God and nothingness
two sides of the same coin
pp. 261-278
in: Jeremiah Hackett, Jerald Wallulis (eds), Philosophy of religion for a new century, Berlin, Springer, 2004Abstract
With the exception of a handful of Western mystics, the West has not taken the idea of nothingness as either a vital, or a positive element in its philosophizing or theologizing. Nishida Kitaro seems correct in viewing the West as a culture of being, and Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have almost always viewed God as the ultimate Being. Meister Eckhart is the mystical paradigm of those who found nothingness to be an important notion in describing God " s nature, and it is usually the mystics who come closest to the East in all but eliminating the gap or boundary between creator and creatures, self and others, and being and nothingness. But mysticism is a minoritarian tradition or traditions within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, whereas it is the majority position in Taoism, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and without too much of a stretch, Hinduism as well. The list is not exhaustive, but it does give shape to this significant difference in emphasis and inclination between East and West.
