thats just comedy nihilism. i dont see any threat to nihilism if you are prepared to take it seriously and think about it and educate yourself. a lot of people confuse a kind selfish utilitarianism coupled with instrumental reason and a kind of macho greed for nihilism, but thats not it at all.

my friend will be ok in the end. in a sense buddhism is a scam to get you to unsettle your natural breathing rhythms through meditation and string you along on the path to an enlightenment that everyone and everything already has, all the time. there's not that much more too it. but because of the centuries of division between eastern and western cultures as it reaches us it has a tendency to fucking wipe the slate clean with a lifetime of deeply embedded cultural preconceptions and can lead many to madness or distress. ultimately i welcome this process but it has its dangers. the interesting thing is when these new cultural forms intermix.

there are many "nihilisms"

the pre-revolutionary russians who terrorized the tsarists with their bombs and assassinations were called "nihilists".

the theists will call you a "nihilist" if you deny the existence of a supreme being because according to them you believe in "nothing" (as if the only thing worth believing in was their god). that definition likely extends to the type of amoral sociopath db describes, but they aren't the same-- the theists just equate both ("if you don't believe in god then what stops you from being a mass murderer?") but that's an artificial setup to con you into their fool game.

i prefer the nietzschean definition of "nihilist" which roughly covers, depending on context, a) one who values some inexistent "real" world (the afterlife, whatever) over this "world of illusions" ("deniers of the flesh" and other cowards fearful of their own desires), b) one who values nothing and has nothing to live for except as an eating/shitting/fucking self-perpetuating machine. if you think about it these are two sides of the same coin, i.e., the lack of "this world" values in two different expressions. now i'm sure looking at the texts one could come up with more versions of this but i'm not writing a paper here.

It's a great book and well worth checking out.

Have you read Ray Brassier's Nihil Unbound? It's on my shelf but I've never got round to starting it.

EDIT: Thinking about it I'm not that sure it's actually about nihilism.

I read the first and last chapters, posted a link to a summary on the last page. Prepare for a tough slog with that book, lots of unnecessarily complicated writing

Yes, yes. Soon.

I subscribe, after decades of exploration and virulent anti-theism of any sort, to a mindset I call OPTIMISTIC SKEPTICISM.

As far as "meaning" is concerned, I find "meaning" to be a human construct. Humans can seek meaning in anything, and often do, from tarot cards, to coincidences, to planetary alignments. This does not mean that the meaning is inherent, or real, or valid. Humans can also find polar opposites of meaning in the same item.

Example - apples.

One person sees an apple and rejoices in the fruit that nature has crafted for our sensual enjoyment.

Another person sees an apple and thinks of the way the female of our species led us down into sin and pain and death and suffering by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, as told in Genesis.

They are both human-constructed "meanings." I do not adhere to the idea that because we each find our own "meaning" that means that none of the meanings are valid.

we each create our own Universe in our consciousness, a Universe that cannot be shared with anyone, not even those closest to you.

As far as Buddhism is concerned, I find it's aims admirable in the abstract but foolish in the practice.

Only a rich-ass spoiled, entitled weak bitch would come up with the idea that suffering is to be exterminated through the absence of desire.
Only a rich fuck who was pampered fro two decades would think this shit.

suffering is as much a part of life as joy is. To reach an absence of suffering is to reach an absence of joy as well. It is to become a lump of uncaring clay. Fuck that shit.

"We are all here to help each other get through this, whatever it is." - Kurt Vonnegut

You must note that the Buddha did not help anyone do anything except to teach tyhem to give away everything so they woul not experience desire and therefore suffering. The fucking Buddha did not even know desire until he was adult, having had every whim available to him, before he even knew he desired it. It is a crock of SHIT.

I did not get much sleep last night.....

Blah Blah woof woof Foucault meh.

I am not talking about pendulums.

The best thing about being a devout religious person, if you are a devout religious person, is that you will never know the error of your ways. Once you die, all will cease. You remember what it was like before you were born? It's like that after you die. non-existance.

the sooner we humans all realize this and accept it and start to understand that this life, this world we are in right now, is our one shot, the nicer people will be to each other. the idea that there is a "better" life after death is what has been used to subjugate billions, and position a select few non-believing con-men and a select few self-deluded fanatics at the top of the religious heap.

Rastafarians understand this, why not you suchfriends?

i didn't read the whole thing but just chiming in to say buddhism promises the end of suffering, not the end of pain.

those are two different things.

Budhists are not concerned with physical pain, but the suffering of their "souls".

Which is funny because the Buddha taught that we have no "souls" as we are all just parts of the full divine of the Universe. Huamns of course, warped Buddhism into a dogmatic religion like all other forms of organized population control.

suffering of the mind. THE MIND.

in buddhism, the self is an illusion. "soul"-- thorny semantics, best not even discussed.

also there really is no "divine" in buddhism. there is plenty fairytale shit inherited from hinduism, but when you boil it down to basics buddhism is an atheism-- or at very least perpendicular to/ unconcerned with/ theism, i.e., truck with gods or leave them alone, it doesn't matter.

What Rastafarian agrees with all that bumbaklot head you mouthing on this thread? We get it, you don't like God. Cool. Good luck with that ;)

leave me alone!!!!

lyk omg. really/ no fuggin' way? sldsafj;lkjga



I prefer lunch alone.

Not "liking" god is like saying I don't like Mithra, or leprechauns, or the Flat Earth. How can one like or dislike an imaginary construction?
What I do not like is fuckers who have unyielding certitude about their beliefs in fantasy and want to shove it down everyone's throats.

You don;t do that bro. I dig that.

I crystallized my outlook on "belief" at lunch.

Believe what you want to believe to get you through your shitty life, but don't bother me with it.

The same verdict applies to you. Your life is fine, but if your going to shit on your friends' core beliefs, don't expect them not to call you on it. I am hardly "evangelical" on this forum, I don't post a lot of threads out-right preaching, proselytizing, or evangelizing. I posts threads that share my experience with my Faith and Christian culture, it shapes my views, opinions, and values, yes, but I've never posted anything to disrespect, scoff, or insult people who aren't Christian. Meanwhile, your evangelizing your angry atheism, and it offended me, so I spoke on it. DON'T BOTHER ME WITH YOUR CHILDISH, SELF-CENTERED BITCHING AND MOANING ABOUT A GOD YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU NEVER GAVE HIM A CHANCE. Get through your shitty life without dragging me through your muck.