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What I'm not able to reconcile is if the despair and anxiety resulting from nihilism is something that should be treated. I'm a staunch believer in existential

What I'm not able to reconcile is if the despair and anxiety resulting from nihilism is something that should be treated. I'm a staunch believer in existential nihilism (and hence believe life is inherently purposeless and pointless), so time to time it gives a sharp tinge of sadness on the lines of _why am I existing at all_. It's not a suicidal feeling, but very close to it. I have (rightly, so) convinced myself of all sorts of Nihilistic conclusions such as subjective morality, consciousness and free will as not being special rather an illusion and byproduct of evolution, cosmos being huge and indifferent, etc. etc. This belief definitely gives freedom in the sense that you aren't bound by any assumptions, so you can do whatever you desire. But it also leads to slight, nagging, constant sense of unhappiness. Running a startup being a Nihilist is sort of a difficult task, and once I had blogged about here: http://paraschopra.com/blog/personal/startups-and-nihilism-dont-go-together.htm http://paraschopra.com/blog/personal/startups-and-nihilism-d... -- I tend to agree with Camus on his Absurdist stance, but treating for having such a correct, depressing stance is something I still haven't come to terms with. Any thoughts on what do mental disorders really mean, or what does treatment of those disorders really mean? My current opinion is that if happiness means blocking or ignoring certain truths (via medication or treatment), then that is preferable. But I'm still undecided on that.

mquander 14y ago
Your despair and anxiety don't result from your philosophical beliefs, which should be trivially obvious since lots of people share your beliefs and do not regularly suffer from despair and anxiety. You can feel how you please, but you aren't being faced with the binary choice of "believe X and be sad" or "disbelieve X and be happy." You also have the choice of "change whatever weird thing in your head correlates a belief in X with sadness." Feel free to just fix the unhappiness and leave your philosophy alone.
- paraschopra 14y ago
  Interesting point. That is precisely what I fear: if I fix the unhappiness would my philosophical beliefs get diluted. Maybe that won't be the case, but I don't know that right now. There may be Nihilists out there who are very happy and never feel any despair, and that's what I'm after too. Nihilism definitely doesn't mean you should be unhappy. In fact, in light of no meaning, the sole purpose should be to seek happiness (why would anyone want unhappiness). But it's just bit difficult for me to feel blissful and happy all the time in spite of the full awareness that it's pointless after all. Occasional despair is inevitable from Nihilism, won't you agree?
  - mediacrisis 14y ago
    I think its difficult for anyone to feel constantly happy and blissful. At what point is it happiness if its your baseline? In my opinion and experience, despair gives context to happiness.
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orangeduck 14y ago
Ultimately nihilism is non-prescriptive as to how you should behave or feel. Under nihilism you can very easily turn "Why Bother?" into "Why Not?", or "Why do I exist?" into "Why would I not exist?" - because all are meaningless questions. At least this is how I deal with the fatalist aspect. Live you life as you would "normally", take the actions you think are best and do what gives you emotional fulfilment. Nihilism is only a weight if you secretly want meaning (and are somehow disappointed that your actions are meaningless). Happiness isn't blocking certain truths, it is just a biological state. If you truly do not believe or wish for a meaning then Nihilism sets you free.
- paraschopra 14y ago
  It's not that a man secretly wants meaning but the facts deny any such thing. I guess evolution has programmed the man to seek meaning (from a psychological point of view). So no matter what intellectually he believes in, there would be a certain push to crave for that meaning that in reality doesn't exist. Thus the despair on the helplessness of situation. I know using medication or treatment I can block that craving for meaning (lack of which ultimately causes despair), but I'm just unsure right now whether such a thing should be done.
  - roguecoder 14y ago
    The way I've seen it is that the quest for meaning is something to give up, to let go of, and so accept the joy of a transient experience. It is like experiential art: part of the point is that it will only happen once, for no reason whatsoever. You can either be sad that life is frivolous, or you can marvel that something so complex as this cosmos exists for no reason at all. Sometimes I look around a busy store and think about the massive coincidence in all these independent intelligences having come about and came to be here right now, buying detergent, and I am overwhelmed with the beauty of it. Not because it means anything, but because it doesn't have to. It just is, like fractals or recursion, and just like those forms of emergent beauty, that awe makes me happier than I could ever be striving for something that doesn't exist. I'd recommend looking into Buddhism and ignoring the bits about reincarnation and karma; the rest of it is basically Nihilistic and still leads to contented, happy lives (after all, the ultimate reward in some branches is total annihilation.) I personally assume that the purpose of doing good things is because we have a choice: we can make the world better or we can make the world worse. With no reason to do one over the other, what kind of asshole chooses to make the world worse? Especially since they then have to live in that worse world. It's just stupid.
davidtanner 14y ago
I used to believe similar things and suffered from depression. I tried to kill myself with a boxcutter. I offer a suggestion for an antidote for your philosophy: Carefully read as much of this website as you can: http://csp.org/index.html http://csp.org/index.html Then you will have the knowledge to make an informed choice regarding the use of an entheogenic drug. Good luck!
Daniel_Newby 14y ago
What if the universe is suffused with meaning and purpose by a just and benevolent god, and you have just accidentally fallen through the cracks? How would you know? In other words, what is the falsifiable hypothesis of nihilism? If you cannot answer that, your nihilism is just so much mystical gobbledygook.
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mquander 14y ago

