non-existence
is what exerts the attraction
to produce some thing
from no thing.
Therefore
In natural philosophy,
Absolute Nothingness is the
Something Else
that accounts for
any thing at all.
In theological terms
that Something Else
is the Fullness of Existence,
or God.
Msgr. Walter Niebrzydowski
November 24, 2003