Comments on: The Power of Nothing http://www.sfnovelists.com/2009/12/05/the-power-of-nothing/ A mutual support group for SF/F Novelists Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:39:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Elias McClellan http://www.sfnovelists.com/2009/12/05/the-power-of-nothing/#comment-7689 Elias McClellan Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:11:51 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2009/12/05/the-power-of-nothing/#comment-7689 Ms. Alexander, as always, you post to provoke thought. I am a long time B5 fan and I love Molari most of all as he is, (with the possible exception of Garibaldi) the most human of all B5 characters. He is arrogant, debacherous, vengeful, and without hope; just like us. I agree with you that the 'Nothing' he faces, the Nothing we all face is more terrifying than anything. It's more terrifying than plague-era depictions of hell or Dante's depiction of hell. It is Nothing that is most frightening. That is why Dante 'saved' Moses and the philosopher-poets in the Elysian Fields; that their memory and work not be lost to Nothing. It is the basis of most organized religion; good and you get heaven, bad and you get hell. But Nothing is too drastic a notion to embrace. We must have a reward for doing right aside from the act it self. Conversely we must have a punishment extreme enought to keep us straight. Or, in the words of Abigail Adams, 'In the abscence of death, all men would be tyrants.' Even us bad guys can stomach that. But Nothing? That's just too vast to contemplate. All my acts of 'good,' meaning nothing more than that moment? All my acts of 'evil,' meaning nothing beyond my life? Nothing? Damn, that's cold... Ms. Alexander, as always, you post to provoke thought. I am a long time B5 fan and I love Molari most of all as he is, (with the possible exception of Garibaldi) the most human of all B5 characters. He is arrogant, debacherous, vengeful, and without hope; just like us.

I agree with you that the ‘Nothing’ he faces, the Nothing we all face is more terrifying than anything. It’s more terrifying than plague-era depictions of hell or Dante’s depiction of hell. It is Nothing that is most frightening. That is why Dante ‘saved’ Moses and the philosopher-poets in the Elysian Fields; that their memory and work not be lost to Nothing. It is the basis of most organized religion; good and you get heaven, bad and you get hell. But Nothing is too drastic a notion to embrace.

We must have a reward for doing right aside from the act it self. Conversely we must have a punishment extreme enought to keep us straight. Or, in the words of Abigail Adams, ‘In the abscence of death, all men would be tyrants.’

Even us bad guys can stomach that. But Nothing? That’s just too vast to contemplate. All my acts of ‘good,’ meaning nothing more than that moment? All my acts of ‘evil,’ meaning nothing beyond my life? Nothing? Damn, that’s cold…

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