Optimistic Nihilism: A truthful, yet partially ignorant philosophy to help you live the happiest life.
Nihilism
The idea that life is meaningless as it will all be swallowed up by eternity is often seen as a very pessimistic philosophy that one should avoid in order to live a happy life.
However, when one accepts the truth and reality behind Nihilism it can be used to benefit the time we have on Earth. A converging philosophy… Optimistic Nihilism
“When considering the short duration of my life that is swallowed up by the eternity before and after my existence, I can see that our enjoyment on earth is both meaningless, and also, unexplainably meaningful”
Optimistic Nihilism
This idea embraces the mortality of our every decision and action we take, leading to a freedom of being unconcerned by what other people think.
“The greatest prison is the fear of what other people think”
Another way to put this is the ‘Death vision’ Imagine looking around a room full of people and imagining everyone dead, and the building around you reduced to rubble. You may think I’m a psychopath at this point, but the importance behind this gives us the necessary reminder of the temporary nature of our lives. We get too caught up in bad relationships, daily affairs, malicious criticism e.c.t that we forget that none of it matters. It will all disappear because it’s temporary. What comes into existence will cease to exist at some point in time.
“To be an optimistic Nihilist is to feel comfort and freedom in accepting the mortality of all your decisions and actions”
Once you understand the pending event of your death, you will grasp what true freedom is. It revolutionizes the practicality of life, you learn to stop caring so much and to stay true to your values.
“Being considered crazy by those who are still victim to cultural conditioning is a compliment”
Whilst Nihilism states that life is meaningless due to your mortality, Optimistic Nihilism takes a different approach exploring how every second of your life is in fact unexplainably meaningful as such a short period of existence in such an infinite eternity. The practice of Optimistic Nihilism allows us to realise that toxic people, criticism and our reputation in the eyes of people we don’t value is meaningless. And that we should focus our little time on things that make us happy.
“If you knew how quickly people forgot the dead you would have stopped living to impress people by now”
This confronting quote is a prime example of Optimistic Nihilism. It is true that your attitude determines your day. And by letting others’ potential comments, thoughts and social anxiety take away from your happiness you waste some of the precious time you have in this short human experience.
The summary
Whilst there are hundreds of pages of material I could write on this topic I have summarised the basic concept of optimistic Nihilism.
- By accepting that what we do in life is somewhat meaningless, as nothing in our short human experience is permanent but rather temporary we can find freedom and comfort in acting however we desire in life as one day no one will remember nor matter. This realisation allows us to…
- Be true to our values
- Do what makes us happy
- Not have the need to pleasure anyone elses expectations
- Live a life that is free, not affected by society’s judgement and cultural conditioning
I have personally been using this true concept/philosophy in my everyday life to live without fear of judgement or social harm. I have been able to focus my time on more important things such as my health, knowledge and personal values whilst not wasting time on social media and other activities that I used to ‘waste’ time on.
Then again, what is the point of being happy when all is meaningless…?
