Nihilism, futile and without substance?
For some time now I have been caught in the chains of nihilism.
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Nothing is an important word in Nihilism and also in my life.
There was once a man called Ecclesiastes whom some believe is king Solomon. It says in the bible that God went to Solomon in his dream and said he could wish for anything he desired, anything. Solomon choose for wisdom instead for money or fame so he can judge well. God was astonished and gave him not only wisdom but also money, fame and what not. Solomon was now the wisest of them all, he knew everything and had everything his hart could ever desire. But that wisdom brought him only sorrow. You perhaps know the saying "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" which he said. He was obsessed with the meaninglessness of everything which I think drove him to the point of insanity and hatred against God. He had lots of womans from other countries who all brought along their own God. He started giving offers and sacrifices to those "false" Gods. And so ends the tale of the wisest of wise, Ecclesiastes. He ended up sinning, he the wisest of them all. How could he not have known? He was the wisest. Therefore I think he was angry at God who gave him sorrow in the disguise of wisdom. The book of Ecclesiastes frankly faces the limited capacity of the human spirit to create ultimate meaning. God held information back. Humans are supossedly not capable of knowing the real truth. Lack of understanding is no excuse for immorality. The writer suspects that there is more to life than he or anyone else can figure out. God has planted in the human mind the notion of eternity, a reality that transcends human finiteness, yet he has not equipped humans to grasp it.From a philosophical point of view, the concept of "nothing" can have many interpretations. In fact, people can even state that nothing does not exist. One cannot sense, see, feel, or think nothing. There is no contact with nothing. Nothing is where everything isn't. Visualizing "nothing" would make "something". It could be seen as a physical void or as just a word which only has meaning when used to describe a relationship between different "somethings". A single "correct" definition of nothing could be considered impossible, since "right" and "wrong" do not fit within the confines of nothing.
(I toke his name not because I think I am wise or the wisest but because of our shared obsession)
As he did and many other philosophers I also am obsessed with the meaninglessness of everything. I do not say I experience the same sorrow as him, not by a long shot, and also not think that I am wise, far from it (I always say that to be wise is to know you know nothing, which on a side note also doesn't make me think I am wise). I am young, I know nothing but perhaps you do. Enlighten me.
If nothing comes from nothing, then something must come from something. We are something and we must have come from something. That someting must also have come from something and so on.
If nothing exists, there is empty space. If there is empty space there is something. Since this is a contradiction of the first statement neither statement exists. Therefore something must always exist. Therefore nothing is the only thing that does not exist.
What does a man love more than life?
Hate more than death or mortal strife?
That which contented men desire,
The poor have, the rich require,
The miser spends, the spendthrift saves,
And all men carry to their graves?
So what do you think? Is nihilism futile and without substance? What do you think about the nothingness of everything? Do you think everything has no meaning?
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