Nihilism

Many roads lead to nihilism, and those that do cannot avoid it as an inevitable logical conclusion of flawed ideologies.

Fundamentally, nihilism is the belief that everything is meaningless - that there is no creator, no purpose to our existence, and no rhyme or reason to the universe. Thus, nothing matters, because things without purpose logically don't matter.

I like to refer to nihilism as a nice, hot bubble bath - it's soft and cozy and comforting and allows you to just forget all your problems, because it gives reprieve from the harshness of our material reality. Nihilism is a lazy philosophy - by accepting that nothing matters, you feel no impetus to think further.

Nihilism is also a very absolutistplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigAbsolutism

“What can possibly be coming on this page?”

Don't worry, I'm not a postmodern nut who thinks everything is so relative there are no established standards and norms that matter. I believe that morals are relative in the way that the production of oil is non-static. It takes a very long time to convert carbon into hydrocarbon, and it takes a very long time for the basic morals of a civilization to shift. Forcing that shift is wrong, because it is inherently tyrannical. Forcing people … worldview - there's no nuance to its claim that nothing matters and life is meaningless. It's easy to revert to absolutist thinking, because that's how we saw the world as young children. It takes time and personal growth to recognize that black-and-white absolutes don't work well in reality, and that humans are responsible for their own individual actions and judgments.

In the always-on, highly-connected urban world, nihilism is everywhere, and it's out in the open. “Climate change” dogma insists we humans are too harmful to the planet to even continue existing. This is easily found in the “climate policies” of many nations: modern environmental policy completely ignores the basic survival of the citizens affected by the policies, going so far as to make it impossible for a nation to produce enough food for its people.

Even worse, the absurd, fearmongering rhetoric employed, such as the claim that the world is “going to burn up in twelve years,” has actually led young women to decide it's immoral to procreate. It's hard to see how life has any inherent meaning or value, when people have been convinced the most virtuous choice is to self-annihilate.

The extreme insensitivity of politicians on the subject of abortion is another good example of nihilism. Incidents in both California and Virginia exposed the abortion lobby's agenda by pushing for perinatal abortion. The term perinatal explicitly means “after the point of birth.” Abortion is no longer a matter of a “potential person”; it is direct infanticide. The demand for abortion up to the point of birth is equally nihilistic, as it's a complete denial that an unborn baby is even a living human in the first place. Life has become less than meaningless under this ideology.

These sorts of condemnations of the human species are very clearly nihilist, but they are not the sum of nihilism in modern society.

Those who evangelize and promote nihilism are either lost…or malicious. Nihilism may be an easy way out in philosophical terms, but it's also a miserable worldview, and as the saying goes, misery definitely loves company. So, many people who have already succumbed to the bubble bath of nihilism are simply trying to validate their own beliefs by persuading others to join them. Worse, many are also active in vilifying any person or organization that acts against their nihilism.

What I want to focus on is hidden nihilism - that is, nihilistic thought which doesn't appear at all nihilistic, until you start peeling away the layers.

Secular humanism refers to the philosophical viewpoint of modern, Western atheists, as well as many progressives who don't self-identify as atheist. Humanism postulates that the human species, Homo sapiens, is the pinnacle of intelligent life in the universe, and therefore our existence should be dedicated to improving our species.

The Star Trek universe is a great example of what secular humanist progressivism embraces as its ideal. Roddenberry's lore makes it clear that the human species was able to sufficiently progress to the degree that there is never war or any real ideological conflict. Instead, all humans on Earth have been successfully united under a single global government and regime (we're never told how), and the post-scarcity world offered by direct energy-to-matter replication has eradicated poverty (and all its side effects) entirely.

The trouble is, we haven't progressed at all in this manner. We still have wars. We still encounter drastic, fundamental ideological differences. The various nations on Earth are no more unified today than they were centuries ago. While some nations have managed to maintain peace with their neighbors for many decades now, we must recognize this will not always be the case. In fact, we're seeing the effects of a global regime on its helpless subjects right now in the Netherlands, where Dutch farmers are being grossly punished by a government gone rogue, more concerned with numbers on a chart about “climate change” than the ability of their citizens to remain self-sufficient and prosperous.

So what happens when your society is built on endless change, but your changes aren't actually getting you anywhere meaningful? What if all your efforts are making everything worse?

