Being nothing lets consciousness escape the Other who would ensnare it.

Evidence

It is evident that for the For-itself the mode of being-what-is-not-the-Other is wholly paralyzed by Nothingness; the For-itself is what is not the Other in the nihilating mode of “the-reflection-reflecting.” The not-being-the-Other is never given but perpetually chosen in a perpetual resurrection: consciousness can not-be the Other only in so far as it is consciousness (of) itself as not being the Other. Thus the internal negation, here as in the case of presence to the world, is a unitary bond of being. It is necessary that the Other be present to consciousness in every part and even that it penetrate consciousness completely in order that consciousness precisely by being nothing may escape that Other who threatens to ensnare it. If consciousness were abruptly to be something, the distinction between itself and the Other would disappear at the heart of a total undifferentiation. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 775

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that the Other must penetrate consciousness completely so that consciousness, by being nothing, escapes it — negation as a unitary bond rather than separation — is the densest claim in the passage.
• XREF: This is the existential core of the ‘woman as Other’ problematic in Beauvoir’s Second Sex. — connects to: Nothingness is a supported recoil from Being that enables consciousness to exist; Consciousness freely chooses itself as not being the Other. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 775; Absence is not given by objects but posited by a consciousness that negates (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Nothingness is a supported recoil from Being that enables consciousness to exist #expands (0.92)
• Consciousness freely chooses itself as not being the Other. #qualifies (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 775
• Absence is not given by objects but posited by a consciousness that negates #corroborates (0.80)