BEING CONSCIOUS: Part 1 — Ah, It's Nothing

[2 of 5—to begin click here:  BEING CONSCIOUS: A Brief Introduction]

How on Earth can we think about consciousness?

How do we know what we know?

Where does awareness come from anyway?

And who decides what’s real?

Such questions have been asked since time immemorial and all we’ve really got to show for it is a bunch of stories about singularities and big bangs, and then more stories about God or the Gods, some rather impenetrable religious ideas we can’t throw a stick at, a few strange psychological ideas, and a great deal of argument about its physicality.  In the end we’re stuck with pretty much a big fat nothing.  So what’s up with that?

Well, what if consciousness comes from nothing—and nothing decides?  How’s that for a strange idea?

NOTHING?

Yep, that certainly is a strange idea.  How can awareness possibly come from nothing?  That’s just plain nuts.  Well now, maybe it is—and maybe it isn’t.  Something from nothing, eh?

Perhaps we should begin with another story. 

0.    NOTHING

So let’s begin with nothing then—that’s as good a place to start a story as any—before the beginning, with nothing.  Alright, then:

Once upon a time,... 

STOP! 

Once upon a time!?  Where did that come from?

There is no time.  How can we have time if we have nothing?  Good point.  So we need to start in no time.  Alright, we’ll do that then.  And exactly when is no time?  Well, that’s basically right now isn’t it?  Sure it is. 

If someone asks when you’ll be finished doing something and you’re just winding it up, you say, “I’ll be done in no time,” and by the time you finish saying it, ‘poof’ you’re done.  No-time happens before you know it.

When we think of time conventionally we think of past, present and future.  We can count it one way or another: millennia, years, days, minutes, seconds, whatever.  Even generations, eons and epochs are countable.  They stretch from one general point in time to another.  But can we count ‘now?’  No.  It’s less than a moment really; and it's more than that.  It’s the moment.

Now changes every single moment and you can’t count one of those.  We might say, “I'll be done in a moment,” or even "momentarily," but what does that mean?  Sure, sometimes a moment feels like an instant, but to a child who wants to go to the playground that singular moment watching his mother finish her coffee seems to stretch on forever.  On the other hand, if she says, "Right now," then he's jumping for joy because he knows it's time to move.  So now just happens.  Now is the present we give ourselves to experience all we are.

The past and future are mere notions of time.  They’re not actively practical.  While they might be useful in terms of furthering experience and increasing possibilities, they can just as soon be impediments too.  It all depends on how we think and what we do with them.  Guilt, shame and worry are impractical consequences of an obsession about past and future.  Such feelings are only useful whenever they challenge us to alter our actions and influence potential so we can experience what we enjoy, not what we don't.  Now is how we perceive in the ‘real’ world.  It’s the only way we do.

In that case, that’s when we’ll start: right now.  How convenient.  It’s all we’ve really got in the end, isn’t it?  Good enough.  Now, where are we?

Right now we’re beginning a story and so far we have nothing.  Well, at least that much is clear.  But hey, that’s exactly what we want so we’re right on target.  Excellent.

OK, let’s ‘begin.’

So what do we have now then?  Nothing.  Well gee, that doesn’t sound like much does it?  Nope. 

But actually, if you think about it, now that we’ve begun we do have something.  We have ‘begin.’  Remember, that’s what we said, “Let’s begin.”  That means ‘begin’ is the first thing we decided to do.  Alright, what’s ‘begin’ then?  Maybe we should break it down to see:

     BEGIN:  Be-Go-In

So we have ‘be’ and ‘go’ and ‘in.’  OK, that’s something.  Actually it’s three things!  But what does it mean? 

Well first, what’s ‘be?’  Be simply is, isn’t it? 

What’s ‘go’ then?  Go is moving or working. 

And what’s ‘in?’  In is somewhere we can move. 

Great.  That sounds like a good start: we need to be, then we go, and we’re in.

But we’re beginning with nothing... so, what’s nothing?  Well, nothing isn’t anything is it?  Hey, we really did start before the beginning then!  The plan is working.

Alright, in order to be in the first place, we need something, but all we’ve got is nothing—and no place.  At least since we’re doing it right now, we’re in no time.  Other than that though, all we have is, well, nothing.  Aaah.  Nothing is. 