That's when things start to become meaningless, which is the basis of nihilism. Humanity's failure to progress takes away meaning from our existence, because our meaning is calculated by a dogma focused on progress as a sacred virtue. Not only that, but progress for the sake of progress is arbitrary and offers no measurable goals or markers of success. When your entire life is dedicated to tirelessly trying to reach a goal that doesn't exist, it's pretty easy to slide into that warm bubble bath of nihilism.

While self-improvement or greater social improvement aren't necessarily damaging, without principles guiding their application, both easily lead to progressivism - that if humanity isn't progressing, we're doing something wrong. This leads to progress for the sake of progress, which is all too often more regressive than progressive. For example, the militant “progress” of the trans rights movement has steamrolled all the legitimate progress women made in the 20th century toward achieving equal treatment in the eyes of the law and society in general.

Those who laud such changes view it as progress; those who are harmed view it as regress. While transwomen are setting new athletic records in collegiate and professional competitive sports, real women are being silenced and sidelined. Suddenly, what is and isn't “progress” isn't very clear-cut. We force ourselves to constantly change, under the misguided belief that stasis is always a net negative. When those changes have unintended negative consequences, those problems are frequently downplayed and minimized in the name of championing change above all else.

Under nihilism, there is no point in preserving anything, because nothing matters anyway. Combined with progressivism, you end up with a lethal cocktail of endless change, which is being doled out by bad actors who hate our societies and badly want us to self-destruct.

There is, after all, great benefit to learning how to be satisfied with what you already have. This isn't just restricted to you being happy with your material possessions and various relationships. It's also about society as a whole learning to find the happy medium, in which most members are sufficiently prosperous and stable to remain fulfilled and peaceful. That societal balance can't happen when endless change is mandatory. It also can't happen when society is entrenched in permanent stasis, which is what happens when religious orthodoxy (of any kind) supersedes critical thought and evidence-based decision-making.

Atheistic origin? What does that mean? To be straightforward, I'm referring to theories which postulate the origins of physical reality (the universe), our world (the solar system), and us (the species) as being devoid of all intent or intelligence. This includes the “big bang” theory, Darwinian evolution, and the unverifiable claims of modern evolutionary “scientists.”

Much like secular humanism, an atheistic origin suggests that our entire existence, from beginning to end, was the product of chaotic, random chance. When there is no intent to something, that is the implication: that its origins were arbitrary and irrelevant. It's difficult to ensure the masses maintain a reason for living when they're taught their origin was meaningless chaos.

In a particular mindset, these claims may seem “beautiful” or “liberating” or otherwise positive, but to the average person, they end up on the path to nihilism. The individual is responsible for determining their own worth and value, even when these things become difficult or impossible to accurately gauge within the self. If you've ever been depressed for awhile, you can see where this ideal concludes.

Philosophical and spiritual views grow from the innate human need to find meaning and fulfillment beyond the self. Whether or not you agree with my description, this need has always existed, and we can see this by looking at cultures of the past. Throughout ancient history - and no doubt into the unknowns of prehistory - humans have employed religious faith to satisfy this need. The gods of a given tribe offer meaning to existence of the tribe as a whole: their gods are the originators of their people, and revering them in the present is how gratitude is offered for the sacrifices and successes which founded their tribe. What has been far less common until the 20th century is a truly atheistic view, in which even the possibility of an intelligent creator is necessarily dismissed as fraud. By preemptively denying the possibility that our existence is intentional, atheism ensures the acceptance of nihilism.

I want to note an important aside here: belief in an intelligent designer behind our material reality does not imply belief in the Abrahamic god, Yahweh. This is a very common misconception among Americans, in my experience. I have met atheists who are very surprised to learn I am not a Christian, but also do not accept evolution and the big bang as credible origin theories. This is faith on my part, because the origin of our reality is something nobody can observe and prove. Faith is natural, so the question is what you will choose as the reason for your faith. This section expands on the creator concept, and what it means for us as both individuals and societies.

Based on both secular humanism and atheism, one might conclude that the antithesis of nihilism is Christianity, which dictates a very specific point of origin and purpose of existence for the human species. Unfortunately, in digging deeper, the Abrahamic religions - Christianity being the most dominant in the white, western world - impose a surprisingly nihilist philosophy.

