Nihilism’s “Meaningless” Existence

Introduction

Nihilism is the main ingredient for a recipe for absolute disaster and imminent destruction. As far as I can tell, Nihilism begins with shame. Not just any kind of shame; but a very deep kind of shame, that is rooted in lack of self-discipline and an abdication of culpability. There is something about having an aspiration, failing because you can’t get yourself together, and then blaming “the world”, so to speak. Nihilism starts with shame, becomes suffering, then when the suffering isn’t alleviated, that falls down to bitterness and resentment. When a resentful person can’t find answer’s to questions like, “why is this happening?” or “what’s the point?”, the person is beginning to take their first steps on the road to Nihilism.

The Road To Nihilism

When discussing Nihilism, it’s important to gain a full understanding of the word. Nietzsche said that Nihilism was “when the highest values devalue themselves. ‘Why?’ finds no answer”. Over the last couple centuries, the phenomenon of Nihilism has taken over generations, instigated the fall of empires; causing people from all classes and creeds an indescribable amount of misery and pain. This is rooted, as far as I can tell, in Atheism. When an Atheist is confronted, either willing or unwillingly, with the fact that suffering and death is intrinsic to the human experience, there next question is, “then, what’s the point?” It’s a valid question, and it’s not an easy one to answer. This is pessimism 101. If I had to write out an equation for Nihilism, it would go something like this:

(Lack of meaning+Pessimism)Atheism=Nihilism

There are actually 4 different kinds of Nihilism: Moral, Epistemological, Cosmic, and Existential. When the average people are talking about Nihilism, they are more than likely talking about 1.Existential Nihilism, which is the negating of any kind of meaning or purpose to ones life, or life in the general sense. 2.Cosmic Nihilism is the disavowing of intelligibility or value of nature, seeing it as indifferent or hostile to fundamental human concerns. 3.Epistemological Nihilism is the denial of Truth, in and of itself; or meanings not strictly confined within, or wholly relative to a single group, individual, or conceptual scheme. 4.Moral Nihilism is the denial of any sense of moral obligation, the objectivity of moral principles, or a moral viewpoint. When one begins denying any kind of objective realm, this can lead to 2-4, which almost inevitably leads to the first.

“A ‘scientific’ interpretation of the world…might therefore still be one of the most stupid of all possible interpretations of the world, meaning that it would be one of the poorest in meaning. This thought is intended for the ears and consciences of our mechanists who nowadays like to pass as philosophers and insist that mechanics is the doctrine of the first and last law in which all existence must be based as on the ground floor. But an essentially mechanical world would be an essentially meaningless world. Assuming that one estimated the value of a piece of music according to how much of it would be counted, calculated, and expressed in formulas: how absurd would such a ‘scientific’ estimation of music be! What would one have comprehended, understood, grasped of it? Nothing, really nothing of what is ‘music’ in it.” – The Gay Science by F. Nietzsche

Transcendence

The cure to Nihilism, from what I can tell, is living a meaningful life. Meaning is the intent to have a purpose, thus if life has a purpose which can be signified, or explained, that is what is considered a “meaningful life”. Traditionally, the way mankind has derived meaning out of a life filled with suffering and inevitable death was with what is called the “2 Worlds Theory”. This is the belief that there exists 2 worlds; either objective and subjective, or the Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven, or any other number of ways to look at it. The most popular of these was Christianity. All of these idea’s are based on “The Ascetic Ideal”. The Ascetic Ideal states that there is a “True” world, or a higher world, which exists as the domain of higher ideals; and the Earth, which would be the domain of lower ideals. This gave the believers something to strive and work for. The suffering of their life became something like an admission ticket to paradise. True world believer’s feel that their “real” self is not only from the true world, but it belongs in the true world as well; and this earthly reality was akin to a prison (Gnosticism).

There are three types of 2 world theories; Temporal, Monastic, and Eternal. The temporal theory is related to philosophies of history, and states that the true world is in the future. This theory assists historians in arriving at knowledge of past events by attempting to discern a general underlying pattern in history. This theory assumes that God providentially directs the course of events through history towards a definite goal; that goal being the manifestation of the Utopian True World.

The Monastic theory believes that individual self and God are identical, the first being an expression of the second. Hinduism is a good example of this. They believe that what people generally take to be reality is an illusion, and still everything that exists is still a manifestation and expression if the Brahman; nothing being separate from it. They also believe that the meaning of life is transcendence of the illusion; whether that be during life, or being a result of what was done in life.

The final, and most dominate, of the Two world theories is the Eternal theory. This theory states that the true world is the antithesis of this world, being perfect and permanent. The Earth is believed to be deficient. Although it exists simultaneously, it embodies the opposing energy. This theory also posits that the human soul exists independent of the body, which it transcends upon death. As you can tell, Christianity would be the best example of this.

Conclusion

These 2 world theories exist as an extremely positive antidote to nihilism. This is because it gives the person a sense of purpose and belonging. Once this happens, and the person willingly takes on the responsibility of applying these theories to their perspective, the meaning of life quickly becomes self-evident. Once this happens, fulfillment is inevitable. Happiness is not the thing to be searching for in the world, for several reasons. Most importantly of these reason’s is the fact that happiness comes from within. No one has ever achieved happiness from altering things outside of themselves. What needs to be made manifest on the outside is fulfillment. One thing that I’ve learned through my research into Meaning, is that nothing exists for no reason. Now, your job is to go out there and find exactly why you were meant to be here, and fulfill that promise to yourself, because that’s what destiny is: a spiritual promise to yourself and God to do the things that only you could do.