Blank slate/Blackness/No phenomena

[Bruins8000]

What if phenomena never “arose” and there was just a blank slate forever and ever(blackness/nothingness) with no consciousness or awareness. Would it ultimately not matter because regardless of what appears there’s only THIS? I know there’s only THIS but if there was just nothingness forever then there would never be conscious awareness of nonduality or THIS (which I guess doesn’t matter). Trying to work this out internally and it’s confusing the heck out of me. Any pointers or advice to clear this up is welcome. Thanks

[Preety_India]

Your conscious awareness is non duality itself. 

[A Fellow Lighter]

15 minutes ago, Bruins8000 said:

What if phenomena never “arose” and there was just a blank slate forever and ever(blackness/nothingness) with no consciousness or awareness. Would it ultimately not matter because regardless of what appears there’s only THIS? I know there’s only THIS but if there was just nothingness forever then there would never be conscious awareness of nonduality or THIS (which I guess doesn’t matter). Trying to work this out internally and it’s confusing the heck out of me. Any pointers or advice to clear this up is welcome. Thanks

You could say that if phenomena never arose, and there was merely this “blank slate”, well then you could say that it (the nothingness) would be the only thing that matters, for what is matter other than that which we care to be aware of? See the real question here is: Would there be an awareness of anything if you, Creator, cared about nothing?

And it is not that there would never be awareness of nonduality, no. There would never be any enlightenment of what it means to be you, Creator. 

[dorg]

50 minutes ago, Bruins8000 said:

What if phenomena never “arose” and there was just a blank slate forever and ever(blackness/nothingness) with no consciousness or awareness. Would it ultimately not matter because regardless of what appears there’s only THIS? I know there’s only THIS but if there was just nothingness forever then there would never be conscious awareness of nonduality or THIS (which I guess doesn’t matter). Trying to work this out internally and it’s confusing the heck out of me. Any pointers or advice to clear this up is welcome. Thanks

There is only nothing now.

What you are calling THIS is the nothingness.

Things only matter to the person (who thinks it is something living somewhere).

[WelcometoReality]

1 hour ago, Bruins8000 said:

What if phenomena never “arose” and there was just a blank slate forever and ever(blackness/nothingness) with no consciousness or awareness. Would it ultimately not matter because regardless of what appears there’s only THIS? I know there’s only THIS but if there was just nothingness forever then there would never be conscious awareness of nonduality or THIS (which I guess doesn’t matter). Trying to work this out internally and it’s confusing the heck out of me. Any pointers or advice to clear this up is welcome. Thanks

There would still be consciousness/awareness even though there would be no phenomena. The words nothingness and consciousness points to the same thing or the same no-thing which is non-existence.

[Bruins8000]

@WelcometoReality isn’t non-existence impossible though?

[WelcometoReality]

1 minute ago, Bruins8000 said:

@WelcometoReality isn’t non-existence impossible though?

Yeah I get that alot. ?

The mind certainly can't think of non-existence anyway.

[Shambhu]

4 hours ago, WelcometoReality said:

There would still be consciousness/awareness even though there would be no phenomena. The words nothingness and consciousness points to the same thing or the same no-thing which is non-existence.

What we commonly refer to as something and nothing are both appearances to Consciousness.  That which is no-thing is not non-existent.  To say that there is non-existence is a contradiction.  You are positing non-existence as real, which would then mean it exists, thus defeating your own claim.

[WelcometoReality]

2 hours ago, Shambhu said:

What we commonly refer to as something and nothing are both appearances to Consciousness.  That which is no-thing is not non-existent.  To say that there is non-existence is a contradiction.  You are positing non-existence as real, which would then mean it exists, thus defeating your own claim.

Yeah I agree. It's probably minds interpretation of it since it can't go there but it really doesn't matter what you want to call it. We can call it 0 or void or coca-cola I guess. ?

[Spence94]

If there is only blackness/nothingness then what conciousness is is blackness/nothingness. If there is phenomena then what conciousness is the the phenomena as well as the nothingness, because conciousness is nothingness. 

Blackness/nothingness is conciousness/awareness.

Conciousness is nothingness, with or without phenomena.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Spence94

[WelcometoReality]

@Shambhu we can say that a thought or sound exists but can we say that 'something' which has no characteristics exist? When the thought or sound passes it goes back into that void which is why I call it non-existence.

[Shambhu]

8 hours ago, WelcometoReality said:

@Shambhu we can say that a thought or sound exists but can we say that 'something' which has no characteristics exist? When the thought or sound passes it goes back into that void which is why I call it non-existence.

@WelcometoReality Consider space.  It has no qualities, yet it exists.  In fact, without it, no objects with qualities could exist.  The same is true of pure Consciousness.  Although it is without qualities, it exists, and it is the ground for all things.  

Remember, no-thingness is not non-existence.  I understand that people use that type of language when speaking causally, but it's technically incorrect.  You cannot say "something" is and is not without violating the law of non-contradiction.  Non-existence does not exist.

[Bruins8000]

9 hours ago, Spence94 said:

If there is only blackness/nothingness then what conciousness is is blackness/nothingness. If there is phenomena then what conciousness is the the phenomena as well as the nothingness, because conciousness is nothingness. 

Blackness/nothingness is conciousness/awareness.

Conciousness is nothingness, with or without phenomena.

I guess part of the confusion is- if there was blackness/nothingness/no phenomena from the start…there never would have arisen an ‘I’ thought or a forum discussing nonduality or a galaxy. These “things” prove there is THIS. If there’s just groundless nothing the “proofs” of THIS don’t even arise-and we’d be none the wiser because we’d never know about it either. I’ve grasped these ideas before and been in the flow but sometimes confusion sets in again. I guess I should just focus on this current moment- if there’s THIS now (proven by me sitting in a chair) then there has always been THIS.

[WelcometoReality]

14 hours ago, Shambhu said:

@WelcometoReality Consider space.  It has no qualities, yet it exists.  In fact, without it, no objects with qualities could exist.  The same is true of pure Consciousness.  Although it is without qualities, it exists, and it is the ground for all things.  

Remember, no-thingness is not non-existence.  I understand that people use that type of language when speaking causally, but it's technically incorrect.  You cannot say "something" is and is not without violating the law of non-contradiction.  Non-existence does not exist.

Yeah, I'll guess it only adds confusion by using that word so I'll stop using it. 

[VeganAwake]

It's an explosion of light, color and sound and simultaneously it's empty.

Empty of meaning and purpose.

Full of phenomenon.

It's empty and full.

Real and unreal.

This and that.

It's so f****** radical and off-the-chart.

It can feel like freedom and imprisonment simultaneously.

And it absolutely doesn't matter!

❤ 

 

[Malekakisioannis]

@Bruins8000 nothingness is so empty that couldn't do anything than look like something... Contemplate on that.