Abstract

Being in a ‘Blanked Out State’ - Extinction of Self/Consciousness of A Human Author: Ayad Gharbawi 2023 Word Count: 1,088 Key Words: Human Existence; Human Non-existence; Mind; Awareness; Non-awareness; Extinction of Mind, Self and Physicality Dear Sir/Madam; I hope this email finds you well. This paper seeks to prove that in certain mental states, the Mind can be in what we call in the English language, ‘being in a blanked-out state.’ This means the conscious person is not thinking, feeling, sensing, hearing, or smelling anything – his Mind is in a state of Nothingness precisely because he is not acting, reacting or interacting with the Constituents of his own Mind [CoM] or with anything in his surroundings. So, what can say about such an individual? In this manuscript, I will argue that the person in question no longer exists. Why? Because the individual’s Awareness is non-existent. And this is the decisive reason for this phenomenon. Neither his Mind is aware, conscious, alert to anything and nor is his body alert, aware, or sensitive to anything. Therefore, the Mind and the Physicality of the person are extinct. It is no different to being in a coma or a dreamless state. Thus, our lives, and our existence cannot be a linear field precisely because every now and then we cease to ‘exist’, as just explained. It is counterintuitive for people to think that when they blank out for a few moments, they ‘no longer exist’, but in every practical and functional sense, it is true. We like to think we are in ‘control’ of ourselves, our minds, and our bodies, but in truth, that is far from being the case.