Nihilism & Its Hidden Gem
Is life baseless? Does it have any sense of existing? Is nothing all there is? Is there a reason or is everything just a coincidence?
Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance
— Jean Paul Sartre
Nihilism, the belief in life’s unreasonable existence. Centuries have passed, more than trillions of people have lived and then eventually died too. They’ve lived through some of the most ancient times when entertainment like Netflix, technology, music even words didn’t exist. People with mediocre resources or the ones that barely get to eat a day proceed to live while they have, for exposure, for example, the one living with riches, bountiful assets, and deep pockets. They have a wide view of what being carefree is, if they wish to become one they possibly cannot due to the vicious cycle they are caught in although there is still a possibility to be one.
Many of the famous philosophers, one of them- Friedrich Nietzsche, believes that life is actually meaningless and has no foundation. What we are, who we want to be, our aspirations, desires, needs, relationships, etc., all of them are useless. We'll die at an unspecified time in the future, which means all our possessions, all our relationships, and our purpose will be blown over. So is life actually pointless or is it just a fallacy? Is Nihilism the true answer to it or is there something else?
“Life’s so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud, suspended in endless nothing.”
— Alan Moore
Nihilism is an approach towards life’s meaning as meaningless. The point from where we began to where we end is just a matter of time. It has also been associated with anomie to explain the general feeling of despair that we all feel at some point in our lives. Yet if we are eventually going to die and blow out everything we had then why at first place should we create it? Why will someone be willing to forge something just to destroy it?
Striking the less in the meaningless
If the day you were born, your purpose becomes to destroy your life then certainly life will be meaningless. The point of nihilism is what began and will end. It simply posits that to everything there are reflexes. If we are sad we are happy, if we live we die, if we breathe in we breathe out, and if we eat we excrete too. So everything, in the long run, will be neutralized no matter what. But life wasn’t meant to be achieved or to be gained, it isn’t something you work hard for or you put yourself into. You don’t enter it, you are born with it. Just like you have a mind and a body, the same way you have a life too.
What has to be achieved is not a destiny but what has to be lived through is a journey. Our life is not built of one big purpose, it’s not a mission that we are out for, we’re here to live by it, to enjoy it. And even though nihilism speaks about reflexes and the disparities one might lead through it, I believe that nihilism actually motivates one to move forward in life, to seek what’s next. Past has a reflex, future too but present doesn’t have it. The present is one whole singularity that has to be lived. There is no if or but, it is just today, now, and present.
Nihilism questions life but it has the answers too.
If everything becomes neutral in the end then what shall we seek? If life will gradually be death then what shall we take part in? If sadness will be overcome by joy then what shall we endure further?
Well, life isn’t a point, it’s a line i.e, after a particular incident or event things won’t end. Life is not one destination that has to be achieved in the end but is made of many small destines, which makes it special and joyous. So if there is a tomorrow or future to it what will it be? Something has to happen. Unfortunately, ‘nothing’ cannot happen. It goes on further, it has no end or a beginning. It simply is made of umpteen points. And even if you believe that life is a point, a black dot, then you are still on the same page as mine. You will fail to understand the speed at which that point is changed with the next one. That’s faster than the speed of light and even before you realize it you’ve landed at a new point.
Life cannot be pointless for it is full of it so much so that if you align those points together, they’ll create a long journey, one which doesn’t have any spaces or pauses but one which is continuous and relentless.
“But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.”
— Albert Camus
So live till you are here, make every part of your life worth it, for you stayed while a million left.
It takes courage to be alive and to endure both the shortcomings and success. One might deal with episodes of skepticism and disparities but wait there is just not one point, there are millions of it. If one second is wasted nihilistically the other can be lived happily or sadly too.
Neutralizing what one feels is just not the answer, overlooking your worries is also not the answer but the answer lies only within your mind and only in your will to live. So endure all till you can't have enough, grieve till none is left anymore, laugh enough till you lose your breath, and then simply lay on your bed revising the old times of love and laughter, hate and worries too.
