YOU: Excuse me. I was just behind the door when I heard I had created somebody on my planet! Rather astonishing isn't it? I do not believe a single word of it. Who are you and where do you come from?

FRANK HATEM: I am nothing, I come from nowhere, and I'm going nowhere. What is now, what you read, is not the product of some past, but of your goal. The author of anything in the universe is eternal, and infinitely nil. That is "I am": Nothingness's Necessity.

YOU: Hmm. Tonight, nothingness is strange-looking. I once heard: "To him who sees things as they are, nothing remains unknowable. Knowledge is not a matter of intelligence. It is only a matter of courage. Ignorance is the fear of what is self-evident". If it is self-evident, why don't people recognize it?

F. H.: People generally prefer what is not obvious, in order to complicate their way towards their goal. So as to be sure to remain what they are. The Universe is absolutely simple (if not, it couldn't exist). But understanding it is very difficult because IT IS THE ROLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOT TO FACE ITS CAUSE.

The basic certainties are obvious to anyone who has courage enough to face himself. They are not at all obvious for him who fears. If you disagree with them, it means you have not meditated enough. You are not yet able to face yourself completely, in which case you must wait. Knowledge is dangerous for you. Your fear is a protection for your mental safety and well-being.

If Esoteric Traditions have kept all these things secret, the reason is that these things are dangerous... for some people. For others, these are the best things for them to grapple with, the food they need to grow. Are you hungry?

YOU: I brought some cookies. Allegedly, we are now entering the Age of Aquarius. Things should not be kept secret any more. Knowledge will become available to everyone. However, it remains dangerous for some people. But those who come to live on Earth nowadays probably know exactly why.

It is probably time to get used to what, before, we feared. So, I think it's OK for you to talk. Everything is illusory, isn't it? This is probably what people fear. It becomes all the easier not to fear your conclusions, however, since your Nothingness contains everything: "I am" is nil but contains the whole universe! But isn't this a contradiction?

F. H.: Not at all. The Whole is Nothingness, but Nothingness is the GOAL, a necessity, not a starting point. A Necessity which is able to produce the conditions of its accomplishment. Thus, Nothingness is the result of all the sensations of being. This means that illusion is the means of Nothingness. Everything is illusory, of course, but these sensations of universes allow the goal to be, nil and infinite. So illusion is obligatory, eternally. You will never fall into Nothingness, into the absence of consciousness (for even the deepest coma is not a total absence of consciousness).

YOU: You have not answered my question. Many religions have been talking about illusion for millenia. Seemingly, they are right. But the question "why illusion" remained unsolved. Can you answer it? If not, your theory is as nil as your Nothingness.

F. H.: By the end of this chapter, there will no longer be any question about the origin of material illusion.

YOU: You must be dreaming.

F. H.: Life is a dream.

YOU: You presume to explain the universe with one contradiction and five obvious observations, and a conclusion which is the same as that of former prophets? I'd rather go home; my husband is not there.

F. H.: This is not a dream; it is a nightmare! Please let me argue progressively. Nowadays, Physicists' research also confirms this illusion, but they do not know why and how, because researchers ignore the goal of the universe. If you are patient, you will soon understand. You know, for decades, physicists repeated that the question concerning the goal of the universe was nonsense, only a game for stupid metaphysicians.

YOU: ...Yes it is.

F. H.: Where is the publisher? This person can't be the one who was supposed to ask me questions!

Nowadays, physicists are bound to say: "Everything leads to an end". Obviously, evolution and complexification can't occur by chance. There's something which draws the universe towards somewhere.

Now they are right. Right to begin to work with Metaphysics. But it's not their job. The question of the goal of the universe has been solved since 1985. It's not necessary for them to work it out again:

ONLY NOTHINGNESS IS, ONLY NOTHINGNESS CAN BE. This is the conclusion they will reach some day. Then they will start being scientific scientists. This conclusion confirms the final basic certainty :

ONLY NOTHINGNESS IS SELF-JUSTIFIED, i.e., Nothingness does not raise any questions, whereas being does.

YOU: What is Nothingness? Your brain?

F. H. : Nothingness is "infinite nought". We specify "infinite" because "nought" is not necessarily nothingness. Nought must be infinite because if not, it means it is limited by something outside it. It is relative to a part of the whole, not to everything. So it is not Nothingness. It is only "nothing somewhere", not everywhere. If it is not infinite, "nought" is relative.

On the other hand, we can say that Nothingness is "nil infinity".

The "infiniteness" of Nothingness is one of its two essential conditions. The other one is "voidness". Of course, if infinity were not nil, if it were " something ", (I mean God, or Mind, or Matter or something else), it couldn't be Nothingness.

YOU: Nothingness is "infinite illusion", isn't it?

F. H.: Yes, but "illusion" is not "something definite". Every illusion is a means for nothingness, but none of them are a reality with a real cause. Every illusion within the "Zero-point" is nil, has no duration, nor any substance. However, there is no other Nothingness but the one which is generated by the illusions of each moment. Nothingness is self-justified, but only possible if illusion is. We shall soon be convinced of this: the only possibility for Nothingness to be, and it MUST be, is thanks to illusions which ALLOW IT TO BE NIL! This is a paradox, not an inconsistency.

