r/nihilism Jul 15 '22

Important! Reminder: Encouraging suicide is still against The Rules™

Post image
1.5k Upvotes

r/nihilism 8h ago

Existential Nihilism I'm developing a nihilistic outlook on life and hate it

14 Upvotes

I am not alone, but what else can I do? Everything I obsess over is out of my control, yet it dictates how I live my life. I am not even 100% convinced of atheistic materialism, but I might as well just suck it up and hop on that boat right now.

The world is dangerous today than it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago and even 30 years ago. The world is currently entering WW3 and not one person cares. We all thought covid was terrible with toilet paper, now imagine that amplified by 500 times, with oil shortages and people killing each other over junk food at Costco.

What's tragic is that it's all by design. China will surpass the United States in every category within the next decade. I am not saying this as someone who cares about America being number one, but expressing that we're entering a multipolar world, the global economy will be fractured, meaning life will fundamentally get more expensive. Why have children? We're already having a birth rate decline, the era of AI and automation will make the situation even worse.

Where else can we turn to? Humans stopped talking about the meaning of life, we're too distracted to even entertain the idea in our brains. Nostalgia has become my drug, I just imagine a time when life was simpler, and I shouldn't need to fall back on my childhood to calm down.


r/nihilism 5h ago

The solution to being a bit less depressdd

1 Upvotes

Kinds forgot how much I enjoy art and have been drawing pretty consistently for 7 years now but senior year of high school was so fucking hard I was just depressed, working or doing house chores since all that matters are the visual appearance of everything of course.

Masturbating and smoking weed is awesome too but there's always guilt with shit that's like seen as shameful

My fucking laptop is broken and I can't play any games I hatr being s phone screenager😭😭

What are some things u guys typically enjoy. Top 3 ?


r/nihilism 6h ago

Existential Nihilism A realistic definition of nihlism, using my life as an example

2 Upvotes

I suppose human nature is complex. In my case, I fell into nihilism because, quite simply, my life became so boring, I had no personality whatsoever, and I had nothing to do, so I fell into depression, and from there I chose nihilism. I guess it's sad, and I suppose I won't be able to take much more of this.


r/nihilism 23h ago

Pessimistic Nihilism People are annoying

41 Upvotes

Human beings are disgusting creatures. Every single one of them is just a sperm; you hug them, kiss them, shake their hands, and share your food with them. You fall in love with a man's sperm, but if you somehow came into contact with pure, raw sperm, you'd feel fucking nauseous. You only love it because it changed its form. Plus, there's no such thing as mom and dad. Just two foreign sperms that forced you into this world and force you to call them mom and dad. Family is actually just a norm that exists to define a group of people, and names are just norms used to separate people from one another. There is no such thing as society, there never was


r/nihilism 1d ago

Life is a disease with no cure that's why we die in the end.

179 Upvotes

We call diseases "fatal" because they end life. But if life always ends in death, isn't life itself the most fatal condition of all?


r/nihilism 14h ago

Discussion Live is meaningless... or is it?

1 Upvotes

If the universe is meaningless, why do shared cultural meanings have such profound real-world consequences?

For example, having a child together doesn't automatically grant the legal status and privileges that marriage does, even though the biological bond already exists. This can be devestating.

At least being born out of wedlock isn't quite as bad today as it was some generations ago.


r/nihilism 5h ago

Money system is so unfortunate

0 Upvotes

Nice brutality we got here.

Force this unnaturally after that.

What will you do? For a dollar bill. Backstab your neighbor for the greed of profits and you're "business savy"

Also simultaneously a scumbag but in the brutal money world that is passed as more than okay! Congratulations! You screwed over your neighbor who you then greet with a smile . Who is the psychopath again?

this world is a creative act. it is a story. what a gifted blessing to watch the story unfold on its own. okay but also to participate and its hard to participate and watch idk where do i exit?


r/nihilism 22h ago

Question Why do I enjoy when I am bedridden and sick?

11 Upvotes

maybe it’s because of my lack of responsibility staying in bed just feels good even with the downsides can’t focus on anxiety because my head hurts and no more worrying about my plans


r/nihilism 16h ago

Does intelligence equal pain and the numbing for that pain?