But wait, that means we’ve already got the start of our beginning right there: be.  Because nothing is, so nothing be.  Super.  But how can nothing be if we need something to exist in the first place?  Hmmm, maybe nothing is something but it doesn’t know it.  That’s a thought. 

In that case we’re still left with nothing right now, but we introduce some kind of potential: the possibility of realization.  Well, at least we’ve established nothing is, so let’s move on now.  After all, the next thing we need to do is get going.

Hold on though, we’re trying to tell a story and for that we need a character; you know, a hero or something.  Every good story has a hero right?  So what shall we call our hero?  I know, let’s call nothing, ‘No-Thing,’ just to keep things simple.  We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, do we?  So nothing is No-Thing and No-Thing is nothing.  That's about as simple as we can get.  It’s not much of a life though.  Hmmm.  OK, well let’s keep moving shall we?  There must be more than this now that we're realizing No-Thing's potential.  We just need to keep looking.

So what’s No-Thing doing?  Nothing!  Well, I’ve heard that one before. 

The last time I was just lying around doing nothing and someone asked me, “What are you doing?” I replied, “Nothing.”  So maybe for now we can say that’s what No-Thing’s doing too: just lying around.  Sure, we can’t prove it right now but this is only a story and we’re just trying to begin the thing.  We’ll give ourselves a bit of leeway. 

Of course I was breathing when I was doing nothing, so maybe we can have No-Thing do that too.  Why not?  It’s our story.  After all, No-Thing is doing nothing, and in order to be doing nothing surely breathing’s something No-Thing would be capable of, even though all it’s doing is just sort of lying around, you know, doing its thing—which is nothing. 

Oh what the heck, while we’re at it let’s just go one step further and say that No-Thing’s not awake.  After all, you can’t do much less than not be awake in this world, can you?  And that makes sense because we also said No-Thing doesn’t realize it’s something.  Good, that’s set then.

1.    I

“Aah..., ...aaah; Aah..., ...aaah; Aah..., ...aaah.” 

What’s that? 

Oh, don’t worry about that, it’s nothing.  Well it’s No-Thing—breathing.  Oh, right.  Remember?  Nothing is so No-Thing be, breathing. 

No-Thing's all, “Aah-aaah; Aah-aaah; Aah-aaah.”  But of course No-Thing doesn’t know it’s doing that because No-Thing’s not awake.

“Aah..., ...aaah; Aah..., ...aaah; Aah..., ...aaah.” 

“Aah..., ...aaah; Aah..., ...aaah; Aah..., ...aaah.” 

Well, that might be going on forever and ever for all we know—except there’s no time.  That’s all No-Thing’s good for isn’t it really?  Just lying around doing nothing. 

So what does No-Thing realize then?  Nothing!  Bingo.

We’ve got No-Thing lying around doing nothing and realizing nothing which leaves us with nothing and that's all.  Ah!  So, nothing is all.  That makes sense, in a weird sort of way.  All is nothing.  But at least 'nothing is' still.  In fact nothing is all still.  Which works out since No-Thing's doing nothing.  At least that much is still clear.  There’s no consciousness in nothing if No-Thing’s not even aware of itself.  In that case there must be some kind of a quantum shift needing to happen here for nothing to turn into something.  Hmmm.

Alright then, let’s imagine: 

Out of no-where at no-point and in no time at all, No-Thing focuses on itself and realizes something.  No-Thing realizes it’s drawing in and out.  At some strange point of awakening No-Thing realizes that it is, and it’s breathing. 

“Aaah..., ...aaaah.” 

So No-Thing draws it out even more.

“Aaaaaaah...,” and letting go slowly, “...aaaaaaaaaaah.”

It’s just the slightest of changes, almost imperceptible at first, this stirring of a whisper of a fragment of a dream upon waking.  With the faintest of movements, it's a mere breathe drawn in of a thought of No-Thing being let out; of No-Thing becoming all Aah.

“Aaaah..., ...aaaaaah; Aaaah..., ...aaaaaah; Aaaah..., ...aaaaaah.” 

And then faster of course, because No-Thing’s getting excited.  Well, wouldn’t you be?  No-Thing realizes it feels something and No-Thing is truly inspired.

