When you say, “Without the existence of consciousness…,” you are making a statement that can only be understood in terms of absolute negation. In my philosophy consciousness is a cascade of broken symmetries forming a complex fractal pattern. Consciousness observes this complex fractal as the entire Universe, and the pattern is indeed itself.

When you say, “Without the existence of consciousness…,” you are referring to an absolute symmetry which can be expressed mathematically as:

σ(n+1)=σ(n)

Where σ is a given state, and n is the state at any given time. All you get is the same over and over.The absolute symmetry is pure existence and we understand that to be Nothingness.

So, without consciousness there is no “now” as there are no distinctions to be made between a “past,” a “future,” and the indeterminate boundary between the two which we call “now”. All is ONE!