2 Upvotes

Intelligence makes you understand and realize more of what's going on around you. You either recognize and think about things in your day to day life and you either ignore the questions of "what ifs" and the constant realization of mortality, or you go and numb and want to go braindead,whether that be drugs or alcohol. The reason that people get an addiction to drugs is cause it feels good and if you've felt pain and anguish from the curse of intelligence then the blank and empty from drugs and alcohol feels better than if you werent intelligent.Drugs feel better because of the lower base line happiness.So that influx of happiness from the drugs feels better, and you crave the drugs for the calm. Do you think that my thoughts process makes sence?


r/nihilism 5h ago

Discussion The paradox of nihilism

0 Upvotes

Nihilism is defined as a philosophical branch which rejects the existence of any objectively meaningful purpose, moral value, truth, or knowledge. It is then, a cause for one to forfeit entirely to meaninglessness and stop all action whatsoever. In this case, the true nihilist is a catatonic patient; one who refuses to interact with the world, in a state of passivity. A philosopher or a writer cannot be a true nihilist. They are writing and thus contributing to the creation of meaning and human classification of what exists. Action itself affirms meaning. Here I argue that action does imply meaning, that we possess instincts and the means to act but choosing to do so is something that affirms the body's purpose or meaning. We eat to avoid hunger. Sleep to avoid fatigue. We are consciously acting to prevent or sate things. Therefore these are goals, and if goals lacked meaning, they would go unfulfilled. Or is this just a specific branch of nihilism that I am mentioning here?


r/nihilism 1d ago

Anyone just tired?

71 Upvotes

I’m tired of the pointlessness of it all I have all these goals but whenever I’m close enough I fall down the mountain again its so tiring to exist


r/nihilism 20h ago

Discussion What are your opinions on near death experiences?

4 Upvotes

I’ve seen some videos on YouTube about it. In one of the videos, there was a doctor that claimed NDE’s are real because one of his patients that was thought dead and claimed to have an NDE described every movement in the room perfectly and that it was impossible for him to know what happened inside the room unless NDE’s are something ore than brain hallucinations. His statements made me curious wondering if they’re real and why are there so many different versions of NDE’s? Did anyone here experience it or happen to know someone that did? What are you guys opinions?


r/nihilism 1d ago

If I think therefore I am, is the meaning of life I have no personality and I must larp from the hit book AM.

Thumbnail
5 Upvotes

r/nihilism 1d ago

Discussion Nihilist characters in culture

13 Upvotes

What are the best personifications of nihilism in movies / tv shows / anime / books . The obvious one would be Johan but I think there are many other like Vicious from cowboy bebop or Judge Holden


r/nihilism 1d ago

Discovering the abyss. Acrylic on canvas

Post image
25 Upvotes

r/nihilism 2d ago

Rant - You can be a nihilist AND depressed.

113 Upvotes

Writing this after the 1000000th "you are not a nihilist, you are just depressed" post.

If you are genuinely happy with your life and your happiness has no meaning, that's not a reason to be depressed. You are happy, after all.

If you are NOT happy with your life, you are constantly miserable and that misery has no meaning, that is ABSOLUTELY a reason to be depressed.

And the fact that it's meaningless absolutely CAN make you even more miserable and less willing to go through it.

Stop invalidating depressed nihilists just because you are happy with your life.

And quit acting like there's no correlation between nihilism and depression.

The two things are very connected.

The suffering we experience is one major reason why "meaning" is such a big deal to humans in the first place.

There's no such thing as a "correct" way to experience nihilism.

Nihilism says there is no objective meaning to anything, period.

Where you go from there is entirely up to you.

If you are happy with your life, you don't suffer a lot, don't care about meaning, and you actually find the absence of meaning liberating, that's FANTASTIC. Good for you. There's nothing wrong with that.

If you go through some suffering, but you are still able to live a fulfilling life despite the absence of objective meaning, because there are things in your life that give YOU purpose and that YOU genuinely care about, that's good. You are also doing nothing wrong.

If someone feels constantly miserable and the absence of meaning makes them feel even worse, because they have genuinely nothing in their life to hold onto (or, if they have something, it's not enough to outweigh their suffering), they are doing nothing wrong, and depression is a perfectly rational response.

Yes, suicidal ideation can logically follow from constant misery and absence of meaning (both objective AND subjective).

- No, being suicidal doesn't automatically make someone wrong.

- No, depression is not exclusive to edgy teenagers who just broke up with their girlfriend.

- No, Camus' works are NOT objective and infallible manuals for coping with suffering and defeating existential dread.

And neither are Schopenhauer, Nietzsche or Sartre's works.

Just because Camus cared about rebelling against a non-conscious and silent universe that doesn't even know you exist and couldn't care less about you and your rebellion, that doesn't mean everyone has to care about it.

Just because Camus thought that giving up is a bad thing, it doesn't mean everyone has to think the same.

Just because Schopenhauer cared about art, and art was enough for him to be able to get through life, that doesn't mean it will be enough for everyone.

If you think those things have intrinsic value regardless of what the individual cares about, then you are not a nihilist.

- No, therapy can't magically give you meaning if you can't see none.

Therapists are not philosophers, and even if they were, that doesn't necessarily mean their outlook on life is correct, nor that their specific therapy approach will make you more willing to go through meaningless suffering or somehow convince you that it's the right thing to do.