YOU: Nothingness, without anything, with no illusion, would be simpler. For me, the contradiction remains blatant.

F. H.: In fact, Nothingness without 'being' turns out to be impossible, and to understand this, we must study Nothingness further and see. We know that Nothingness is, although there is also illusion, and to study it, we must evacuate illusion.

Nothingness is the present moment, which is nil and infinite. The illusion is that of time and space, which fill up consciousness. We must empty consciousness and then see. This is easy: we know that we must study the present moment, rejecting the feeling of time which makes us avoid the reality of present.

YOU: Easy? In the present, I feel you and the world around me, I do not feel Nothingness!

F. H.: Remember this: Nothingness IS YOUR GOAL, not your consciousness. It is the goal of your consciousness, and your consciousness (in space and time) is the means whereby you attain your goal.

There is no "me" and no "world around"; they are illusions in time, and time does not exist. All this is illusion. Only the present moment is, and it is nil. But you cannot be conscious of it, since your consciousness is the means to achieve it! Consciousness is the contrary of Nothingness, in order that Nothingness is. You will understand this better when you realize that your personal goal (a consequence of the Absolute Goal) is to be present.

Actually, everybody knows that the goal of one's life is to feel more and more in the present, and all religions teach methods to be more and more present, more and more "here and now". At the same time, meditation reveals that when you are completely present, in the core of your being, you are nothing. I am, but I am nothing. Void. To be AND not to be, that is the answer ! 

YOU: He likes to be void! Poor metaphysician! As far as I am concerned, I am full of richness, and everyday is a better day.

F. H.: But you are right! We feel we are evolving towards a great truth because we believe we are something other than absolute truth.

Evolution is to become oneself. If I were already myself, I would not evolve, I would be at peace. But it's because I refuse myself, my nothingness, that I feel myself 'being' and subsequently am bound to become what I am. This is evolution. Every motion, every movement in the universe is a means towards peace, towards equilibrium, absence of motion.

Here are two magnets. You see, they try to touch each other. It is not necessary for me to push them to make them move, they move towards one another without consuming energy! Why? Because when they are not united, they are not themselves. They are in contradiction with themselves. They need to become what they are: UNITY, just as we try to become what we are: Unity. Consciousness is dualistic ("me" and the "universe"), unity is absence of consciousness: Nothingness.

Consciousness is only an opposition, moving toward its unification. Without this evolution, without this movement toward your equilibrium, you could not be sentient. Imagine you stop the restlessness of the universe, and you stop every motion in every atom around you. What would remain?

YOU: A vacation! That's great! A little calm for once.

F. H.: Less than this.

YOU: Particles of matter.

F. H.: No. Nothing would remain because matter is only an impression due to apparent motion. Without motion, there's no universe. Nothing. Motion of what? Motion of nothing, in fact, since mind doesn't really move. It is always here and now. But it believes it moves, projected into the future to reach its goal of absolute peace (Nothingness), and restrained by a memory which it doesn't want to lose (universe). All energetic motions in the universe are only psychological ones.

The Truth is peace, across every apparent motion, and this absolute peace is Nothingness. Nothing more. A point, that is all.

YOU: Peace is when you do not talk.

F. H.: If you doubt Nothingness, it is only a logical fear, a fear which prevents you from totally losing consciousness even when you sleep, even when you meditate, even when you are dead. A fear which makes you live. But a fear which makes you live outside the present moment. So you live in the past, with the memory you create, or in the future, with your hopes and wills. But you really feel you are being yourself WHEN YOU ARE REALLY PRESENT, and then there is neither future nor past. You are in the eternity of the moment. You know, when you make love, or play sports or music and so on, all these activities which save your life from time and illusion.

YOU: Please, Lord, save my life from this illusion !

F. H.: Space and time are the illusion which allows the present to be. You wouldn't be real in the present, and Nothingness wouldn't be actual without this illusion. It is important to understand this because it will help you to live with your new knowledge: The illusion of life is the truth to live by.

YOU: Why does he want to help me? I can play music without his truth!

F. H.: Talking of music, music is the activity in which people generally feel most present. The greatest source of emotion. When you are completely submerged in music, you feel completely present. Yet, if you try to capture music in the moment, you capture nothing: music in the very present doesn't exist. It is not even a note, not a single note, no sound, because all this requires some duration. The present has no duration. So, there is no music at all at the very time when you feel so full of present emotion. This emotion relies upon memory, memory of notes before, and expectation of further notes. So your ability to be real, present, relies upon the illusion of time.

The same applies to the universe. The whole universe is comprised of memory, but thanks to this you can have emotions and reactions, which engender your present, and then engender Nothingness.

Nothingness, the present, both require your presence, so they require your emotions about an illusory universe.

So, you continue to believe in this universe, because your deep, unconscious mind knows that it is necessary to enable Absolute Nothingness to be.

I hope the contradiction you pointed out is solved. It will be increasingly solved later on.

YOU: Funny. If you demonstrate that "eternal, present Nothingness", is allowed by consciousness's illusions, you will have explained the origin of the universe. But I'm afraid you cannot.