Nihilism 2.0
My favorite contemporary idiocy is Nihilism. Some people actually believe that life is meaningless because at some point in time there will supposedly be no trace of humanity and therefore their existence be immeasurably insignificant. Sure, in a few billion years some current happenstance does not weigh as much as it might seem in that moment but that should only provide alleviating contextualization – not be a cause to question the purpose of one’s existence. An easy remedy for that kind of thinking might be just going hungry for a while (unless you have an eating disorder) and then consider again if feeling something like that satiation of actual appetite is not worthy of existence in itself, even if the sun vaporizes earth after uncountable quantities of generations of beings have also made similarly gratifying experiences.
My perspective is absolutely contrarian to the presumably intellectual worldview of Nihilists. They think that nothing is meaningful. I believe that there is a lot of meaning in nothing.
Nothingness is a pet obsession of mine because of its peculiar characteristics. It is the perfect paradox. Nothing can never not exist. So, it is an absolutely eternal existence while not existing but thereby still existing. It is infinitely expansive while not having any spaciousness. It is undividable and present everywhere, so it is one but anywhere independently while being nowhere.
What a treasure-trove of illogically yet logical facts.
My favorite aspect of nothing is its neutrality. It is an unshakable, unchanging, omnipresent retreat.
This canvas that our objective reality is painted on can be a wellspring of inspiration in the calm it provides and a comforting pillow to rest the mind upon when winds are unfavorable. It sadly can never be fully grasped but thankfully can always be relied upon to be there and not waver.
Gladly, we turn our minds and attention to it fully for about a third of our lives. Too bad though that we can never quite fully remember what it’s like to be at one with it completely. Probably we will stay there when life is over but till then sleep will do.
Our minds do not allow us to stay grounded in it completely while going after our humanly things, so we lose that connection cognitively. But if we take a few moments to realize that nothing is always here and that we are connected to it eternally, we can access it again and again.
If you, dear reader, feel so inclined: try focusing on the nothing that is underlying your current physical and psychological reality. Tell me how it feels.