- No, pills (and psychiatry in general) can't do that either (in fact they can even make your situation worse in some cases, but I digress).

- Someone may have already tried ALL these things before talking to you, to no avail.

Yes, that's a thing. It happens more often than you'd think.

Try to think of that possibility before judging.


r/nihilism 2d ago

I believe when in pain that's when we get a glimpse of self control:

Post image
19 Upvotes

I have been gyming lately I know it's useless or rather selfish (considering the fact I know it doesn't matter )

But in between sets when I'm Resisting the weight I usually choose when to quit or rather (I think that I do choose)

I know there's no such thing as free will

But in that moment and that 2 minutes rest that tells me to go back I think it's not the brain in function but rather (consciousness/self awareness)


r/nihilism 1d ago

Discussion Meaning is a distraction from lack of meaning.

13 Upvotes

I thought of this (title) because of this quote:

“When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”

― Viktor E. Frankl

Basically, everything is a distraction from something else, so just be yourself as long as yourself isn't an ignorant & entitled piece of shit imo.


r/nihilism 1d ago

The walls

0 Upvotes

I'm a pretty happy person, but this message I'm about to give could lead to nihilism, so I've sat on this observation for a while now. However, after reading this sub for a while, I've realised that this might not be inevitable.

I see the walls of this reality's prison. They adjust in response to our mental world.

Have you noticed the degradation of art and music?

Classic Rock → Progressive Rock → Punk Rock → New Wave → Old School Hip-Hop → Gangsta Rap → Mumble Rap, Classical → Romantic → Impressionist → Expressionist → Dada → Pop Art → Postmodern

Have you noticed that as technology progresses, there's always a downside following along with a delay. That delay correlates to how well we understand it. I believe that is the mind adjusting. It's slow, but it gets there in the end.

Our mental processes appear to destroy good things. Social media was fine in the very beginning, but over time the mind adapts and we just atrophy. It becomes negative.

Why is parenting so counter-intuitive? That is not normal. It is no progression.

Why are things in some sense much the same price as in roman times? There is no progression.

In fact, is it really normal as to how our muscles break down if we don't use them. Why is that normal evolution? What is the advantage in that? To save energy, yes: but what I'm pointing out is a bigger pattern.

We learn to read and write, our memory gets weaker. We learn to use AI, our brains get weaker. Is this normal?

Or is this the walls of our prison we are seeing in real-time? Is this really normal?

The dark side, which I think some have realised, is that this same effect can even work in reverse, but only if we truly see the event as negative. The thing doing the enforcement is ourselves. When a country is destroyed, we see it as an investment opportunity. Things grow to revert back to the mean.

As population grows, food quality declines.

There is a self balancing effect in this world. Is it a computation saving method for foveted rendering? Possibly, but this is not based on what we can perceive, but closer to how positive or negative our viewpoint of things is.

This observation seems to be really strong and one of those things where once you see it, it's hard to unsee.

Related ideas could be ying/yang, prison planet / archons etc, simulation theory etc.


r/nihilism 3d ago

Why do men insist on achieving something? Would it not be better if they stood still under the sun in calm and silent immobility? What is there to accomplish?

Post image
828 Upvotes

r/nihilism 1d ago

Question I have a theory guys

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/nihilism 1d ago

En Garde!

Post image
0 Upvotes

I'm an avid Gnostic Christian, and the existence of this subreddit and the emotional state of the folks therein hurt my heart.

God exists! And through raw logic/history/archeology I challenge all of ye to convince me otherwise. Crucify me with hard questions and open contradictions. I fear not thy downvote! I hope you'll only respect my fair play, if you insult my silly appearance, I'll see only the waving of an intellectual white flag.

Why doesn't God exist?


r/nihilism 2d ago

The lie on the roof

Post image
0 Upvotes

I lay to rest the tins of lager on the frigid lattice, arrogantly certain that they won't topple to the wet scrub adown. But dubious towards her cold fingers on my visage. The deciet I summoned when cicadas sung to her relief atop the stone brick gable, enervated my resolve. All I witnessed in her eyes was the slippery trust. The weight of it all was meaningless for so long as I could say if granted for only one more day, the scent of her hair belongs to my lost horizon.

