DOES NOTHING EXIST???

Fil, I am taking my notion of "nothing" from my interpretation of "emptiness"(sunya) as used in Buddhist thought. As I precariously understand it intellectually, it is similar to Nietzsche's notion of becoming, something our language is not equipped to handle.

Thanks, Mark. I hope that's true.

It is JL. Unfortunately we/you/I cannot exist dual-consciously.
No two properties can exist at the same point in spacial-time.
Thus - as a grain of sand, the consciousness thereof is all there is.
Sooooooooooo many grains........

To answer that question, you must first ask what existence is. Is existence anything and everything? Or is existence being in (or have once been in) a conscious state of mind?

No you don't.
If you do not have the ability to comprehend 'existence', you should likely not be posting..... Why, you may ask?

Because.................If you do not 'Exist', why the **** do you have an opinion???

It seems people miss the simplest of logic.

That logic only works on people who don't exist. This means that you must be stark raving mad to go around talking to non existent people.

That's a good un - and logical too!

Do you have EYE opening experiences or EYE closing experiences? How do you differ the two? Are you asleep? To comunicate is to draw a picture with your mind. You draw your own picture based on your perspective. Who are you and what do you see? Anything or everyhing? Do you get it? You don't get it. Do you?

Yea, some people don't even know they exist and have opinions. How they're able to post on a2k is a mystery for them! LOL

The answer is both a yes and a no.

Yes, nothing exists. It exists in the dictionary, under the definition of nothing. You can read it, so you'll have concrete, empirical proof, as long as you have a dictionary handy. Or you can check out the definition in Wikipedia.

And:

No, in reality, nothing does not exist. There is always something, no matter how simple, that serves to negate nothing. Not even a true vacuum exists. Supposed vacuums are teeming with quantum particles, popping into and back out of existence, apparently uncaused, but not out of nothing--but out of something, like perhaps another dimension not open to our scrutiny.

Also, at the very instant that you attempt to think nothing, you automatically negate nothing.

A Buddhist attempting to empty themselves of all thought, is inevitably brought back to reality and something because reality is ever present, whereas nothing is only an Ideal state that can never be actualized, not even in the mind of the most accomplished Buddhist monk.

Wrong.
The answer is 'NO'.

Way to present your 'self' as an authority on the subject, you also have put nothing forward to discuss.

Nothing is the absence of something. Coldness is the absence of heat. Although, the lack of something does not exist, it still can have an impact on reality, as ice can have an impact on Earth.

What?

No Log...it is the opposite several degrees of heat from absolute zero Kelvin -273.15 Celsius up to our normal temperature 0 to 60 Celsius, note that zero Celsius is 273.15 positive energized Kelvin...so "ice cold" for you actually implies there is energy at work far above absolute zero and not that the absence of something is causing an effect...

But you agree cold is the absence of heat, right? I mean, I could have used a different example like void is the absence of matter (similar to the subject at hand), or Relief is the absence of pain.

Yes but what you call "cold" is in fact some heat...what is causing those behaviours like icing is not nothing but a given value of heat which is low...nothing cannot cause anything.

Absence of pain is not the cause of pleasure but rather metaphorically sort of speak opens a "void" so that potential pleasure can fill in....be careful with confusing ideas...in reality there is only a transition from progressive lesser levels of pain to pleasure and not that there is nothing somewhere between...

You make pain and pleasure seem so complex when in reality they are relatively simple: you cannot have a void in your feelings, there is always something there. Either there is pain, or pleasure.

Read back was edited...I realize my answer could has it did confuse your perception...