THE OPTIMISTIC NIHILIST
Hello Numpties, hope all is
well in your respective bubbles.
Earlier this week in my
bubble me and the beautiful lil’ brown lady Banji* took some deliciously
colourful pictures which I am super pleased with. But the topic I’m
covering in this post is less than vibrant, so much so that it’s almost
meaningless. Yes folks that’s the pointless topic of Nihilism.
Disclaimer: I do not claim
to have a doctorate in philosophy despite the hellish but interesting 2 years I
spent studying it in sixth form and the semester in first year where I took a
philosophy course named Discovering Reality- and indeed reality (tv) was what I
found.
I’ve to some extent
resonated with the idea of nihilism, occasionally referring to myself as an
optimistic nihilist despite the fact that that may or may not be utter gibberish???
So I did some investigating to shed light on this amorphous concept that is so
frequently used. And from the 10 minutes of
googling emanated the most informative wealth of knowledge ever known to man.
What’s the meaning behind
this meaningless philosophy?
This definition can refer to different types of nihilism. Moral, Epistemological
and cosmic nihilism. All rely on the basis that an objective realm or answer does
not exist. For example, when asked whether it is morally right to reach your grubby
gremlin hands into the first compartment of the fridge and take your flatmates Sainsbury’s
basics 85p chicken and mushroom meat pie without asking her. A moral nihilist
would claim that it’s neither right nor wrong – and would probably disregard it
as a meaningless question. I personally would vouch for a resoundingly
objective no; going as far as to suggest some form of criminal penalisation
possibly??
However the nihilism most commonly referred to is existential
nihilism which wiki defines as a belief that “life is without objective
meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.” This doctrine is usually associated with
the work of the German philosopher Nietzsche. He says a lot of stuff and things
that I cant be arsed to research and expunge on. But I would summarise it
(possibly wrongly) as an imploration for introspection and deep self-realisation,
which he believed can only be achieve by treading down an uncomfortable,
wretched and usually painful path. And he didn’t really fancy Christianity.
If you want to actually learn more than my nebulous ramblings check these videos out:
What do I think?
I think that there
is no intrinsic meaning to life as such, but I do subscribe to the idea of
imparting our own personalised meaning to the meaninglessness. There is
undeniable difficulty in deciding exactly what that meaning will be. But I
accept that life is entrenched with a stubborn complexity that provides us with
an innumerable reserve of lessons from which we can learn. I think most can
agree that accruing multitudinous accolades or stuff may not provide the most
profound fulfilment, although it is nice to have stuff. Stuff is good, but
stuff isn’t everything. I can’t say that I have any answers. But personally
what gives me satisfaction is authentic interactions and a feeling of being
loved and understood and also providing the same. And I do have that to an
extent- but occasionally I still feel like there is a gaping void. So who
knows, maybe nothing will ever be enough and learning how to cope with that is
whats needed- or not I don’t bloody know!
I think Kierkegaard encapsulates my thoughts well with his
saying that:
“Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards”
This is a sentiment that I really admire and take a
bittersweet comfort in. Sidenote: that phrase is what I get from my favourite
song ‘Take Me Home Country Roads” by John Denver. That song really means a lot
to me for some reason.
In conclusion, there is no conclusion, just try and live as
well as you can. This post was meant to be way more nuanced, researched and
well written but hey it’s the thought that counts…unless you’re a nihilist-
then nothing counts!
Have a nice day (its lovely and warm here),
Give john a cheeky listen:
- Patterned jumper | £20 | From 'Junk' which is now closed :(
- Stripped dress | ?? | H&M hand me down
- Docs
* www.banjichona.com | check this lil' lady out!
Teaday xxx
0 comments