On Nihilism and Lightness

https://xkcd.com/167/

Sometimes, when I get into debates with people online (often regarding social justice issues and systemic inequality), I get asked, 'why do you care?' I also often get told, 'you claim to be a nihilist, so you shouldn't give a shit.' 

I have a few thoughts on this, and I figured that I might as well write them all down so I can save myself the hassle and give people a link to this in the future.

Thought #1: Nihilism is not Apathy

Nihil means “nothing.” -ism means “ideology.” Thus, Nihilism is, in essence, the “ideology of nothing”.

This may sound somewhat nonsensical, but it's important to understand that Nietzsche's Nihilism stems from the realisation that 'God is dead'. It is underpinned by the idea that our idols and the morality tied to their existence are hollow, void and therefore meaningless.

Without God, we are alone, staring into the abyss of nothing-ness and exposed to a natural universe devoid of the comforting idea of divine or ultimate purpose.

The apathetic individual doesn’t care. However, not caring is not the same thing as caring about nothing.

The nihilist has feelings. It’s just that what the nihilist has feelings for is itself nothing. The abyss is where the quintessential and direct experience of living can be found, it is the bottomless pit that all sensations and thoughts are poured into.

Indeed, it is because the nihilist is able to have such strong feelings - strong feelings for something that is nothing - that the nihilist is not, and cannot be apathetic. 

Nihilists can have sympathy, empathy, and antipathy, but they cannot have apathy.  

Thought #2: Nihilism is not necessarily Pessimism

Ok. So Nothingness is a bummer and staring into the abyss can easily lead to pessimism and despair.  

If optimism is seeing a half glass as full and being happy, and if pessimism is seeing a half glass as closer to empty and dwelling in despair, then nihilism is arguably closer to optimism without sinking into complacency and ignoring what is missing so as to avoid seeking change.

The beauty and severity of Nietzsche’s texts draw from his vision that we can move through nihilism to develop new and alternative meaningful ways to be human. 

Nihilism can be a bridge to a new way of being, as knowing and accepting that we are human and fallible – no longer charged with trying to reach a divine standard – leaves us lighter.

Thought #3: Nihilism is closer to Idealism than to Cynicism

Cynicism, like pessimism, is about negativity. However, while pessimism is about despair, cynicism is more about disdain. A cynic wouldn’t say that life is pointless but would just say that what people claim about life is pointless. 

In the course of developing a new way of being, the nihilist destroys in order to find or create something worth believing in. Nihilism moves beyond disdain to actively tear down what people claim to build a new thing.

Only that which can survive destruction can make us stronger. 

Nietzsche sees not only the dangers these ideas pose, but also the lightness that comes from dismantling and the infinite opportunities that it presents. 

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

Friedrich Nietzsche