Nihilism; most who don't believe in a religion will believe that life has no meaning. Nihilism as defined by Googles dictionary as being "the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless". It's a pretty depressing thought, but is there any positive way to look at it? Is there even a way to believe that life, despite having no meaning in this belief, can have a positive outlook?
This is where the concept of optimistic nihilism comes in. This is the belief that even if life has no meaning, even if there's nothing to really live for, that there is still a point to live it. As humanity ages, the more we discover, and the more we discover, the more we realize how insignificant we are. We aren't in the center of the universe, we're just on a rock floating through space. If multiverse theory is right, then we would just be one of infinite amounts of possibilities of us. If that theory is right, we technically die every millisecond of every day of every week of every year of every possibility in existence. In other words, we really don't matter in the eyes of nihilism; But with optimistic nihilism, we have a reason to keep living, a reason to exist.
This is where the concept of optimistic nihilism comes in. This is the belief that even if life has no meaning, even if there's nothing to really live for, that there is still a point to live it. As humanity ages, the more we discover, and the more we discover, the more we realize how insignificant we are. We aren't in the center of the universe, we're just on a rock floating through space. If multiverse theory is right, then we would just be one of infinite amounts of possibilities of us. If that theory is right, we technically die every millisecond of every day of every week of every year of every possibility in existence. In other words, we really don't matter in the eyes of nihilism; But with optimistic nihilism, we have a reason to keep living, a reason to exist.
So to start; this way of thinking and philosophy is very subjective. If you're an extreme nihilist, this may not convince you. In your life, there are going to be be a lot of events; some negative, some positive. With nihilism, these things don't matter, and technically you don't have to worry about how much of a terrible person you may or may not be. But on the other hand, there are also many people you may come across, and helpful acts that you can do. Everything negative you do is worth just as much as every positive thing you do. The human mind has a different way of thinking depending on the person, and this also effects your personality and the things you do. The philosophy pf optimistic nihilism says you should lve your life doing what you like to do, and spending it while you have it.
|
The idea revolves around the idea of "Might as well do everything in the time you have", and while this may be depressing, if you're willing to look past the bad and just think positively, then you don't have to worry about anything. Sure this may be seen as just being ignorant, or wanting to run away from your problems, but sometimes that is really the only solution no matter how you look at it. Again, this belief is entirely subjective, and not everyone will believe this, it's just an idea and philosphy.
|