This paper examines the earliest roots of meontology, the study of non-being, focusing on the ancient atomists Leucippus and Democritus. The primary focus is their revolutionary thesis that the world is composed of two fundamental elements: the full, identified with being, and the void, understood as non-being. A significant contribution of the atomists is their assertion of the ontological equality of both elements, maintaining that non-being exists just as much as being. This framework provides a necessary foundation for explaining motion, generation, and decay within perceived reality. The document reflects on the enduring relevance of these conceptual experiments for contemporary thought while highlighting the need to revise the overly rigid distinction between being and non-being. It suggests that historical attempts at compromise, such as distinguishing between permanence and transience, offer a path toward a more nuanced ontological discourse that moves beyond a simple binary of existence and non-existence in understanding the nature of reality.