Your despair and anxiety don't result from your philosophical beliefs, which should be trivially obvious since lots of people share your beliefs and do not regularly suffer from despair and anxiety. You can feel how you please, but you aren't being faced with the binary choice of "believe X and be sad" or "disbelieve X and be happy." You also have the choice of "change whatever weird thing in your head correlates a belief in X with sadness." Feel free to just fix the unhappiness and leave your philosophy alone.

paraschopra 14y ago
Interesting point. That is precisely what I fear: if I fix the unhappiness would my philosophical beliefs get diluted. Maybe that won't be the case, but I don't know that right now. There may be Nihilists out there who are very happy and never feel any despair, and that's what I'm after too. Nihilism definitely doesn't mean you should be unhappy. In fact, in light of no meaning, the sole purpose should be to seek happiness (why would anyone want unhappiness). But it's just bit difficult for me to feel blissful and happy all the time in spite of the full awareness that it's pointless after all. Occasional despair is inevitable from Nihilism, won't you agree?
- mediacrisis 14y ago
  I think its difficult for anyone to feel constantly happy and blissful. At what point is it happiness if its your baseline? In my opinion and experience, despair gives context to happiness.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

orangeduck 14y ago

Ultimately nihilism is non-prescriptive as to how you should behave or feel. Under nihilism you can very easily turn "Why Bother?" into "Why Not?", or "Why do I exist?" into "Why would I not exist?" - because all are meaningless questions. At least this is how I deal with the fatalist aspect. Live you life as you would "normally", take the actions you think are best and do what gives you emotional fulfilment. Nihilism is only a weight if you secretly want meaning (and are somehow disappointed that your actions are meaningless). Happiness isn't blocking certain truths, it is just a biological state. If you truly do not believe or wish for a meaning then Nihilism sets you free.

paraschopra 14y ago
It's not that a man secretly wants meaning but the facts deny any such thing. I guess evolution has programmed the man to seek meaning (from a psychological point of view). So no matter what intellectually he believes in, there would be a certain push to crave for that meaning that in reality doesn't exist. Thus the despair on the helplessness of situation. I know using medication or treatment I can block that craving for meaning (lack of which ultimately causes despair), but I'm just unsure right now whether such a thing should be done.
- roguecoder 14y ago
  The way I've seen it is that the quest for meaning is something to give up, to let go of, and so accept the joy of a transient experience. It is like experiential art: part of the point is that it will only happen once, for no reason whatsoever. You can either be sad that life is frivolous, or you can marvel that something so complex as this cosmos exists for no reason at all. Sometimes I look around a busy store and think about the massive coincidence in all these independent intelligences having come about and came to be here right now, buying detergent, and I am overwhelmed with the beauty of it. Not because it means anything, but because it doesn't have to. It just is, like fractals or recursion, and just like those forms of emergent beauty, that awe makes me happier than I could ever be striving for something that doesn't exist. I'd recommend looking into Buddhism and ignoring the bits about reincarnation and karma; the rest of it is basically Nihilistic and still leads to contented, happy lives (after all, the ultimate reward in some branches is total annihilation.) I personally assume that the purpose of doing good things is because we have a choice: we can make the world better or we can make the world worse. With no reason to do one over the other, what kind of asshole chooses to make the world worse? Especially since they then have to live in that worse world. It's just stupid.

davidtanner 14y ago

I used to believe similar things and suffered from depression. I tried to kill myself with a boxcutter. I offer a suggestion for an antidote for your philosophy: Carefully read as much of this website as you can: http://csp.org/index.html http://csp.org/index.html Then you will have the knowledge to make an informed choice regarding the use of an entheogenic drug. Good luck!

Daniel_Newby 14y ago

What if the universe is suffused with meaning and purpose by a just and benevolent god, and you have just accidentally fallen through the cracks? How would you know? In other words, what is the falsifiable hypothesis of nihilism? If you cannot answer that, your nihilism is just so much mystical gobbledygook.

deleted 14y ago

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