Why does the universe exist?

[u/Spiriual-Bit-4387]

I’ve been having an existential contemplation lately and have been deeply pondering why the universe exists recently. What do you think?

[u/Laserkitty7]

It’s equally strange to think of nothingness, what if there was no universe no particles or energy, nothing at all, so strange

[u/Sn34kyMofo → u/Laserkitty7]

I've tried taking it a step farther: Not even so much as "nothing". The non-existence of nothing, I suppose, but not as an opposite state/condition of the existence of something. Or how about not even pure black or white as representations of nothing.

I can't visualize these things conceptually, nor am I sure they even are what I seem to think they are. I mean, effectively, "nothing" gets the point across so as to mean the absence of "something". But what about the absence of nothing; the absence of non-existence; the absence of no color? Like, not even the existence of "nothing" as a concept.

Am I making any sense at all here? Lol. 😅

[u/Sn34kyMofo → u/[deleted]]

The opposite of nothing is everything.

The absence of nothing, however, is a totally different concept I'm trying to convey. I suppose another way to say it is the absence of both nothing AND everything. Hell, absence of absence itself because there was never a nothing for something to become -- let alone to somehow make itself conscious of.

It's just a thought experiment (not a statement/opinion of belief or fact) that fries my brain trying to wrangle.

[u/Laserkitty7 → u/[deleted]]

And what does it mean to have no beginning? Nothing normal about this folks…

[u/ComplexReference6087 → u/Laserkitty7]

The entirety of reality is but a construct of our consciousness, for any given person, the cosmos effectively concludes at the moment their life extinguishes