In short: Christianity's premise of humanity as a problem to be solved and prescription of a remedy which leaves the individual at the mercy of the creator, unable to act of their own accord, concludes in nihilism for those who reject the remedy without rejecting the premise. Many people find themselves alienated from Christianity but still maintain a basic belief in monotheism: either god exists and doesn't care about them, or god doesn't exist. The possibility of other gods is left ignored.

Through my own journey out of Christianity, I landed on this particular brand of nihilism for several years. I knew I wasn't saved, and I knew that because I wasn't saved (in spite of all my attempts to ensure my own salvation), I was necessarily chosen by Yahweh as a target of his wrath. Life has precious little meaning when you wake up every morning under the misguided belief that the creator of the universe created you to be one of his punching bags. The very concept of humans existing to serve as the objects of their creator's wrath is nihilistic, as it leads to the assumption that those humans are necessarily worthless.

The idea of meaninglessness is emphasized in the book of Ecclesiastes in the canonical Christian bible. This book is also part of the Jewish Tanakh. It was purportedly written by King Solomon and describes the author's failed attempts to manipulate the world around him into doing his bidding. It's a pretty depressing read, because it lays out the thesis of nihilism: everything is meaningless.

The text offers an antidote to this meaninglessness through obedience to Yahweh's laws and commandments, but that antidote is only necessary because life is fundamentally meaningless. It is only because of Yahweh that life has meaning; without Yahweh, life is devoid of meaning:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.

“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”

What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?

Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever. Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 (NIV)

Christian apologists and theologians will go to great lengths to explain what this all means, but the message is really quite straightforward. The world exists without humans. Anything humans do is a flash to the greater timeline of the universe. Thus, everything we accomplish - or attempt to accomplish - is pointless. This is further emphasized by pointing out that entire civilizations have disappeared to the sands of time:

Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?

It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come

will not be remembered
by those who follow them. Ecclesiastes 1:10-11 (NIV)

It's not that these statements aren't true in practical reality. There have indeed been human civilizations lost to the sands of time; there are many civilizations we will never discover, because they are simply too old for any of their relics to remain. This text takes this concept to an extreme by bemoaning the idea that every society will eventually disappear forever. It also affirms the vanity of remembering those who preceded us and keeping their memories alive, because eventually they'll be forgotten.

This all sits firmly on a foundation of nihilistic thought: the idea that our physical existence lacks any meaning at all. Not only that, but it uses the exact same arguments atheists use when discussing the meaning of our existence.

The only available antidote is through obedience to Yahweh. What does that mean for those of us who are not obedient to Yahweh? The artificial dichotomy demands that we accept our lives are meaningless. There is no alternative: either you are obedient to Yahweh and cure the innate meaninglessness of your life, or your life will remain meaningless in perpetuity.

Many Christians downplay the contents of the canonical old testament, viewing it as a historical record for context and nothing more. That is no problem in this discussion: there is plenty of evidence of Abrahamism's (and therefore Christianity's) nihilism found in the canonical new testament.

In Romans chapter 3, Saul of Tarsus invokes Jewish scripture - both Ecclesiastes and Psalms - to reiterate the meaninglessness of life:

There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one. Romans 3:10-12 (NIV)

Saul's conclusion is the same as Solomon's - it is only by the mercy of Yahweh that our life has any value or meaning at all. By Saul's assessment, every human on Earth, past, present, and future, has to choose between two options: meaninglessness or meaning through obedience to (and by the mercy of) Yahweh.

This truth is viewed as absolute and applicable to everyone, as shown here:

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

Romans 3:23 (NIV)

The author further clarifies the fate of humans - that some will be selected to glorify Yahweh, and others will be selected to suffer his wrath:

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?

Romans 9:22-23

Throughout the book of Romans, the author consistently reiterates the universal and absolute nature of Christian orthodoxy, which ensures all humans - irrespective of individual character or behavior - are eternally damned…unless they submit to the total and absolute authority of Yahweh and obtain salvation through his son, Jesus.

To a Christian, all of these things are positive: promises of rewards for Christian faithfulness and obedience. But to a non-Christian, these are all more like threats. The scripture puts forth a reality in which those who are assuredly not saved have no means of changing their destiny. Talk about nihilism!

If you are simply fundamentally incompatible with Christianity, the religion's claim to universal, eternal, unchanging, absolute truth leaves you with no options.

