Why does anything exist?

[Newbert_Zero]

What if nothing ever existed? Why does existance exist?

Do you understand where I'm getting at?

Imagine if nothing ever existed... I don't know how to explain this thought I had but just think.

[Mahavishnu]

while tripping on the ancient Mayan seeds of Morning Glory I relised that there are two: nothingness, and existance

with the combination of nothingness and existance returns us back to the even playing field, so without existance, the equation so to speak, would be uneven

[shakeNbake06]

ya I think about this a lot and it really trips me out. also before the universe was created what was there? i mean just nothingness? and its also crazy to think that the universe never ends..i mean how can something never end?

[verklingen]

Originally Posted by shakenbake

how can something never end?

ever seen a circle?

to the OP: because non-existence is already filled with everything that will never exist. . . which is nothing. there's no more room for anything.

[FineazPR]

..maybe you should put that bong & the lighter down for a while. U R 2 deep even 4 ME! LOL! bongsmilie

[JcP]

Originally Posted by Newbert_Zero

What if nothing ever existed? Why does existance exist?

Do you understand where I'm getting at?

Imagine if nothing ever existed... I don't know how to explain this thought I had but just think.

This is, indeed, the real 20,000 dollar question. "Who am I" and all that are stepping stones to the real question of "why."


I think another question to add to your thoughts Newbert is, "since it's clear existance exists, why is existance this existance, when existance could be anything?"


I totally know what you're getting at. And if I ever come to any sort of answer, I'll be sure to post it. But for now, "I DON'T KNOW!"

[WildWill]

Couple of things you should read on the subject of existence and nothingness.

1) Plato - the Platonic discourses on perfection and the existence of everything as it relates to a perfect ideal. Specifically the Allegory of the Cave. Allegory of the cave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2) The theories of Erwin Schrödinger and his cat Schrödinger's cat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3) ANY existential writing such as Satre or even Waiting for Godot.

Fascinating subject that's been explored in literature and art since man first started using more of his brain.

[reverie]

Another good question to ask would be "What.. if any, would be the difference in existing and non existing?" Considering we are observers.

[The Rev]

They are incontrastible, since only something which exists can be contrasted with something that exists. BTW, non-existance, if real, would exist as well. The non-existant thing is an idea, however.



The Rev

[Vik*star*]

^ well said. Nothingness/ nonexistance is an idea. Its not feasible atleast in physical terms.

""In fact, it is practically impossible to construct a region of space which contains no matter or fields, since gravity cannot be blocked and all objects at a non-zero temperature radiate electromagnetically. However, supposing such a region existed, it would still not be "nothing", since it has properties and a measurable existence as part of the quantum-mechanical vacuum. ""

Nothing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[angenioni]

Originally Posted by Newbert_Zero

What if nothing ever existed? Why does existance exist?

Do you understand where I'm getting at?

Imagine if nothing ever existed... I don't know how to explain this thought I had but just think.

How would you know if nothing ever existed? because you would never have existed.

[espiex]

Originally Posted by JcP

"since it's clear existance exists, why is existance this existance, when existance could be anything?"

Indeed... why this reality?

[Silverleaf]

Heidegger does a lot to try to explain why being and why not being (especially in Being and Time, aka Sein und Zeit, but if you want to tackle that bitch do yourself a favor and pick up "A History of the Concept of Time"; it's kind of like the lecture notes to Sein und Zeit). In brief, I'll mention the concept of presences and absences, which is pretty essential to phenomenology.

I have a pack of cigarettes. I hold it up and look at it, and I know it's a pack of cigarettes -- even though I can't see the whole object (there is another side that I cannot see, though you might be able to see if you are standing in the correct spatiotemporal location), through it's manifold appearance (the numerous sides, aspects, and profiles of the object), I know it's a pack of cigarettes. It's a question of what is present and what is absent. The absence is an essential part of the presence of the object -- it is PART of the object.

I think the same can be applied to existence. If this, then there is that. If exist, then does not exist.

[Shaggy_420]

this question is what sparks religions
people need to link everything to one thing
"i am here because god created me"
well then who created god?
what created the thing that created everything that has been created
did it create itself
or did something create it
well then what created the somethign that created it
what if i created the thing that created that thing who created god

[FourtySecondRip]

who should die to please the thing that created the thing that created everything

[Man in Black]

Originally Posted by Newbert_Zero

Why does existance exist?

Because you think it does.

[Dr. ShinDig]

I've tried bunches of times... to think of non existence or pure nothing.. the mind can't do it though, to me there is no such thing as nothing

[ziplock]

I love this question. Why is there existence? Why is there anything? Why isn't there nothing? I've woven my mind through this tapestry on so many idle days. Echoing out what was said before me, it appears to be the fundamental question that from which all other questions extend from. It's so hard then to attempt to reveal your perspective on it because it just calls for further definition ad infinitum. You get lost in so called tangents and your conversation starts to resemble a drug-induced sprint through the forest. Occasionally stopping to hit a tree.

It's funny... The most alien concept in a way is the concept of nothing. It's so tremendously fucking hard to relate to. Much more so then other concepts I've come across in this little trip called life. The concepts we fear seem to orbit around this nothing. Loss for instance is a big one. Something, something you care for, you invest a tremendous energy in and you gain an even more remarkable reward from, becomes nothing. No more, done. That is a very scary thought...

What the hell is nothing though? Light serves as a good medium for the understanding of this point. Light is electromagnetic radiation. Darkness, what we interpret to be the opposite, is the absence of light. Nothing then is the absence of something, obviously. Basic, easy.

Now we get into semantics and the little quirks that come with language. Scientifically speaking there has yet to be the achievement of a region of space with nothing in it. A vacuum, space with no matter, still contains fields. It is then simply a theoretical reference. Technically there's no application of "nothing."

Nothing can be used then in reference to the absence of something. It'd however still be more accurate to say that "there is no _______ there" or something to that effect. Nothing in an absolute sense, as in there is nothing at all, is really an unsupported platform. It then would seem this relative observation, the absence of something being within our experience, is applied to a more grandiose or "objective" scale: the universe, existence, etc. This application is really hard to support.

We could reasonable say that nothing could be no more than a false perception. The question becomes "why would there ever be nothing?" and you go "I don't know."

Nothing in the absolute sense leads to logical contradictions and difficulties. If there were "nothing" and "everything" was created the classic how was it created? What created the thing that created everything? So on and so forth. The search for the primary cause. This train of reasoning is based on a linear sort of thought. Tracing through causality cause and effect.

This is a very relatable sort of thought as our life is experienced in a linear fashion. Observing life it'd be reasonable to conclude that all of existence moves in a similar fashion. As our methods of observation advanced, we now have reason to break down that linear progression. That, simply, what we see as solid, isn't. So on and so forth.

By excluding this faith in linear progression we can say that events for example "exist" in every possible variation at every possible point in time all at once. These possibilities are then isolated through observation, or life, and is experienced in a linear way.

Everything then, every possibility, every stretch of the imagination exists. Nothing is then describing the absence of certain possibilities. Existence is a relative term, mostly describing observation, or experience. Nothing exists within the parameters of this phenomenon. What we are aware of we ascribe a measure of "existence". What we're unaware of exists in a state of nonexistence until discovered. These possibilities that we're unaware of exist in "another state" so to speak.

I love this shit Thoughts are getting scattered though. Will have to reapproach in a bit.

[shakeNbake06]

[quote=verklingen;515 82552]ever seen a circle?

a circle ends though