Based on my own experiences and from what I have read and heard, for now I am willing to embrace that what we call “unconsciousness” is but another state of consciousness; notwithstanding any variation there may be between consciousness and awareness. A person “blacks out,” and when they come to they say they blacked out and experienced “nothing.” That “nothing” may be the very same “void,” or “emptiness,“ many have described experiencing in quiet meditation.
Just because we cannot identify it does not mean that there is nothing there to identify; again notwithstanding; all that is, and is not, is beyond concepts of identification. We can choose to see in categories to help us organize our thoughts or we can choose to see as one holistic organism. Often the categories become tribal in nature, while a holistic view knows that this wave is the product of a previous wave, and will product a future wave, they are all connected and even more than that, they are one and the same. Still it might be fair to say that while everything is consciousness, not everything is self-aware. This refers to organic and inorganic (rocks, etc.) life, but I am not the one to say who, or what, is self aware and which is not.
In my opinion there is no such thing as nothing, and if we play on words nothing can translated into “no-thing.” No things indicate no identity. When we “black out” there is no identity; nothing to identify with. However, we are absolutely never isolated. Just because we say there is nothing does not mean that there is not anything. Things being limited transitional images, over seconds or eons in time, the absence of “things“ implies a oneness; it also implies no space or time. Can that be what is experienced when we “black-out?” Now not everyone who blacks out experiences nothingness.
Some people do say they “blacked out” and experienced visions, or something else; in these cases “blacking out” refers to the physical body losing consciousness but not necessarily the person losing their awareness. In a state of unconsciousness it is our awareness which transitions, and one may not yet have the perception to remain aware in an environment of nothingness. The presence of consciousness becomes fine at its core and the coarseness of human consciousness, and thus human awareness, often needs to be refined to be aware of the presence of nothing, like the presence of silence. It is like your body going to sleep but you remain awake and are fully aware that you are dreaming while your physical body is fast asleep. A lot of people have had the experience of knowing they were dreaming while they were asleep. This also requires an astute awakening to maintain on a regular basis. Would we say that most people sleep walk through human life? A judgment call which I have often heard others make.
Awareness in the dream can take place, and does take place, in many ways. Dreams inside of dreams, and we can better manipulate the dream stuff when our physical body is sleeping and our mind is at rest. An anesthesiologist will “put a patient under” who is having major surgery; and they gauge various “levels of consciousness” in so doing. Still, former patients have reported being aware of the entire surgery even while their body slept “unconscious” on the operating room table. I really do not know if there is any such thing as “unconsciousness,” and am beginning to see it more as a lack of “awareness.” An ant is conscious but what is its’ day to day awareness when compared to the average human being. So its’ all relative; in relationship to something or other; its’ all related, as in brothers and sisters, as in family, etc.
Peace