What, then, can we look to for meaning in our lives? If both atheism and Abrahamism are essentially nihilistic, what alternatives, if any, are out there?

It's easy to rationalize your way into nihilism, unless you deliberately choose to adopt the concept that our physical existence is the product of creative intelligence, and thus intentional and innately valuable. If this sounds like a bit of faith, it is! As we discussed earlier on the subject of atheistic origin theories, humans possess an innate, hardwired predisposition toward faith - that is, acceptance of and belief in unknowns that are unverifiable and unfalsifiable. So it's not a matter of losing all faith in the unknown; it's a matter of choosing what is deserving of your faith.

Nihilism leads to terrible real-world destruction. It justifies the dehumanization of groups of people, which has long been the impetus for things like slavery, abortion, and genocide. Nihilism erodes and degrades interpersonal human connection by keeping the mind and soul in a perpetual state of despair and isolation. It encourages self-annihilation, which makes it completely antithetical to the idea that it's not immoral to survive.

So what's all this “created” and “intent” stuff about, then?

As I noted earlier, the concept of an intelligent creator is not exclusive to Abrahamism. While in the white world, we've spent the last 1200-2000 years operating under the belief that the creator is necessarily the biblical creator, Yahweh, this is merely a dogmatic belief, not a statement of absolute fact. In the millennia preceding Christianization, White peoples throughout Europe recognized both a supernatural creator deity (colloquially referred to as the “All-Maker” in northwest European folk traditions), and the gods and goddesses each tribe revered as their founders. The idea of a creator and creation was not new to our ancestors when the Roman religion was brought to their nations.

Until the rise of 20th century atheism, the notion of a creator entity had been nearly globally universal for millennia. Otherwise entirely disparate cultures have shared at least one common thread: the belief that their people were created intentionally, and that the world itself was created intentionally.

There is vast order in the universe. Mathematical principles we take for granted today, the foundations of trigonometry and calculus, exist naturally in our material reality. Ancient Greeks, including Pythagoras and Euclid, were not inventing mathematics; they were discovering math in nature. All scientific discovery rests on the order of the universe: without order, there would be no consistency or recognizable patterns which allow us to form conclusions about the world around us.

Given the order in the universe, where did that order come from? The “big bang” theory of the universe's creation is one of chaotic energy, not intentional order. Does such chaos create order on its own? By our own understanding and observations of the universe, I believe it's reasonable to conclude that no, chaos does not beget order. Order is the product of intent and deliberate action. Thus, the observable, mathematical order of the universe suggests an intentional creative origin.

I have no doubt anywhere in my mind or soul that the universe was created by someone, but I would never attempt to describe the creator of the universe. Whatever intelligence created our material reality is so far beyond our comprehension, any attempt to frame that creator in a human way is impossibly limited and therefore invalid.

I also have no doubt that the origin of my ancestors was equally intentional and creative. Evolution teaches we evolved from animals, and it suggests we will continue evolving into more superior life forms in the future. Instead, consider the idea that we were created as intelligent beings.

That means someone wants us to thrive. Rather than accept Abrahamism's claims about your creator, that you were put on Earth to appease and entertain your creator, consider the possibility that your creator put you on Earth to survive, thrive, prosper, and preserve your people's way-of-life…which itself is a reflection of your people's creator.

In comparing the radically different cultures found around the world, it seems pretty plausible to me that various ancient human tribes originated from different creators. This concept also upholds the idea that every nation of people on Earth was intentionally created distinct and separate from the others.

The end conclusion of this polytheistic view is much less deterministic than Abrahamism's monotheism. In polytheism, every sovereign nation of people may preserve its own gods and spiritual traditions, as these are most assuredly a deep part of any human society. Because there are multiple gods coexisting in the spiritual plane, the absolute edicts of Yahweh are functionally invalid. Yahweh has no real authority over any other god; his authority is only observed by his human followers.

Every nation has an equal right to exist, because every nation was created and therefore intentional. Likewise, every person has a right to their own life, because they were created and therefore intentional. It doesn't matter if these nations and individuals don't agree to all worship the same god. We weren't created to conform to a single, unchanging worldview - if we were, achieving such unity would be a trivial matter, because it would be natural.

