Portrait of the Nihilist at a Shopping Mall
srpr...@gmail.com
What is it to be a nihilist? The belief in nothing is a belief in
itself. One thus does not uphold nothingness as a value, but as a
method, and uses it to test all knowledge, since if we are not
fatalists - people who believe that nothing can be known, nothing has
meaning, that nothing can be done to change that state - we desire to
remain alive. When one is alive, knowledge is important, much as
learning to build fire was important to early cave-dwellers. In this
realization, nihilism reduces from a belief in nothing to a belief in
knowledge derived from awareness of nothingness.
Nothingness is eternal; when one is dead, for example, there is no
longer an existence to even reflect on the nothingness. One is simply
not there. Nothingness reminds us that all of what we know in life goes
away, and upon reflection, that nothingness will triumph, thus our
lives should have somethingness, which we generally define as meaning.
And what is meaning? Satisfaction that one's time is well spent, for
that time ends and nothingness takes over. Essentially this is applying
nihilism to itself, and at that moment, nihilism passes from a
self-pitying impotence into a state of power.
When we are aware of nothingness, we no longer can believe in
Absolutes: a pure God who does what is right for us, moral "good" and
"evil," heaven and a Utopic society. These are all pure ideals which do
not exist in nature, because they do not admit that nothingness exists,
nor do they recognize its necessity. In moral terms, a life lost is a
horrible thing, but what if that was a well-lived life tapering down
into Alzheimer's disease, incontinence and hoping for a high score at
canasta? What if it is murderer, or someone who is so diseased their
life is misery? Nothingness can be a savior. When we forget
nothingness, we lapse into well-meaning Absolutes designed to make us
feel better about life, but is not that a presumption that life itself
is bad?
A nihilist is one who accepts nothingness as necessary for the whole to
exist; above "good" and "bad" there is "meta-good," which requires both
good and bad. This goes beyond a belief in nothingness; it is a belief
in the necessity of nothingness, both in the operations of nature and
in our ability to perceive nature. A fatalist, or one who believes
nothing can be known or done, is not outside this view of "good" and
"evil," but a nihilist is. Having accepted that Absolutes do not exist,
a nihilist is then tasked with the goal of finding meaning and order in
the universe, since anyone except a fatalist will attempt this task as
part of the process of being alive.
There are many forms of meaning in life, suggested both by the
individual and society; however, few of them pass the nothingness test
as outlined above. Instead of accepting nothingness, these beliefs
attempt to push some Absolute into position of importance above it, and
thus they submit to nothingness without recognize it and cause their
adherents to become feeble sheep for the slaughter: fearing
nothingness, they deny it, and thus cannot act to find meaning outside
of denying it. They have become slaves to death. One can find these in
a church, or active in social functions with a moral absolute nature to
them.
So does a nihilist believe in anything? Yes: in nothingness, and in the
system of which nothingness is part, probably what we could call
meta-somethingness. Nothingness and somethingness together create it. A
nihilist believes this, and thus affirms a reality outside of those
created by social pressures, economics, religion and television.
Nihilism is a gateway to rebirth; the passage is one of accepting
death, and then determining to find value anyway without having to
create some crutch to circumnavigate the inevitability of our mortal
ends.
A nihilist at the shopping mall sees bright lighted signs, products for
sale, churches pushing books on people, Hare Krishnas talking about
love, and a stream of people with some urgency to their need to consume
and be active. A nihilist wants none of this in his soul, so he steps
closer to the fountain, where a few plants grow, their leaves limp from
repeated brushes with passerby. Unlike the Buddhist, the nihilist does
not aim to negate the world and retreat into the self under the guise
of escaping self-domination. Unlike the Christian, he does not live for
another, better world. He quiets his soul and accepts life for what it
is, and determines to live it well, much like a plant which despite
being in a mall full of chaos grows forever toward the light.
Much as the plant did not have a choice about where its seed landed,
and found environment that it could grow, the nihilist finds himself in
a world that is baffling in its desire to cram any activity that it can
invent into the maw of death. He is faced with a basic choice: follow
reason, or follow the herd, and he chooses to follow reason. Yet he
does not give up nature, which includes his nature, in striving for
greater understanding of reality, greater art and learning, and deeds
that by their nature are meaningful, even if they involve sacrifice; in
a previous age, maybe a healthier one, they called this heroism.
So the nihilist in the mall contemplates the flowers and waits for a
young lady who is currently selecting an item in a nearby store, while
thinking of how in a forest dark spaces wait next to fertile clearings,
talons descend on the least wary of the mice, and an order extends
beyond time to cycle through eternity in somethingness, then
nothingness, so that a somethingness may always be, and may always have
fulfilling activity. As people rush screaming about him in an ecstasy
of purchase, want and need and fear, pushing back death with plastic
objects, he smiles over these contemplations and touches the leaf of a
small plant, thinking of infinity. These were the thoughts of a
nihilist at the shopping mall this evening.
Vijay Prozak, 01/16/05
tooly
under this wierd guise of 'unreason', while having little else to do but
'play' at life. But then, they are probably rich because of their ancestors
striving under the guise of 'somthing other than nihilism' that accelerated
their productivity.
