What is Nothing?

A Soliloquy on Word Brevity

Sunrise in Barstow California January 2024. Thanks to DM.

Being asked to condense my words for an upcoming presentation at a corporate sales meeting prompts reflection. Share every success in five bullet points. Each loss repurposed as an action-step challenge. Be succinct in seventy seconds. Resist rambling. See, I’m already there!

I asked the robot - my new favorite servant. (We’re screwed when robots demand sentience). Damn, see there? Rambling man. I’ve actually had a Navajo dude say to me in a bar in 1991, in Farmington NM “White man talk too much.” So this is a long-term condition I’m battling.

I love the concept. I fail the practice. But like healthy eating or bull riding, practice brings expertise. I found an expert to support that conclusion

Brevity is a muscle; it’s something we build over time with practice and focus. Use the above tips to make your speech or presentation more concise, and you will more effectively keep your audience’s attention as you deliver an impactful message.

See? It’s like a habit. I can do this. But beyond the practical, the philosophical structure of a soliloquy brings about awareness of words on a deeper level. Soliloquy is a literary device used to convey deep thoughts and expressive emotions in a brief interlude, to keep the audience aware of the backstory.

It’s addressed to the self, or a corpse sometimes (equally revealing), as an insight to introspection. Its functionality - much as inner dialogue acts in real life - is to reveal and deliberate choices. From a stage to the audience for sure, but with inner dialogue, it implies intentionality. The paths are laid out, the will to choose one the only remaining decision.

So how the hell does word brevity mesh with To Be or Not To Be? From a position of privilege proscribed to peasants, Danish Prince Hamlet emoted existential issues universally understood. In a mere 262 words, Shakespeare connected to all of society’s strata, and connected them to each other.

Rich or poor, man or woman, slave or free, each soul grapples with the razor’s edge of living in struggle or dying in peace. But what price peace? Some say struggle during life is that price. Building treasure in Heaven, as it were.

Hamlet dared to wonder what dreams does death bring. I’ve written about dreams before. The hellish implications and incarcerations yet unfolded but for the choices you make now, in this doubtful moment. What will we choose? What harvest will those choices reap? Where will we reside for eternity?

To Be or Not to Be: Expert Analysis of Hamlet’s Soliloquy for Teens

The piece above talks about the the cultural impact of the opening line that still reverberates 423 years after the poet laid them down. We learn much from the study of language structure, but I’d argue we learn more by living the words.

My word count was at 497 before this sentence. Close scrutiny keeps word count low. Good practice. See? Already there. It’s your eyeballs that lead to your soul that connects with me. I appreciate your support the past 3 years. Only 420 to go. Hmmm, that another ramble altogether. Stay tuned.

Ric

One more resource. What is Nothing. This dude actually answers that question.

Watch this documentary. Nothing is Everything. Now you Know.