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Originally Posted by DechanDawa
Sorry if I hijacked this thread in talking about religion...but I think when one talks about nihilism, then, for me, eternalism comes up. Which naturally leads to talk about religion. However, initially I was quoting Buddhism, which has a big metaphysical component stripped of the trappings of religion. As a philosophy I find Buddhism very interesting. Taoism is, I believe, a near cousin.
I can't really contribute much to this discussion. There is a starkness about nihilism that I would not say evokes fear as much as apathy.
The author Andrew Solomon includes a quote in his book on depression - I paraphrase - that depression is essentially a lack of enthusiasm, and a static state. It is not so much sadness as a mental and physical apathy.
I find that losing all the storylines makes for a boring existence. Nihilism, I say no to. But I am all for scraping away unneeded mental constructs.
In graduate school I studied some of what has been talked about here. But I found that all the conjecturing did not make me happy. I was mainly studying Buddhist philosophy, and, it was not...comforting. And I now realize it was a time in my life when I needed comfort and companions.
Dancing witches, fairies, leprechauns, unicorns, creation stories, chaos theory, love/sex, honor, relationship, hobbies, building things, destroying things then rebuilding. Ah, anything but boredom. For me that is the killer. And nihilism strikes me as...boring. I'm coming out of a period of silence. And I mean...S I L E N C E. I have been listening to music again and this week - Aretha. -- R E S P E C T, Queen of Soul!. That voice...saying YES to LIFE. (I am now thinking of the musicians who continued to play while the Titanic was sinking. That is...a full...emptiness.)
Sorry, again, I don't belong here among all you intellectual giants. I will just read and try to not comment anymore. I feel like a little frog jumping around in a pond of sharks. It is only a matter of time before I get...gulped!  |
First, I’m no intellectual giant. I watched a film earlier,
The End of the Tour, about the time that a Rolling Stone journalist spent with David Foster (Dave) Wallace. Now Wallace was an intellectual giant but lived for writing
and the commonplace. If my 24-years of formal education taught me anything, it is that I know so very little. Please, don’t refrain from commenting!!
Religion was bound to be broached; no harm. Existentialism and nihilism demand debate, I think, and religion becomes part of the debate. It’s only natural (giant pun).
Now nihilism and fear and apathy. I’ve not embraced nihilism out of fear (the initial fear of death/nothingness is no part of my nihilistic philosophy) or apathy (I care about, well,
everything.) I’m not certain that you’re addressing
me or other angels? For me, an evangelist for nihilism, I can only say that nihilism generally
does provoke fear and a race towards mythologies that soothe that fear. I’ve yet to experience apathy personally or find it a reaction of those to whom I preach.
Now I think myself an expert on depression, having been brought down by the disease for over 16-years. I can’t offer any complete explanation of the disorder and doubt that anyone can. Depression does dampen any enthusiasm for living but that’s but a single symptom and I don’t believe that the enormity of the disease can be written off as a general ‘lack of enthusiasm’ and certainly not apathy though I admit that the depressed do
feel apathetic about some daily activities (showering!) and other considerations of the world outside outside of themselves. With that I’ll admit that depression is a deeply rooted self-centred disease by definition.
I think that what you mean by storylines I would call mythologies and while mythologies are interesting I don’t feel that they sufficiently give overarching meaning to short-term existence.
Nihilism is far from boring! It generates an unparalleled vigor! Recognising the finite gives one a passion to live fully, an eagerness to explore and engage! Nothing boring about it!
I know silence on many, many levels. I was mute for over one-year; silencing myself. We’re Aretha-simpatico — but
Natural Woman is my fave and yes, it says, she sings, yes to life.
I keep bringing up Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in the final chapter of James Joyce’s
Ulysses. Let me quote the final lines:
Quote:
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I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.
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Yes.