Nihilism

[Rizzo in a box]

Originally Posted by zik

It's a necessary stage before one can realize Brahman. Or whatever you wish to call the ineffable.

trying to call it anything takes too much energy, whatever it is it can't be anything separate from anything from else, hence Brahman = Atman

[taoskin99]

Nihilism allows values to actually be worth something. Instead of having <objective> values that are forced on people as being the 'great truthful values of life', a nihilist knows that values are subjective experiences and can therefore choose them conciously.
There is nothing in nihilism that contradicts having values, it's just about knowing about the void and then defining our own.
There would be 6.5 billion + definitions of every single value : Family, Truth, Trust, Faith, etc. We would say "this is my truth" instead of "this is The Truth", like people have been doing since BC.
Basically, because it forces us to remove our values, we can have one of two attitudes towards it : active or passive.
Active nihilism is when we decide to 'do something about it instead of being a coward'. It's about constant creation and constant reevaluation of the values, and thus of action and a form of lucid happiness. It tells us "nature is hard, be harder to survive and live. Your Humanity means nothing, it is a delusion to hide you from the void. live close to your desires, and may your desires be a glorious happiness brought by a constant improvement of yourself."
Passive nihilism the attitude taken by depressed people who want to sound cool by calling their depression and lack of love for life "nihilism" (quote : "oo look at me, im so depressed, i'm a nihilist, you're a conformist, fuck you, I'm cool, read Nietzsche's Antichrist and some Dotoeivski and then you'll be as cool as me", a.k.a. pseudointellectuals)
haha philosopher's joke.
Long story short, passive nihilism sucks.

Readings : Nietzsche's Zarathustra (if you're still sane after), and Twilight of the Idols. I just tried to explain what I think I understood and what I found interesting.

Here's an extra for depressed philosophers:
Philosophy is about 'liking wisdom', right? (check out the greek roots.) and wisdom can be defined as the kind of knowledge which allows us to make proper lucid and reasoned decisions in life to be happier, smarter, etc...
Thus, the goal of philosophy is learning to be happy in the smartest and fullest way possible. Learning how to perceive the world as to not be fooled or bullshitted, learning how to think so we won't do anything we'll regret and being happy from the intellectual pleasure it provides.
Fitting message, as it's in a thread about nihilism!

[welshopiumeater]

Nihilism is often confused with passivism; in reality, it's nothing more than active negativism.

If nothing matters, why care about nothing mattering?

Reminds me of a Zen proverb:

Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.
Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."
Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"