I think you got to the core of it when you mentioned we humans function on duality. It's what our language is based on, what our brains are wired to. Nothing will only be the opposite to something and by being that, it already is defined. Same way as good and bad, or as you said life and death, need each other to co exist. They are opposites, but are in the same plain. However, good and bad, happy and sad - these can be transcended through awareness. In yoga, it is awareness which is the sky through which the clouds move. What about not nothingness, but consciousness being a different kind of answer to what emptiness is?