I don't think it is possible to imagine nothing — nothing, as in, the absence of all things. Just like I don't think you can truly imagine infinity. The closest one might possibly get is a space filled with black, but that's not it. You've still got space, and let's not forget, you still have time. Nothing would have neither of those, and that's really what makes it pretty near impossible to imagine. How does one extricate one's mind from thinking in terms of space-time? Nothing is a mind-boggling concept, if you really consider it. It deserves some respect, I think.
I remember in my madness that nothing would be yellow, for some reason. Not sure why. I once thought, too, that oblivion would be not black, not white, but the grayest gray imaginable. Really, both thoughts are without foundation. The closest thing I have come to truly comprehending nothing was when I thought about the creation of angels, who in my mind would have been blinked into existence fully formed of mind and body. I imagined that their previous nonexistence would be remembered by them like one may comprehend that which is out of our field of vision. Being created would be like suddenly being able to see. Outside sight, there is no color, there is no space, there is no time — it just isn't. That, I think, would very much be like nothing.
The Other Spite Meat
5:10pm thursday, 11th april
That's probably one of the best descriptions of "nothing" I've ever read. My own take has always been that by trying to imagine it (and you mention this with the whole "thinking in terms of space time" thing), you're trying to apply parameters the human mind understands to something that is far beyond those parameters. Therefore, you can't imagine nothing, you have to not imagine it. Not that that makes any sense whatsoever.
fazarr the infinite
6:42pm thursday, 11th april
the problem is not so much in imagining nothingness as it is perceiving it. if you were to take an atom and blow it up the size of the earth, the nucleus would be about the size of an orange and the electrons would be little cherries... the rest, the overwhelming majority, is pure nothingness. it is our minds in their limited capacity for understanding that creates the perception that matter is solid, that time is linear, whereas modern quantum physics theory has proved that nothing could be further from the truth. it is much like those optical illusions where you look at a bunch of black shapes on a white field and suddenly you notice a word in the field whose boundries are defined by the shapes. in reality those shapes are just shapes, but it is the natural order of our minds to make sense out of chaos, since that is what we are doing every second of our lives. we are tiny random sea monkeys of energy awash in a ocean of nothing randomly reacting in a chaotic dance so complex we can only hope to talk about it and pretend we understand. it is nothing that sets the stage for this dance and the two cannot exist without each other, but also cannot exist together. where there is something there is not nothing and vice versa. so i'd have to agree that to truly conceptualize nothing is a futile effort. the best explanation i can think of comes from the first episode of the simpsons (where else?):
Homer: Relax! What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.
zen. truly zen.
schizo
12:52pm sunday, 26th may
wow, you describe everything i think of.
it's just that i can't set words on the thoughts i have.. i wich i somday could.. your great Stand
The Other Spite Meat
fazarr the infinite
schizo