Fascinating article on a great topic: nothingness. I call that emptiness but it's the same. I wanted to share one idea relative to this line:

"At the bottom of the pyramid is basic matter like stones which have existence but not consciousness..."

I'd like to suggest that every particle of existence is conscious in its own way or in various ways. For instance, are you aware that the planets & suns are also embodied by conscious Beings? One can commune, can "converse" with them easily when out-of-body.

In the endless realm of infinity/eternity which is our Home, we don't only incarnate as humans on Mother Earth. We're also other beings elsewhere in both space & dimensions.

It shocked me to discover I had an incarnation as a mountain range - so vastly different from free-moving humans.

Anyway, such things are experienceable for us once we find our way into that empty nothingness accessible within. A favorite experience of mine is entering the NowHere, the infinite present moment that's the Reality in higher dimensions - & here. We get too taken in by externals to realize that we're living all of our lifetimes NowHere - which is "nowhere" to the mind. ;-)

~♥~