The sunny side of nihilism

I have to confess that underneath my intuitive mystical leanings and shameless supernaturalism there resides a fundamentally nihilist outlook. It only comes out when I make unflinching somewhat cynical observations about life in this modern world of ours. Like the very simple and undeniable realization that every one of us, no matter how important we may feel, will all go away forever someday. Everything you cherish and enjoy and find meaning in will simply cease to be. And in a generation or so nobody will remember that you existed. This can be a despairing thought, but it need not necessarily be. There are fulfilling ways for even hardcore nihilists to live and to be in the world. For instance, I find it a particularly liberating truth that I don't really matter much in the end. That the universe will chug indifferently along after my death with no real end purpose just as it always has. Here's a great article on how nihilism can be a life-affirming way of life that can free us from the myriad pressures towards superficial and cosmetic meaning constantly infiltrating our lives.

https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-find-the-sunny-side-of-nihilism

"For the past few years, I’ve been consumed by nihilism. Reading that, it would be fair to assume things haven’t been peachy. But my descent into the controversial philosophy hasn’t been a grim road of despair and hopelessness. Quite the opposite. It’s become one of the most illuminating and fortifying parts of my life.

Rejecting the urge to seek and denote meaning to all things has changed the way I assign value and spend time. It has challenged what I focus on and, most importantly, what I disregard. I’ve found that a kind of optimistic or ‘sunny’ nihilism highlights the delicate beauty of existence, the absurdity of life, and the exciting chaos of the everyday. But I’m getting ahead of myself. To understand the power of sunny nihilism, it’s necessary to begin with the philosophy itself..."

IMO, the journey is all there is.

IMO, the journey is all there is.

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My verbose rambling paragraph distilled down to one concise nugget of truth!

Short video about finding joy in a meaningless universe:

It's not surprising that people are nihilistic these days, although you are essentially talking about Aristotle's golden mean.

Nihilism doesn't seem to me to be a middle ground between two extremes. It seems more like one of the extremes, the other extreme being fanatical religiousness.

I was talking about the video.

As an instinctive truthseeker, I find I am unable to accept the premise of nihilism that there is no meaning in life, even as just some experimental declaration. Every time I pondered the waste of matter and energy that my life seems to be in an cold and uncaring universe, I would look out my window to see the vibrant and sun-dappled foilage of the trees going on outside. And a little voice would whisper, "But what about THIS?" Images of babies and pets and delicious food and awesome music and poetry and art and beloved films swirled in the background of my mind.

So who am I kidding? If nothing has meaning, then everything has meaning! Everything is part of the outrageous game of being here alive and conscious against all odds and participating in the "just isness" of an unfathomable and exuberant Being. Time to re-embrace my inner hierophant and celebrate the empowering presence of this undeniable truth.

Nihilism is not a single philosophy. It has different meanings depending on the philosophy you have. Some would suggest nihilism is simply the philosophy that we have no objective meaning, that we are all ultimately stardust. Others take it further to mean that all meaning is pointless, or that there is no real existence, that there are no morals, virtues etc.

So this "sunny side of nihilism" might just be seen as the intellectual view that there is no afterlife, that we have one chance at experiencing, even if it is all ultimately irrelevant.
The darker side is... well... rather a depressing outlook.

So, maybe you need to clarify what you understand by nihilism?

Sarkus said:

Nihilism is not a single philosophy. It has different meanings depending on the philosophy you have. Some would suggest nihilism is simply the philosophy that we have no objective meaning, that we are all ultimately stardust. Others take it further to mean that all meaning is pointless, or that there is no real existence, that there are no morals, virtues etc.

So this "sunny side of nihilism" might just be seen as the intellectual view that there is no afterlife, that we have one chance at experiencing, even if it is all ultimately irrelevant.
The darker side is... well... rather a depressing outlook.

So, maybe you need to clarify what you understand by nihilism?

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I defined it in the above post: "the premise of nihilism that there is no meaning in life."

Magical Realist said:

I defined it in the above post: "the premise of nihilism that there is no meaning in life."

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Objective meaning, or subjective? The view that there is merely no objective meaning is already the sunnier side of nihilism, and is a view shared by most atheists. It is what you do with that insight, that philosophy, that matters.
If you're defining it as there being no subjective meaning then, yeah, that's on the dimmer side, to be sure.

Sarkus said:

Objective meaning, or subjective? The view that there is merely no objective meaning is already the sunnier side of nihilism, and is a view shared by most atheists. It is what you do with that insight, that philosophy, that matters.
If you're defining it as there being no subjective meaning then, yeah, that's on the dimmer side, to be sure.

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Both objective and subjective meaning. The cynical view that there is no value in anything. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."--Ecclesiastes 1:2

Personally, I find the idea that there is no objective meaning or purpose liberating.

I do enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy playing music. I enjoy traveling to other parts of the world, tasting the local cuisine and experiencing the local culture and history.

Is this "meaning"? I don't know and I don't care. I do know that I am in no hurry to reach the end of my time. As I age, I am also acutely aware that everyone's time comes to an end.

"Here I am, a highly organized pattern of mass and energy, one of eight billion, insignificant in any objective accounting of the world. And in a short while I will cease to exist. What am I to the universe? Practically nothing. Yet the certainty of my death makes my life more significant. My joy in life, in my children, my love to dogs, running and climbing, books and music, the cobalt blue sky, are meaningful because I will come to an end. And that is as it should be. I do not know what will come afterward, if there is an afterward in the usual sense of the world, but whatever it is, I know in my bones that everything is for the best.”
― Christof Koch, Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist

I think we all find meaning to our lives, everyone assigning their own meaning. Somewhere between existential dread and “nirvana,” maybe? Perhaps, nihilism is the idea that there is no objective meaning to one’s life. But, subjectively speaking, it would seem that many people believe someone or something, gives their life meaning.

I used to find nihilism to be depressing but everyone is entitled to view their own life in whatever way they choose.

Magical Realist said:

"Here I am, a highly organized pattern of mass and energy, one of eight billion, insignificant in any objective accounting of the world. And in a short while I will cease to exist. What am I to the universe? Practically nothing. Yet the certainty of my death makes my life more significant. My joy in life, in my children, my love to dogs, running and climbing, books and music, the cobalt blue sky, are meaningful because I will come to an end. And that is as it should be. I do not know what will come afterward, if there is an afterward in the usual sense of the world, but whatever it is, I know in my bones that everything is for the best.”
― Christof Koch, Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist

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In the end, aren’t we all just . . . matter and pixie dust?

There being no meaning to life, to me just means there is no "meaning" in a rock or there is no "reason" we are here. That doesn't mean that you don't provide your own meaning to and for life.

I think nature is great. I just don't think there is a "reason" that it has been provided for me by a wise old man. Nature would be the same whether humans were here or even in the absence of any life. It just is...

As a matter of fact, space was the way it is for 8 billion years or so before there was even an Earth and several more billions before there were humans. If there was "meaning" inherent in nature who was the meaning for?