On the Cartesian graph moving in any direction, zero is the point of origin. I had not thought about 'zero' except in relation to numbers, and that's from my very simplistic knowledge of 'number' Many different 'events' happened that caused me to think about 'zero' inserted into Time at a certain point in Time, and from idea a net effect was that a similar point of origin was established in the mind.
The discovery that the Earth was not the center of the Universe was a point that inserted a certain psychological pattern into the mental realm, I know that, because I know (very well) a few individuals who do not know or even suspect that they feel and act upon what they feel that everything revolves around them. In a certain Way that is not a bad circumstance.
Zero as a point of origin. inserted into Time and in the mind.
...1 0.1 2.
... 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5...
..5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 ...
... 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 ...
...5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5...
... 1...
...
It was a new idea that 'grew' after it was 'inserted' into my mind when I read about a woman scientist that discovered a new idea, because she had no prior knowledge or conceptions about what a mouse thymus cell looked like. Her love of science had begun when she was young girl in Portugal, and she was told by her teacher to think about 'multiplying by zero'. She couldn't grasp what 'zero' was until the idea of an 'abstraction' came into her mind.
I was taking a Toastmasters class in 1987. The teacher gave us an assignment: write a poem, memorize it and give a 7 minute speech telling about how you wrote it. I had not written a poem in my entire 55 years, so I was thinking about skipping the class on Tuesday because by Monday I'd not begun a poem. No clue what to write about.
At work, as I wrestled with excuses I could give for not coming to class, a thought entered my mind: "Zero is an abstraction." I knew where I'd read it.A clear memory of the incident in An Imagined World came into my mind. This thought, seemingly randomly retrieved from my memory, for no apparent reason is what caused me to wonder to myself (again) exactly what her thoughts had been. Why should a sudden grasp of 'zero as an abstraction' open so much new territory that it led her to want to become a scientist later? I am not very good at mathematics, yet a particular fascination with numbers has plagued me ever since I became quite fond of the sort of problems we used to have on the semi-yearly intelligence tests. They were required in Indiana schools in the 30's and 40's and I looked forwards to these tests, which certainly set me apart from most of my classmates!
An Imagined World was written by June Goodfield who watched the young woman as she made a significant discovery about the immune system which was itself invisible (according to the book) ntil about thirty years ago. The author recognized somehow when she met the young woman, that she was on the brink of discovery, She asked to watch the young woman so she witnessed the discovery when it was in process. Her name was Anna Brito in the book, but it's very likely a fictitious name. Anna become a scientist who discovered something that was quite visible but for some reason was not seen by anybody that looked at it because they pre-assumed that empty spaces in the cell was normal. It had become invisible but it was ever-present. The question Anna had asked of herself: "Zero is an abstraction?" came to me along other memories, especially of how I'd experienced finding the book the way I had done. The words on the spine of the book had somehow stood out among a rack of books, so that I stopped to pick it out and read the jacket, then decide to read the book. .
Without knowing why I did it I reached for a pen and tore a sheet of computer paper, My hand began to write fluently, not hesitating until the last line had been written this poem:
From Out Of The Blue, Zero A Point Of Origin
During the course of any day,
A variety of thought flows through my 'way'.
As I view the world from my vantage point:
My family, friends, coworkers;
All of the activities of my day.
This causes thought to bounce around,
And then my 'Point Of View' comes out to play,
This 'point of view' is really me,
'It' looks at more than I can see,
Knows more about the world
Than eye alone could ever see.
One day when thoughts about a book I'd read,
Crept up from deep within my head,
I asked a question: "Zero is an abstraction?
That makes no sense to me.
Zero is a number, but not like 1 or 2 or 3.
Those numbers represent a 'thing'.
How can a number be a 'no thing?"
And then "It" answered me!
"In counting and in calculating,
You must make a start.
Zero marks the 'point' where you depart.
The 'point of origin' you might say.
When 'zero' is behind then you've begun.
You're on your way from 'no thing',
And moving on to 1.
This small rhyme I give to you,
As 'it' passed through to me.
Answers to questions
From out of the blue,
In words and pictures,
From 'its' remarkable brew.
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What a difference a completely new idea makes when you understand it! What a unique experience it is to 'suddenly see' a relationship you could have noticed and thought about years before suddenly it's brought to your attention.
While I thought about 'zero as an abstraction' some will other than my conscious will made me reach for a pen and paper, and without effort or thought from me, my hand wrote the words of this poem. I was startled to say the least, but pleased. It's not great poetry, but I liked it and the idea of 'zero' as a point of origin began to take on a significance I'd not thought about in the past. It caused me to think of the Cartesian graph for instance, in a slightly new to me, way. I had not at that point thought about 'three dimensions', it was merely a plane upon which there were two perpendiculars, the 'y' and the 'x'. That 'point of intersection' was just a point where the two lines 'met', just at that one point.
The one idea about 'zero' was a new idea to me. It can germinate, because I've seen it happen, into a completely new idea It can open the doorway to a completely unsuspected large idea, one that has gripped the mind of man for centuries and thousands of years but which woman has only just begun to try to figure out with her own mind and memories. The past of woman and man is very different, that is something I can say in 1997 that was not really as visible in 1984 as it is now. History was quite literally his story , his view of every detail on Earth.
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And the sudden 'insight' that the net effect of one event had inserted a 'point' in Time that created 'direction', width, height , breadth, and depth came as quite a surprise to me. That idea 'bloomed' in my thought just after I'd finished a book, The Lord Of Thought, by Emmett and Dougall in which the authors had tried to isolate exactly what made the life of Jesus different from ordinary men. They did not, NOT, mention anything that came into my mind in that moment of suddenly acquiring new to me ideas. I thought it quite nearly impossible to ever speak that when Jesus said: 'It is accomplished." He might have meant something quite different than has been written anywhere. It would be heresy to suggest that living a life in which one repeatedly mentions a 'kingdom of heaven which is within you', a 'father in heaven', as well as inserting a fixed point of origin in Time was an important goal.
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What a trivial seeming idea: