I found this forum searching for an answer to this question, and this question might turn out to be one of the most important questions ever asked.
At least this question is very important to me because I only recently became aware that god is not a concept that can in any way help to stop thinking about the mystery of the origin of existence.
If god created the universe, who created god? God is a useless concept in answering the question of the origin of anything. God is a useless brainfuck.
I came to the question of nothing when I tried to imagine what was before the big bang.
A “nothingness” before the big bang would mean not only no matter or energy, but also no space and no time, and not even emptiness or vacuum because these concepts would require space.
However, if “nothing” can not exist, you don’t need creation. The universe simply exists because there is no alternative. We could coin it the TINA-principle of existence, and do not need a creator or creation. For me, this would be a very satisfying answer to stop thinking about why the universe exists, much more satisfying than convincing myself that such a complex entity like a personal god came into existence for no reason.
You are of course still free to use this TINA-Principle to explain the existence of god, but you can as well cut this middlemen out.
What also supports the idea that “nothing” is impossible is that logic and mathematical truth exist outside time, matter and space. For example there can not be a universe with different prime numbers.
Maybe what some people call God is what other people call math or logic.
So far there seems to be consensus here that “nothing” does not exist in our universe, it is just an abstract concept in our mind, required to define existence. However, nothing of something is something that can exist. Nothing of anything does not seem to exist. Therefore something must exist.
I am starting to love this idea.
Pavel