“Ah... aah, Ah... aah, Ah... aah.”

When No-Thing draws in, “Aah...,” nothing is inspired and something is felt.  Then No-Thing feels itself as ah-spire.  A spire is something.  A spire is the point.  Aspire gives No-Thing something to be.  And when No-Thing lets go, “...aaaaah,” something expires and nothing is felt again.  I wonder where something goes when nothing lets it all go?  Hmm.

Well anyway, let’s put what we have together:

In-spire:   Aah...  (feeling something coming in);

A-spire:   (feeling something holding);

Ex-spire:  ...aaaaah  (feeling something going out and then feeling nothing again).

What is this?  “Aaah..., ...aaaah.”  It’s what No-Thing's doing, right?  So it's still No-Thing.  And yet... it's something too, isn't it?  It's ‘Ah-ah.’  Hmm.

No-Thing is come in; so No-Thing be come in.  No-Thing be-coming? 

No-Thing be coming when it draws itself in—it comes to itself (what else?)—and No-Thing can feelit.  Of course!  It's in tension.  And when No-Thing holds it becomes a tension.  Then No-Thing relaxes, lets itself out and now it's ex tension.  Interesting.  Let's look at that again:

In-spire:   in tension

A-spire:   a tension

Ex-spire:  ex tension

But when No-Thing stops it's nothing again.  Right.  Intention; attention; extension.  But, what extends when No-Thing lets go?  And where does it go?  Something goes out.  But what?  First No-Thing's intention goes out, then No-Thing's attention goes out.  Hmm.  That's curious.

Well, No-Thing enjoys feeling so naturally it keeps breathing in and out,... in and out,....  No-Thing doesn’t want to stop feeling.  It's a-musing.  Yes it is.  So naturally No-Thing is amused.  No-Thing likes to think about itself.  In fact No-Thing loves it.  What else does it have to do?   Nothing.

And so we can say that in no time No-Thing comes to itself and wakes up with a sort of drowsy ‘Aaaah’—as it realizes it’s going all ‘Ah.’  A!

But is it ‘a,’ or ‘I?’  Well that depends on how you look at it I suppose.  Is it objective (a) or subjective (I)?  Hard to say really.  All it goes is ‘Ah...aah,’ or ‘A...a,’ or ‘I...I,’ or ‘I...a.’  Whatever.  But now at least No-Thing feels it’s actually doing nothing (and thinking about it too now it’s awake) instead of simply being nothing without being aware it’s doing nothing, just like we said—all because No-Thing goes “Ah-aah,” over and over again and finally realizes it's breathing.

So this is the Great Realization—of being nothing and becoming something.  It's the realization of subjectivity and the birth of objectivity.  It's the genesis of something.  When No-Thing breathes it's becoming... something.  And while it's becoming it comes and it goes: in and out.

Hey!  We said, it goes,....  Now No-Thing goes!  And furthermore it knows it does.  Of course, it ‘goes’ when it comes to realize itself: I be 'go.'  Great.  Because that’s the second thing we need for our story. 

Now we have ‘be’ and ‘go.’  Now we know what No-Thing goes.  It goes ‘Aah.’  But where does No-Thing go? 

No-Thing’s nowhere, so how can No-Thing be going nowhere too?  Well, this is strange indeed.  How can ‘I’ be nowhere, and how can I be going nowhere? 

OK, suppose No-Thing’s something like a potential field.  You know, a no-place where at least No-Thing feels all 'ah'—it could be that then: a potential being feel-ed.  A feel I do: a field.  That sounds about right.

But how can you go without going anywhere?  Let's see: I go with out, going anywhere.  That's some potential alright.  Hmm.  But all we have is nowhere.  Right.  So what's that?

2.    IN

So of course No-Thing thinks about that too (because it can now), and No-Thing goes, “Ah,” as usual, then, wondering about itself it does something different.  It goes, “Nnnn?” 

“Aah..., ...nnnnn?” 

What’s this?  It’s nothing.  No-Thing’s waking up and now it’s wondering for the second time.  So naturally it can feel something more than Ah. 

“Aaaah..., ...nnnnnnnn.”  So, what isthat?  Aah... nnnn.