In our limited capacity as humans, we cannot possibly play the role of the gods. It isn't within our authority to determine which nations - or which people - have a right to exist. The intentional nature of our existence is what gives us the right to exist.

There is a lesson hidden in the nihilism of Ecclesiastes: the longevity of your people depends on your commitment to play an active role in preserving your people and your people's way of life. Other societies will not remember yours; they will only preserve themselves. If the creation of your people was intentional, it goes to follow that your people are worth preserving and protecting. The best way you can show gratitude to your creator is to take part in preserving the creation - you and your nation.

This is an ideal that is rapidly reawakening across the world - and not just among white nations, either. Nations of people - real people, whose existence is intentional - are finally realizing that we are only harming ourselves and our posterity by attempting to conform to universal, global ideologies.

It's very easy to slide into the warm bubble bath of nihilism when your society has been forced into a meaningless existence. Communities in the white world have been badly damaged. Many adults today live completely isolated lives, perpetually lacking the deep relationships and partnerships to sustain the natural human need for social interaction and love. It takes hard effort to change such a reality - it means taking risks, and even radically changing the way you see the world and those around you. It's an effort that is well worth the rewards, however. Making real, lasting connections with other people is one of the most meaningful things you can do in your life, and every person who is a part of your life will be indelibly impacted by you.

The best place to start is in your own self-education. Start investigating the beliefs, practices, traditions, and societies which form your own ancestral heritage. The Roman Empire collected a number of historical records and ethnographies about the tribes inhabiting northwestern Europe and the British Isles, and these texts are very illuminating. I recommend starting with Germania, which describes the numerous Germanic tribes living across Europe at the beginning of the Common Era. One of the most important lessons in Germania is that our own pre-Christian ancestors were good and righteous people, and they had a way of life worth preserving - a way of life that has been preserved through the generations, in spite of Christianity's attempt to unite (and thus globalize) Europe under a single orthodoxy.

“Traditional” lifestyles don't require any religious orthodoxy. Traditions should be perpetuated because they are beneficial to the survival and stability of the community (and the nation as a whole). It's not necessarily moral or immoral for a tradition to change - or even disappear entirely. Instead, it's worth taking the time to understand the nature and purpose of tradition - not with the intent to overturn traditional practices, but with the intent of better understanding ourselves and our people.

Arbitrary tradition and ritual - things that are proscribed for no other reason than because someone said so - exposes the self to shifting toward nihilistic thought. Humans aren't designed to behave arbitrarily, or to submit to arbitrary demands. We are much more inclined to preserve traditions that we collectively recognize as beneficial to our distinct nation of people.

That last part is important. If we accept the premise that our existence as a people is intentional and the product of a creative force, we are obliged to preserve our people as a distinct nation, as we were created to be. Look at how tradition affects and shapes the entire nation over time, so you can better understand the why behind the traditions you preserve.

Families are stronger than individuals. The concept of “united we stand, divided we fall” applies to the individual as well as the community and larger nation. Isolation leads to measurable psychological damage, which is why it remains a very popular form of psychological torture through solitary confinement for both incarcerated criminals and prisoners of ideology (including war).

If you're of the right age to be building a family - in your mid twenties - then it's time to make a commitment to either start a family of your own or take meaningful action to remain active and engaged in your local community. I don't subscribe to the “just make babies” ideal, because I realize there are people who have never wanted kids at all, and they shouldn't be pressured into parenthood to satisfy others' expectations. Childless members of our society still have a lot to offer, and it's not right to marginalize or disrespect them for their decision.

It's important to make the decision to start a family early enough that biology is working in your favor, you have the energy to actively raise kids, and haven't invested so much in other things that you find it difficult to make sacrifices. One of the greatest accomplishments in your life will be how you ensure your people and your way of life is preserved for future generations, and having a family of your own is the most effective, direct means of doing so.

Life isn't meaningless. Choosing to adopt the belief that it is will lead you down a dark path of self-destruction and nihilism, and you were not gifted with free will and intelligence so that you can send yourself down a spiral that ends in black nothingness. Your existence matters because you exist. Your task on this Earth is not to chase unattainable goals or obsess endlessly over whether or not you're “good enough.” You are here to live, to survive, to thrive, and to persist against all attempts to erase you from the annals of history. Don't allow Ecclesiastes to become a prophecy. Be part of the persistence of your people, so that you aren't forgotten and erased.