Rantman

5

Nihilism refers to the belief that life is inherently meaningless, and that there is no grand purpose or goal in our lives. Positive or optimistic nihilism is this branch of nihilism that says since life is meaningless, we can create our own meaning out of it. According to me, it is a charade and a mockery that doesn't fall under nihilism at all, paradoxical to the highest degree, and an invalid combination of two different beliefs.

How can you create meaning in a world that's inherently meaningless? Nihilism explicitly states that life is meaningless, therefore whatever meaning that you derive or create for yourself, that is meaningless too! You can't just acknowledge that the world is meaningless, and then proceed to define and give it meaning anyway! This is just deluding oneself for the sake of living, and while I have no problem with that, it means that you are not a nihilist then! You can't just find a purpose after saying that it doesn't exists, that's contradictory and is just blatant denial. That's like an atheist saying they don't believe in God, and then finding/creating their own personal version of it. That's like believing that gold has no value of any form, and yet selling gold at a high price anyway. That's like saying cake doesn't exist, and then baking one. You get the idea? 

If you find or create meaning in life, even if its just for yourself, you automatically contradict your initial belief of nihilism. I couldn't help but rage against these pseudo-nihilists. According to me, an actual positive view of nihilism would be existentialism, or simply that our purpose is to exist since the alternative is unknown and may involve plain non-existence , which is against our entire being. It is the antimatter to our matter. Even if life is meaningless, death would probably be more meaningless too.

I guess positive nihilism has some similarities with the religion mindset, as instead of devoting yourself to God and his infinite wisdom, you devote yourself to your man-made purpose, having faith and not concluding solely on the basis of the evidence that is at hand. Given the scale of time and space in the universe, nihilism is a natural outcome for someone who doesn't have anything to believe in. Our lives won't even be remembered in a 100 or so years, our impact is but minuscule. And that's on Earth, the isolated dot that exists in the universe. You can't deny that the universe won't even blink if the Earth, the solar system, or even the Milky way is zapped out, and things will just spin on as they are. That our existence has no impact, makes it clear that we can have no overreaching purpose in the grand scale of things, according to what we can observe. Things like positive nihilism and religion are needed to go on with life, but for those who are unable to make themselves believe in them, the universe is nothing but a random, bad joke.

On a side note, I don't see why nihilism is defined as the rejection of moral principles. You don't need religion and/or a purpose of life to give you a sense of morality, do you? Its not like it prevented all the evil from happening anyway. I believe morality is a personal choice. It runs deep within our basic consciousness, like instinct and intuition. Even animals show occasional forms of camaraderie, and certainly don't harm each other unprovoked or for fun. Perhaps it was one of the building blocks of society, since good actions often result in outcomes that are best for others and for the group as a whole. It may even explain why people literally feel pleasure when committing charitable or good acts.

I absolutely do not promote and endorse nihilism in any way. If you think it is false, trust me, good for you. Don't open the Pandora's box, because there is no (easy) way to close it back again. And if you already have, then I hope you find 42 some day too.