104 THE WORLD-ENERGY 



It seems worth remarking, too, that the "absolute 

 zero " logically represents the complete absence of molec- 

 ular repulsions, and therefore also the complete absence 

 of molecular attractions. But this can only mean the 

 complete absence of matter that is, complete vacuum 

 (such vacuum itself being in great danger of collapse, one 

 might suppose). 



But not to extend illustrations further, we may say in 

 general that in concrete science zero represents a positive 

 value; and that value is always of precisely one character. 

 It is invariably a point of indifference, or equilibrium. 

 And this is the clew to the ultimate, most concrete sig- 

 nificance of zero. For, as representing the equilibrium 

 of concrete modes of energy in general, it becomes evident 

 at once that the ultimate, most concrete significance of 

 the symbol, is that of the equilibrium, the perfect self- 

 poise of the total Energy; just as 1, in its richest meaning, 

 represents the absolute wholeness of the total Energy. 



Finally, the formula ^ = oc is meaningless if stands 

 for pure nothing. Or, if it represents any positive quan- 

 tity, the formula is absurd if 1 stands for any finite 

 quantity. It can have genuine concrete significance only 

 when 1 represents the absolute totality of existence, and 

 the absolute equilibrium of that totality, in the sense of 

 the absolutely perfect method of the totality, as self- 

 consistent energy. In the first of the supposed cases it 

 is a formula of division, representing no-division. In the 

 last case it represents, not the division of one quantity by 

 another, but rather, the absolute self-division of the total 

 Energy; and such self -division is nothing else than the 

 self-specialization, the self-differentiation, that is, the 

 self-realization of the total World-Energy. 



