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Memories of the 28th Century

Is There Hope?

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by
PeterL
, 05-11-2022 at 12:36 PM (6211 Views)
I was thinking about a new topic for a blog without much success. I have a few half written posts that didn't come together, but a few minutes I came across a post on a forum in which someone was asking about optimistic nihilist characters. I looked into the concept as it is handled online, and I realized that I am not one, and the philosophy is opposed to what I think. Apparently, there are people who believe that they live in a meaningless universe with no raison d'etre. I feel sorry for them. The other side that they see is of a monotheistic god doing everything.

Apparently, there are people who do not believe in cause and effect. How would one convince them that there were prior causes that caused everything to come into existence? I hadn't realized that education was that bad. Even if people don't want to accept that Sky Father, Earth Mother, and their crowd exist, then they should have considered that there was something more than the Judeo-Christian-Islamic single god (Goddess really, but that's a different kettle of fish).

The great Christian philosophers all accepted the basics of the philosophers of Ancient Greece and their rules of logic. The noted existentialists also used the same rules of logic. I suppose that nihilists don't have to accept logic, because they claim to believe in nothing, but when they ignore logic, it is very easy to discount their opinions, and it becomes very difficult for them to express themselves in comprehensible language, but it appears that the optimistic nihilists are willing to discard logic.

I think they are working from false premises, so their position may make sense to them, because one can get to any result desired, if one selects the appropriate premises. It is very difficult to converse with such people, but they are out there, and a few have gotten into positions of power. Nihilists have nothing to hold them back from trying to achieve any result, so a combination of the two positions is dangerous.

Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I still believe in the Gods and Goddesses, and they usually act as one would expect, based on their specialties. Athena is still there, wisely supporting logic, and if people ignore her, they do so at their own peril, and that applies to optimistic nihilists.

Regardless of what one thinks underlies ordinary existence, there is something there, or there would be no ordinary existence. That may be what nihilists ignore. How can they think without there being something to think about? Maybe someone who thinks that he or she is an optimistic nihilist can explain it to us.

As I was posting this, it occurred to me that it might be that optimistic nihilism is actually a bit of ironic humor.


https://www.openculture.com/2017/10/...-universe.html
https://www.urbandictionary.com/defi...tic%20Nihilism

https://www.louislaves-webb.com/optimistic-nihilism/
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Comments

  1. NikolaiI's Avatar
    I loved reading this. Actually I read it five or six hours ago. I should have commented sooner mayhap but at least I'm now. Nice to see... I like the way you use words without negativity yet clearly stating your view and understanding. It's powerful and good. So thank you..
  2. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Yes, I think there is always hope. Hope is the thing with feathers. As they say -- it was done a while back some experiments where rats were in water -- well, anyway they lived about 25% longer if they could see a possible landing zone, even if it was taken away. The inhumanity of the experiments aside (although not for me eternally), the info from them is very important. . . and valuable I think. Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says it simply; "hope for tomorrow allows us to bear a hardship today." and I'm always doing my best to simply encourage the three things. . . Self-faith (in others), trust in their good outcome, or hope, and then of course peace.... and health... I do my best always.

    In terms of my life interactions with others it's my primary thing to do this way, to above all help people have faith in themselves, and from there do what they may do. Or what they feel best.

    Swami Vivekananda and Shantideva both expressed this; i.e., the former said, "The greatest religion of all is to have faith in yourself," and the latter said, "it is the only duty of a Bodhisattva to encourage faith or increase faith," the latter is paraphrased, and the first one more or less the same. -- I am with you completely on the Goddess, thing, to me it's absolutely clear and simple that the elemental form of the universe is Female, i.e., the Life-giving principle, Life-sustaining principle of Love, and whatever else we may call God is more connected with Goddess than with male forms. But it's only a minor thing for instance, but Goddess and Earth, Earth is a mother and so forth. . . but like as you said, that's an aside!

    As for the rest, Yeah, I guess I can simply say as before that it's very nice, the thing you said. I mean how yo use words and you do not say any negativity but you still express what you feel. I appreciate and like that a lot. I could write much more but I guess just wanted to say this for now.
  3. NikolaiI's Avatar
    I'm sorry for all my mistakes before. I love you a lot Peter.
    -Nik
  4. PeterL's Avatar
    I am very glad that you liked it. Writing it made me think about nihilism, something that I have seldom thought much bwfore, and I realized that nihilism is absurd.
    Expressing things in a positive way is something that I aim for. If it can't be put pleasantly, or without nastiness, then it might be better not to express it. I have that that works well in complaining about poor service, etc.
  5. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Goethe said that too
  6. PeterL's Avatar
    ...
  7. NikolaiI's Avatar
    I can't always abide, however, and it should be remembered the Goethe hid up in the highest room of his castle when the gates were besieged, leaving the footmen (servants) and other staff to deal with the invaders.

    Always appreciative,
    With love,
    your friend.