What do Arab mathematicians, Aristotle, Pythagoras, the golden ratio, Zeno’s paradox and the Mayan calendar have in common? The number zero. See, zero has been tripping us from the beginning, from about 500 to 1100 A D when Arab mathematicians introduced the concept to the ancient world. They called it "sifr" close to the Latin root "cipher." The Hindus called it "sunya." But whatever it was called, no one understood what they were talking about.

It was weird. It was counter-intuitive. The Greeks hated it. It ruined Pythagorean geometry and Aristotelian philosophy. It stood for nothing and infinity all at once, the twin engines of fertility and death. The little circular number struck up intense social, religious and philosophical battles, some of which are still unresolved today.

People didn’t understand. What did it mean - none? There was no such thing as one before one. And why did zero command so much power? When you divided a number by zero, it became zero. How could zero open up and swallow things like that? Was Zero God? The divine ruler under which all else falls, like a mob boss? Or the one kid on the bus with a black eye and a slingshot who makes everyone else’s life a living hell?

The Christians said No Way! They wouldn’t have zero. How could a living and fecund God allow zero? There is always something. If there was no bread, you still had your basket. And if there was no basket, there were your hands. If you had no hands, be grateful for your feet. You get the idea.

The problem was zero wasn’t concrete. Old world citizens simply used the concept "there aren’t any." As in, "there aren’t any rooms in the Inn." Which makes perfect sense when you think of the unruly multitude of options zero raises.

As you hear this, there are zero herds of buffalo in this room, zero Trojan Horses, zero dead relatives, unless you believe in spirits walking this earth and then we’re off to the Mayans, who also had the concept of zero, but I digress….which is easy to do when I’m trying to wrap my 20th-century brain around the concept of zero.

But while pagan Rome and Christian Europe were bad-mouthing zero, Islamics and Hindus kept zero alive. Perhaps because both religions were familiar with the concept of infinity and the void. Both societies understood the inherent value of nothing.

And they were right. Zero is powerful. Without it we wouldn’t have trigonometry, algebra, calculus or geometry. Fine by me, you say. Believe me, I understand. If you could see my high school report cards and poor old Mr. Campbell sadly grading my tests with his red pen you’d know I’ve never been inclined towards numbers. Except that without all those head-splitting numerical gymnastics, we wouldn’t have penicillin, the Brooklyn Bridge, Hollywood, computers, The US Postal Service, cell phones, Dairy Queen Peanut Buster parfaits or ---- Zero percent interest rates.

And while many of us still don’t really get serious science and mathematics, or art and literature for that matter, we can begin to understand that the world really does begin and end with zero. And while it’s still hard to fathom how one little round number can represent everything and nothing all at once, perhaps we need to try to learn to see the infinite and the void as intrinsic to each other. They can be hunted and studied, but never quite captured. So consider, while there’s frequently nothing, there’s always something. Even inside of loss, there are infinite possibilities. Understand this, and then you have harnessed the power of none.

I’m Heather McElhatton, the Bohemian Capitalist for Sound Money.

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