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The Joy of Nihilism
In a hundred years it’s likely no one will know who you were, or anything you did.
Keeping adding years and the probability decreases even more.
Unless you are some Hegelian world historical figure, your identity will be swallowed by the abyss of time in a couple centuries for sure.
Even if you are some kind of big wig, you will still be forgotten in a cosmic blink of an eye. But so will all of your fuck ups, and all of your worries and pain.
These are some of the primary implications of existential and moral nihilism. In other words, the fact that we have no good epistemic reasons to believe that there is any inherent reason we are here on this rock in space, that we will somehow survive death, or that there are any objectively naughty or nice acts.
Some may lament the supposed pointlessness or futility of living a temporary life in a meaningless universe, but those of us who are active nihilists say au contraire! Realizing that you are living without a cosmic boss, without some universal rules, and realizing that you won’t always be burdened by existence is fucking liberating! Hell, it can even be joyous at times — joyous nihilism.
Without a belief in inherent meaning or moral values, we are free to live authentically and creatively. We can pursue our own goals and desires — unburdened by the pressure to conform to others’ expectations.
What’s the alternative?
A life with imposed meaning? If life had inherent meaning it would mean that someone or some thing imposed this meaning on you.
For the traditionally religious this means that meaning is imposed on you by an all-powerful boss. He / she / it sets the rules, and it’s “obey, or else…”
Imagine kissing some tyrannical god’s ass for 80 years in hopes that you can kiss his ass for an eternity? And if you piss off daddy he hands you off to someone else to get punished. I don’t know about you, but that’s not my kink…even if it was, I think it would get old.
In light of this, the one thing that should really matter to us is enjoying this one life — the only one we know we get. (Some of us might also add “making the world a better place for all”, but that is up to you.)
