I spent seven years as a strict nihilist, exploring every destructive and hopeless avenue of thought until it drove me relatively insane, and I knew that life could not be lived in such a manner. Nihilism in its very nature destructive and therefore cannot sustain life, yet it seems that it has become almost inherent in our thinking, especially within the members of my generation.
I, personally, wouldn't say anyone can particularly blame us — we've inherited a decaying planet and what almost seems like a wavering, if not subtly collapsing, civilization. Our governments are corrupt and blind to our desires and needs as a people; poverty and the struggle of the masses to live within society seem only to increase. It shouldn't be too hard to see why there could be resentments, and little traces of hope — too many of us realized too young that the end might be extremely f*cking nigh. Unfortunately, nihilism does not save; it decays, and its presence further deteriorates matters for us.
It’s important to note that the everyday view of nihilism is not quite what it is at its core. Generally, we see a nihilist as someone with an extremely pessimistic attitude, a sad, hopeless person who sees no point in life and therefore does not care to exist; but those are merely byproducts of the nihilistic paradigm.
Alan Pratt of Embry-Riddle University writes from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy that “nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.” However, it’s not quite so simple as a definition; it must be understood that this inherent characteristic isn't just an underlying understanding that we are a small presence in the universe, that in the face of infinity we cannot matter — it’s much deeper.
Nietzsche wrote in “Will to Power” (as featured on IEP) that “‘Nihilism is…not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one’s shoulder to the plough; one destroys.’” Nihilism often finds hold on people concerned with truth — artists, philosophers, the like (but it can be noticed in trace amounts in likely anyone with critical thinking and analysis skills) — a key proponent in the public education system. This is because, as Nietzsche points out, the nature of nihilism is destructive in that it dismantles all sentiment with cold logic, leaving little humanity to couple with the “truth” that many use it to uncover. This sometimes savage desecration of moral value understandably gives way to inhumane mental and emotional suffering for the thinker and those within his or her influence, and this tends to be the focus of the vast amount of exploration that has occupied 20th-century art and thought.
However, it’s easy to forget that destruction, however wrought, reveals freedom — the holy grail of human principles. Nihilism does not have to be a wholly evil force that leads to a purgatory like agony of a life. Nihilism, in sync with acceptance, can lead to beauty. The fact is that nihilism seeks to destroy human values (that is to say morals, or belief systems) by logical debasement; but if we consider nihilism as a system of belief, a value per se, by its very own nature it must destroy itself, and given that it also reveals what can be viewed as the truest form of freedom, nihilism, it will destroy itself from within. So, if we shift the focus of our fascination with nihilism to the positive byproduct (that’s not to say completely abandon the adverse), the potential arises to use our freedom to create.
Once one accepts the so-called nothingness, sees and understands that this is the nature of the universe, that we humans are but a minuscule portion of an infinitely vast thing and our role within it is equally minuscule, and accept these things not as a source of great tragedy, but opportunity, one can create virtually any point to life that one wishes.
Furthermore, one must accept that a nihilistic outlook entails an absence of “God,” any sort of god or divine force, and thus we, as humans, are alone in our existence (as far as we can tell, or should care at this point in time), and therefore we, ourselves, and the natural forces of the universe are the only forces acting upon our destinies; and we also accept that the idea of “goodness” is nothing more than a human invention and thus must be upheld by humans in order to both exist and have value. If we accept these things, therefore making them true, it could be said that it is our duty as a species to create, spread, and uphold this human notion of good, being that we are the only force available to do so; and in that we create the potential within the natural presence of nihilism to greatly reduce the adversity which it produces and replace it with the positive byproduct of freedom to create goodness.
This can, and must, happen on a variety of levels within our societies. Primarily, nihilism finds its strongest hold within the arts, as far as the masses are able to see and interact with; so, as John Gardner fervently argued in "On Moral Fiction," it’s our duty to be moral with our arts, because they offer the broadest view to the laymen of what the universe, and humanity, are and do. This is not to mention that one of the strongest influences, especially on youth, is the arts in their many forms — music, television and film, subversive virtual reality (video games), and social media exposure in particular. Without a strong base of good and morality in these facets, we can easily find ourselves going down the track that Nietzsche laid for us: crisis.
No matter what we do, the universe will act upon us as a natural force, with its natural patterns, and there is little we can do about it; however, if we take into consideration the nature of nihilism, and the fact that in that it seeks its own destruction, we can conclude that there is hope, always; but its only available and useful to us if we understand and manipulate it in ways that produce positive outcomes, not only in the natural world, but within our own mental boundaries. Nihilism shows us that we are alone, that by the natural order of the universe we are insignificant. However, it also shows us that we can be significant, but only if we choose to use our freedom in such ways — to create good. And in a time when we need it more than ever, we either have to find an Eden, or create one.
