A Case Against Nihilism
Think Tank #171
What motivates people?
Hopes and dreams that have only a chance of becoming realized? Faith in a higher power whose only proof of existence occurs in little snippets of anecdotes that seem inconsequential when spoken aloud?
What happens when someone loses these things? After all, it seems like the most logical thing to do.
The only thing that we can know for certain about these things is that we have gotten them wrong. Our life will not end up exactly the way we’ve imagined. The truths that we cannot see will not exist in the muddy forms that we envision them in our heads.
It’s so easy to fall into despair. To skid to a near-stop. To look to cheap pleasures for fulfillment because those flimsy little dreams that had been keeping us going just aren’t cutting it anymore. People live their lives in this state, slowly draining themselves day after day. These shells of people look just like everyone else. They’re only quietly broken.
Does it matter? That’s a scary question to start asking. It doesn’t matter if you’re an optimist or a pessimist, an idealist or a nihilist. We all take up space on this Earth. We all move forward in time.
Many who can’t live for themselves anymore live for someone else. Families are another motivator to ‘be good,’ to live as our best self instead of our worst, once those intrinsic motivators are gone.
What’s interesting is that we want for our loved ones the things that we can’t always muster in ourselves—health, happiness, success. Is this proof that those ideals are true? Is love really the proof that we need that living a ‘good’ life matters?
People turn their back on this, too, of course. Turn completely to despair. Crime, drugs, danger—this is a state that not everyone comes back from.
Is this the proof—that once people lose their guardian angels, become blind to their dim light which guides them, they lose their lives soon after?
If that’s proof, it’s pretty flimsy. Plenty of virtuous people die young. Plenty of depraved addicts live a long time.
It seems like this whole thing is just leading in circles. Why continue? Why delay the inevitable? Does it really matter? Our only evidence that it does is the vague idea that it’s right to, something we probably learned from someone who loved us, someone who wanted for us all the perfection they could not achieve in themselves.
Can we trust our instincts? Is the fact that a line of thinking feels bad a sure indicator that it’s not worth pursuing? Is willful blindness to certain thoughts actually strength instead of weakness?
The worst habit of modernity is the grandiose level of trust that we place in our own intellect. Somewhere along the way, some philosopher made an error, and it sparked generations of nihilists. The error was the idea that humans have the power to intuit the meaning of life from observation and reason—the idea that if we start from scratch, using only the scientific method and the world around us and the thoughts we can conjure in our own heads, all the knowledge in the world can be available to us.
It’s not true. We can’t see the spark which gives this place life. It’s bigger than us. If we assume that it is possible for us to know all there is to know, then when we inevitably can’t see it, we end up believing in nothing.
It’s as absurd a belief as anything else. If there were nothing, where did all this stuff come from? Life goes on whether or not we understand it, and it’s better when we resign to the fact that we can’t understand it.
The only way out is humility—something ‘modern man’ isn’t very comfortable with. Despite wanting to know everything, the only way to truly stay sane without falling into delusion (for cynical delusions are still delusions) is to make peace with the fact that there are certain things that we can’t know for sure.
Whether or not you like their symbolism, it seems the Christians were right all along. At its core, life is a test of faith.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. You can also buy me a coffee.
That was beautiful. Just what I needed to hear (er, I mean, read) today.
Atheism, Theism, nihilism are all matters of faith, not subject to rational testing or proof. Hence the only rational, if in a rational world/universe choice is agnosticism or damnedifIknow.
Having said that I've seen and experienced far too much over the years that absolutely, unarguably defies rational explanation to allow me be really agnostic. Yes agnosticism can get you through a day but is it the best way, or even a way to get you through a life, pray tell?
Some, much you just have to take on trust, or in other words, faith.