the smallest possible something

So time can be divided so that 1 minute can be halved into 30 seconds, 30 seconds into 15 seconds, 15 seconds into 7.5 seconds...

1 second into 0.5 second...

Then 0.25 second...

Then 0.125 second...

Then 0.0625 second...

Then 0.03125 second...

Then 0.015625 second...

Then 0.0078125 second...

And so on...

Now, is there a point where time can no longer be divided? An infinitesimal number below which things can no longer possibly happen or exist?

Cosmologists measure distance in the outer space in terms of speed of light which is 299,792,458 miles per second, a speed that’s already very fast for a normal mind to fathom.

But still, this isn’t the fastest unit of time. It’s just that the current tools of science and our mental models are not yet equipped to measure something faster.

Now, imagine dividing time into the fastest possible unit where it’s no longer possible for an event to happen or for anything to exist...

Similarly, in the past, people thought that the atom was the smallest unit of matter. We have long discovered particles even smaller than the atom—quarks, electrons, Higgs boson (did I spell this correctly?)

Can we further divide these smallest known particles until we arrive at nothingness?

Can we further divide time until you arrive at emptiness?

Maybe this is what mystics mean when they say

“everything is emptiness”

“all is the same as nothing”

“the Dao is both full and empty”

You’re probably thinking: “what the hell is he talking about?”

I’m not really saying anything in particular.

I’m just showing you what usually goes on inside my head.

And why, because no one gets me, I’m lonely even in the presence of other people.

I have never felt totally at home in this world.

The above is an excerpt of a novel I long ago tried (and failed) to write. —King P.