Ultimately, nothing matters. Our thoughts, hopes, aspirations, ideals, sentiments and lives will eventually crumble to dust, just like the entirety of the universe we stumble around in. The prospect of an afterlife may quell the anxiety induced by nihilistic thinking, but it doesn't extinguish the possibility that, objectively, nothing matters.
This needs explaining. Subjectively, many things matter to us. We are quick to attribute meaning to ourselves and the world around us. Humans invent meaning. We create the delusion that the self is important, that external events are relevant in some way. But, like the worth of a dollar on a desolate island, the things and events in this world contain no intrinsic value.
Transcience underpins everything that concerns us in life. Nothing lasts forever. The short-lived nature of things and events is, I believe, what constitutes a nihilist's belief that everything is hopeless. If you needed heart surgery and going under the knife would only extend your life for one more day, you may find it pointless to get the surgery in the first place. You would be a nihilist in such a situation.
But why? Why might one be a nihilist in an instance where surgery would extend a person's life for an extra day? Imagine if the surgery would grant the person life for 20 more years. Then it wouldn't seem so hopeless to go under the knife. This example reveals that humans are the arbiters of value, importance and worth.
So far, it appears that no good could come from nihilism, that a person of a nihilistic disposition should become depressed and eventually lose ambition and motivation altogether. I argue that this is a misconception. Although events, things and people have no objective importance or value in the universe, we can still live a fulfilling life.
I often use nihilism as a remedy in the face of events in the world which are difficult to reconcile. In lieu of being dismayed by recent political events in America (aka the election of Donald Trump), as many people were, perhaps nihilism can help us move on. It's safe to assume that we can't do anything about who will become our next president now—it has already been decided. If political activism fails, we must accept a Trump presidency, which bears as much importance as one confers upon it. Donald Trump and the effects that flow from his presence in the White House have no more and no less inherent significance than a speck of dust drifting aimlessly through the vast recesses of the universe.
Nihilists have the power to determine what matters and what doesn't while always maintaining that, objectively, nothing matters. Nihilism is an unconventional ideal quite difficult to be taken seriously, especially to the untrained mind. But the moment we stop believing something matters, especially if it is out of our control, the quicker we can move on and extend concern to that which makes us happy and at ease with the world.