For the common man who must 'struggle' just to make ends meet, nihilism is
reason enough just to say 'to hell with it all' and not try.
Indeed, why try? Why struggle? I mean, when it all amounts to 'nothing'
anyway? Oh, yea...I forgot; pain and fear...right.
BuddhaThu
I am not a troll. But there is no way for a nihilist to even enter the
shopping mall of choices unless the nihlist passes grammar school and
understand the concept and grammar usage of nihilism. Again, I am not
being a troll. I am Wittgensteinian. ;-)
If you do not know the grammatical concept and usage of "nihilism"
being without rules or regulations that governs the person to choose,
as oppose to facism, then how then can you choose?
You must first become "literate" in it, and learn all about its rules
of usage. It may sound antithetical to what nihilism is, but it is the
truth of grammar. Again, you have no concept of it, you have not choice
to choose it. School liberates your will and allows you into the
shopping mall of life.
This is not something metaphysical. It is practical grammar.
The trainig does not impede on your will. The grammar training gives it
to you. If you are without trainng, you will not be given the
meta-choice to choose it.
So the lesson here for all you teens. Do not dropout. Go to college ;).
In my evolving opinion
when it comes to thought but not what's left after thought, at
least a kind of thought, ends.
<srpr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1106074429.9...@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
: Portrait of the Nihilist at a Shopping Mall
:
BuddhaThu
Again, I am not a troll. I am a Wittgensteinian. To some who know me,
this is a repetitive lesson. So kindly move onto another thread.
There is no belief in "nothingness." This is what is called a dangling
participle. It happens when you use an adverb or an adjective without a
referent. "Nothingness" requires a pronoun, i.e. a person, place or
thing to attach itself to. :)
You do not search for an object call "nothing." It is a "no-thing." It
is not a person place or thing. It is rightly used as a predicate.
Therefore, when you say, "you believe in nothing" it indicates the lack
of belief of ***something.***
"Nothing" is not the object of the verb. It is an adverb to the verb "
believe." :) It is descriptive of a lack of belief or absence of belief
of something.
When you "experience nothing" with your booze, this is improper form of
speech. You can feel numb, or high, or floating on air, but you cannot
feel "nothing" as an object to you verb. It is not a pronoun to be
empirically felt by your experience.
This is not metaphysics or mysticism. This is proper forms of speech
that make your intentions clear, esp. if you are going through a detox
program. :)
To "experience nothing" is to say ***I am not experiencing
something.*** It means that there is a lack of some sort of particular
experience
Ok...
There is no universal feeling of nothingness. Some people may try this
with booze, but we sober people know better and make more money, esp.
if we stay in school and learn our grammar.
There is no universal grammar of "nihilism." But you got to have one.
The concept requires a rule to proper form and usage. If you understand
nihilism even to speak and debate about it, you are following a grammar
rule to the concept. The rule is not absolute, but you must have one.
Without any concept in your head, you cannot choose, whether it is
conditioned by Spanish, Latin or English, you got to have one.
You must first take in the grammar training. Master the drill. Then
become a nihilist. If you do not get educated you might venture
accidentally into conformity and not know about it. This would be bad.
So learn the rule, then break it. Be creative. Be a nonconformist. But
first, you must learn the grammar rules to "creative" and
"noncoformist."
Do not drink and get high and try to "feel nothing."
Try tea. It is the grammatically correct choice.
Stay in school and be nice to your teachers, except the ones who try to
hold you back from your creativity. :-)
Lord knows, I had one of those! @#$%. :(
Be happy. Be creative. Be safe being creative.
And See Ya! :)
pensul
> .... He is faced with a basic choice: follow
> reason, or follow the herd, and he chooses to follow reason.
Whose reason would that be? If his own, would he not be aiming "to negate
the world and retreat into the self under the guise of escaping
self-domination"? If other than his own, would he not be like the fatalist
who, "as part of the process of being alive", is not "tasked with the goal of
finding meaning and order in the universe"? It would have to be someones
reasoning, not his own, but at the same time not just anybodys', not just
anybody his body is in contact with, as that would be the fatalist position.
Who could this someone be? Would it be the same one for everyone? In so far
as everyone should be given a fair chance to recognize Him, it follows that
once this is accomplished, His role is assumed by another One, lest we "lapse
into well-meaning Absolutes, designed to make us feel better about life".
Otherwise, the nihilist is in danger of making the terms he uses to reason
into Absolutes, into well-meaning Absolutes designed to make him feel better
about life, "but is not that a presumption that life itself is bad?". This
is what seems to have happened to the followers of Buddha and Christ, but
in our own age another Buddha and Christ has arisen.
--
"The world of existence is an emanation of the merciful attribute of God."
Abdul-Baha
http://www.costarricense.cr/pagina/ernobe
pensul
To understand that you are Wittgensteinian does not require any grammatical
concepts other than those you may choose to make the statement. Your use of
"school" implies that other grammatical concepts are required, therefore it
indicates that you have yet to understand the concept and grammar usage of
school. "School" does not liberate the will and allow you into the shopping
mall of life. It is those who go to school. Now, they may have any number
of reasons to do so, including teaching without having been taught, as
Wittgenstein did.