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Nihilism can be a positive force in people's lives. Nihilism allows me to not take anything too seriously because I know that nothing is important and everythi
by cryptica 5y ago
Nihilism can be a positive force in people's lives.
Nihilism allows me to not take anything too seriously because I know that nothing is important and everything will end eventually.
Surprisingly, it can also be a source of altruism.
For example, I know that once I'm dead, I will be nothing. My consciousness will be destroyed permanently and all my achievements will cease to be my own since I will have no connection at all to the universe or my former identity.
Any trace I leave behind in the universe might as well have been left behind my someone else who is not me.
The fact that when we die, we all end up in exactly the same state of absolute nothingness gives me compassion towards fellow humans and other conscious creatures. We are all the same in the end; nothing.
It also helps me to enjoy life more because from a nihilist perspective, every second of my life seems to defy the foundation of my belief system. Even though I know consciously that this sense of meaning is just an illusion in my primal brain.
- boogusbdg 5y agoExistence the way you put it, is quite beautiful like that, isn't it. The senselessness as a fundamental feature of cold and beautiful austerity.
- rufus_foreman 5y ago>> Any trace I leave behind in the universe might as well have been left behind my someone else who is not me You are making a value judgement there. Rookie mistake in this nihilism business.
- georgewsinger 5y ago> Nihilism can be a positive force in people's lives. Also another value judgment. Two rookie mistakes. OP seems to be implicitly arguing that nihilism is morally justified (incoherent) because it can cause altruistic behavior (but who cares, if you're a nihilist?).
- rufus_foreman 5y agoGood catch.
- Notkel 5y agoIf value judgement is incorrect. What is the proper way to judge a system of thinking?
- rufus_foreman 5y agoIt doesn't matter.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- naasking 5y ago> Also another value judgment. Two rookie mistakes I don't see that as a value judgment. If nothing matters, you might as well feel good about it. It simply makes logical sense, no appeal to values necessary.
- cryptica 5y agoI was just trying to illustrate the ephemeral nature of identity to other primal minds. But yes the desire to 'leave behind a trace' is not nihilist. No living human can be completely nihilist. The subconscious mind is still primal. That's why I think nihilism is a great ideology because it balances out primal beliefs that we naturally have as a result of being derived from evolutionary processes.