Hi, my name is Yfelsung and I am a practical nihilist. What is practical nihilism? Well, it's nihilism on a level that doesn't cause you to curl into a ball and lament the pointlessness of it all. It's sort of, as Camus alludes to, accepting that reality is absurd and just trying your best to live well anyway.
Now, I've been a nihilist for probably my whole life though obviously I didn't know how to define it until I was a teenager. Most philosophers in history have always described nihilism as being a negative/harmful view because they only really thought about passive nihilism (the curl into a ball type) but modern nihilism has evolved into something a bit different.
When I first signed up to this site I had kind of fallen out of my nihilistic tendencies and began becoming an idealist. Becoming more concerned with what could be instead of what is, and this lead to me being pretty pissy most of the time. This usually happens to me once every few years until I have what I call a "nihilistic epiphany". I hit an emotional rock-bottom and then like a punch to the face everything sort of "clicks".
It's the point where the absurdity of the universe hits you like a brick in the head. It's a small glimpse of the universe in a mostly objective way instead of a subjective way. It's seeing objects as less than the sum of their parts. Looking at a human being and seeing atoms, not a person.
Now I assume I can't be the only person this happens to, so I am curious as to how this sort of event affects a non-nihilist. Do any theists ever struggle with the apparently pointless nature of existence? What does a non-nihilistic atheist do when they have a nihilistic epiphany that prevents them from becoming a nihilist?
Would you personally be depressed as a nihilist or happy about it?
Now, I've been a nihilist for probably my whole life though obviously I didn't know how to define it until I was a teenager. Most philosophers in history have always described nihilism as being a negative/harmful view because they only really thought about passive nihilism (the curl into a ball type) but modern nihilism has evolved into something a bit different.
When I first signed up to this site I had kind of fallen out of my nihilistic tendencies and began becoming an idealist. Becoming more concerned with what could be instead of what is, and this lead to me being pretty pissy most of the time. This usually happens to me once every few years until I have what I call a "nihilistic epiphany". I hit an emotional rock-bottom and then like a punch to the face everything sort of "clicks".
It's the point where the absurdity of the universe hits you like a brick in the head. It's a small glimpse of the universe in a mostly objective way instead of a subjective way. It's seeing objects as less than the sum of their parts. Looking at a human being and seeing atoms, not a person.
Now I assume I can't be the only person this happens to, so I am curious as to how this sort of event affects a non-nihilist. Do any theists ever struggle with the apparently pointless nature of existence? What does a non-nihilistic atheist do when they have a nihilistic epiphany that prevents them from becoming a nihilist?
Would you personally be depressed as a nihilist or happy about it?