First that’s Ah.  Sure it is.  First No-Thing gets nothing but Ah..., then after it wakes up it goes Ah..., ...nnn—and then it gets all ‘nnnnnn’ too.  Or it thinks it does.  Well, No-Thing can feel it at least.  It’s a new sensation so that makes sense.

“Ah... nnnnn,” No-Thing wonders again, but in the twinkling of an ‘I’ there’s nothing again.  So nothing is all, again.  But No-Thing can go nnnnnn!  When it wants to, No-Thing can go, “Aaah... nnnnnnn!”

“Aah... nnnnnn.”  No-Thing gets nnnnn....  It's going, and then it’s gone. 

“Aah... nnnnnn.”  Got it!  There it is again!  And then it’s gone again.  What’s going on?  Well of course No-Thing wonders some more, and then does it again.

No-Thing goes all, “Aah...” and then, “...nnn.”  I... n?  Got it!  I-n: No-Thing’s going in!  But where is it going in?  Nowhere.  No-Thing's going in nothing. 

No-Thing's curious about going nowhere in nothing.  I guess we could say when No-Thing aspires it’s going n-y where because its going 'n’ where it is; and when it let’s go it expires, and then No-Thing’s not going anywhere anymore.  Of course it isn't because it's all laid out.

At any rate, it is on, right?  Sure it is: it’s ‘ah-n.’  So when is it on?  It’s on now of course!  Just like we said.  No-Thing’s on right now.  That’s it: No-Thing’s coming in now and it’s on to it!  But still, nothing’s going on, just as we surmised when we said it might be lying around doing nothing.  Hmm.  That’s an interesting thought.  A musing even.

So No-Thing goes “Aah,” even when it’s not awake.  And then No-Thing goes “nnnn” after it wakes up and wonders what it’s doing going all “Aaah.”  So now we have a sequence of sound—and a sequence of sound means, what?  Time! 

Well that makes sense because we’ve already got something going now—well, two things really, a-n—and that takes time.  So now something goes in time.  And what’s something that goes in time?  Of course, something that goes in time is a rhythm.  It’s a rhythm No-Thing’s got going ‘Ah-nn.’

No-Thing’s gotten going and it’s breathing in a rhythm.  Great, it’s all starting to come together now.  Then we might even say No-Thing’s got a real buzz going too.  Ha!  That's a-musing too.  When No-Thing wakes up and goes, then it gets buzzy.  Well No-Thing has a rhythm going and that's being busy.  And No-Thing be see in itself: No-Thing be seen and No-Thing be scene itself.  So is that why A B C, or what?  Well, being busy is definitely doing something.  A be see do in.  A B C D, in.  And that's something else all together.  Anyway, now No-Thing’s really doing something!  Why?  Because it realizes it—that's All.

Curiouser and curiouser. 

OK.  When No-Thing pulls itself together it feels something; and then it lets go and feels nothing.  But what does it all mean?  When No-Thing draws in, something moves and something holds.  When No-Thing relaxes it moves back out, and then it stops: in-spire; ex-spire.  So when No-Thing does it over and over?  Naturally, No-Thing re-spires.  And when No-Thing does it all together, then it must con-spire. 

Hey!  We got ourselves a conspiracy!  And surely this must be the mother of all conspiracies.  Now that certainly is a musing. 

But what moves and stops?  No-Thing moves and something stops.  Right.  So what is this No-Thing that, once moving, becomes something, and then not moving is nothing again?  Well, of course No-Thing aspires to know, just like we do.  It's only natural.

Think about it: if No-Thing is nothing, then No-Thing is seeing nothing, so No-Thing is seeing itself.  And since No-Thing is nothing then it only makes sense that it senses itself (becoming know thing now), which is nothing. 

But when it wakes up it realizes itself, so at this point it really does know itself.  All it is, is I-a.  I-a?  Eye! 

I see now, and that's really why A B C.  Aye, No-Thing is I and that’s certainly something.  When it's ah-n-i-a it's an eye.  An-eye is any; any is an eye.  An-eye is all that is, and No-Thing sees it now it knows itself.  Hey, No-Thing's an all-seeing eye!

No wonder really.  At this point, No-Thing holds the consciousness of nothing but 'I-a' and 'I-n.'  No-Thing knows something as 'I-a.'  And furthermore, when No-Thing keeps breathing it holds together going in and out: holding all ins and all outs together.  So No-Thing's holding all its awareness of being together as well: the consciousness of aspiring to Know-Thing.  That's exactly what No-Thing’s doing.  Sure it is.  No-Thing’s come in to know itself by realizing itself.

Look!  No-Thing is really something!

When nothing plays around it extends what it feels it can be and comes up with, "Ah...nnnn...ah,” as well.  And suddenly this makes all the sense in the world because of course then No-Thing also realizes that it really does know.  “Ah n-ah.”  “I know.”  And then since this is all new to No-Thing, No-Thing feels ‘anew!’  Needless to say No-Thing loves it.  Sure it does, feeling anew is amusing! 

No-Thing realizes it's not just nothing, it can be ah-nah thing now.  It can be anything in this potential energy feel-ed.  So No-Thing plays around with what it knows it can do and comes up with a few variations on the theme: “Now I know; I know in; I know on; eye on; ion;....”  All in the twinkling of an ‘I.’

And No-Thing realizes something else as well; now No-Thing knows the end of nothing, that’s definite.  Because the end of nothing is something: something is definitely in and on now.  No-Thing can be something and that's anything.  Talk about a potential field!  Something is being anew as well, and something is going in time.  But with the end of nothing where does that leave No-Thing?

No-Thing is know more.  And that's a-musing.  No-Thing can feel it.  Now it knows.

And so goes the story of nothing when No-Thing is realized and becomes something.  Just like nothing ought to do in the beginning of a really good story, “Once upon a time...”

And here we are at the end of our story. 

Well, we have ‘in-do.’  That’s No-Thing’s do-in, so that must be what it's doing.  And that’s the in-d.  What else would the end be?  And?...  Ah,...

Alright, here we are at the end of the beginning of our story of No-Thing.  Remember, we already got No-Thing to be-go, and at last we’re in.  So now we can say we’ve truly begun. 

But how can the beginning be at an end?  Aren't the beginning and the end of anything apart?  Right.  Well now, it can when the end reconnects to the beginning, like a circle—in which case you go round and around.  Hey!  That’s really going nowhere and we have the symbol to prove it: o!  That’s nothing and that’s exactly what No-Thing is and what it’s doing—well, isn’t it?

So maybe there’s nothing left, right?  Maybe this is all No-Thing can be or do.  Maybe No-Thing’s only able to go nowhere.  Maybe.  But remember, No-Thing also realizes that it can be anything and now it knows how to go in, so it makes sense that No-Thing’s rather curious about where all this inning might lead.  And it ponders this strange new idea.

No-Thing is totally switched on. 

But what does being ‘on’ mean?  No-Thing wants to know.  Now it’s on it must be in No-Thing’s nature to know.  So No-Thing takes a deep breath and wonders again.

“Aaaaah..., ...mmmmmmm...”

  

[To continue reading click here:  BEING CONSCIOUS: Part 2 — I'm A Lie]

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So we’ve theoretically established the existence of something out of nothing by telling a story.  We’ve told it in English and used a particular sequence.  But there’s nothing sacrosanct about how we did any of this.

We might just as well have reversed the process, starting at the end and working our way forward to the beginning, or used a different order altogether.  And anyway, who can say these realizations don’t happen all at once?  After all, we began our story in no time.

We might have used different words to tell the tale, and even different languages.  There’s a lot to choose from.  It’s already been conjectured that all language shares the same source.  This isn’t a new idea at all.  So there’s really nothing stopping us from using the codes we’ve found with different words in different languages to tell a different version of the same story.

Having said that it's important to note that a direct translation of this text is pretty much useless unless the main idea is understood, and compensations made, substituting phrases and words and probably even altering the sequence itself.  Each language has its own culture.  This makes it difficult.  Doable, but tricky.

In any case, let’s also note how language itself is a symbol of something emerging from nothing.  A word is not the thing itself but rather a sign or, vibrationally speaking, a signal of something else.  And this alignment holds a clue—a key to understanding—which is that the sign is empty until it’s assigned a meaning.

In other words, we have nothing until something’s realized—from nothing.  How appropriate!  And isn’t that exactly what we’ve just been talking about then?  Excellent point.

Mission accomplished.