《You're dumb you know?》she said with fury at my qualm. 《I drank.》I replied dismissing her forbearance. She was taken a back for she has told me to stop the quaff. 《You ruined it, I wanted to talk to the real you.》she remarked. 《The real me?》I giggled alongside the ticklish chilly air. 《Get inside your room, it's extremely cold.》she worried. 《For me, alcohol is the real test for how much one knows oneself. 》noticing the numbness of my fingers, and the drunken haze the cars below have borrowed. 《I hate it when you do this to yourself. 》her voice rose. 《And it's because of me ? You think I love someone else !》she continued. The euphoria monkey started climbing to my nerves. 《To be frankly honest with you, I don't care about who you love, having soft blood for someone makes you live in illusions.》 Which out of the inebriety I do truly believe. The latter snapped me out of my role, 《I have a dream, and it's what truly arouses my soul.》The me of now said to her. 《What is your dream ?》she said tired of my exhortation. 《It's fantasy for some, absurd for some, but a target for me.》as the first rain drop won the race, moving my wheelchair felt like sailing a boat, I was drunk, my voice betrayed me. She knew. The murky sky danced in the heavens, for a brief interval the cold and entering ambulances took me to float with the fragrance of wet humid pines and sneaky reeds.

《Do you love me?》she blurted leveraging upon my intoxication.

《Yes.》 I briefly replied. 《So stop your comedy for I am here with you always and forever. 》

The lattice is Luke warm, the cicadas sing again.


r/nihilism 3d ago

Discussion I am alive but dead inside

29 Upvotes

I am 18M and i have died from inside. Emotionally i am numb i am a severe porn addict to the point i jerked off 6 times a day multiple times throughout the month i cant remember a day from the past 3 years where i dont jerk off .
My dick doesnt even get hard and i dont feel anything forgot feeling good i feel nothing even during or after orgasm.
I have been watching porn since i was 11 it has killed me most i have ever gotten without it is 17 days.i am a loser who has given up on everything(goals,dreams,aspirations and life itself)

I am super ambitious to the point that i have gone fucking insane i am a slave to maladaptive daydreaming where i blast music in my ears for hours on end every single day wasting precious time and pretend i am everything i have ever wanted to be and what it would feel like in those imaginary scenerios.

Yesterday i crashed my fathers new car that he got such that i could go to college but the damage i caused wasnt to our car it destroyed the rim of the other persons car. Somewhere deep inside i wanted to crash just to feel something.
I hated my school life as it took 8 hours a day 5 days a week every week for 13 years last 4 years were brutal teachers wasting our time for useless things that will never be any of use in my life now i am being forced to college which i never wanted to go but i dont have any choice as my life is in my parents hands as i am not capable enough to handle it on my own.

Social media and these young startup founders billionaires and multi millionaire make me feel like i have wasted my life because no one can ever see what were the bad times or good times of my life or the fun i had the world only bows down to achievements they ask you what you do to see how much to respect you they ask you how much money you make to define your self worth and whatnot.

As far as i can go back in my life there has never been a day in my 18 years of existence where i havent thought about my dreams.its all i ever think about.

Lately since i have given up on everything i am trying to enjoy being a loser but it only brings me more misery and never ending pain.i have kind of developed a philiosophical belief similar to nihilism.
Why try to be anything?why should i go out of my comfort zone for things that i know will bring meaning to my life? Why do anything at all? What is wrong with being in the same miserable place your whole entire worthless life? Why become extraordinary? People teach on how to become successful but why should you even try to succeed?

Writing this i feel like i am someone who is postponing his life through what ifs and when i become
i am a loser who came to reddit such that i can have some magical things said to me by a stranger which may help in changing my life but i am the only one who is responsible for my own worthless life and who can change it but people talk about growth i say why grow at all?
I just want never ending experiences and constantly doing something and being somewhere so i dont waste precious time and i also deeply want love money freedom power joy and i want to spread happiness but i dont know who i am.

When i feel i have wasted a lot of precious time i worry about it and then continue to waste more time in a never-ending cycle of Time wastage.

In several points of time throughout my life, I have tried not fully but tried multiple times to achieve freedom from everything and everyone through the pursuit of earning money but I have found failing and failing some more when I was 12.
I started a YouTube channel to make money, but I gave upon it. When I was 13, I started a business on etsy of digital art but that failed too then at 14, I thought why not try to live this life like the other children are living, so I immersed myself in games and trying to have fun with other children at school but I found myself to be completely miserable most of the time.
My own dreams and aspirations make me miserable and leave me restless and unable to have fun because i always feel i am not where i deserve to be imagine thinking that way even when your out with your friends or family. About 1 year ago i tried selling travis scott concerts tickets to become rich by dming hundreds of people but they all thought i was a scam so there i failed as well.

About 10 months ago when was father was in a financial crisis i made him buy me a very expensive laptop (macbook) with the promise i will start making money the plan that I had was to make and sell digital websites with the help of AI and my own skills, but to do that the way customers wanted I need to buy subscription of the AI for which I had no money, and I could not ask my parents for anymore as they felt like i scammed them at their worst time so what did I do instead of calling thousand more people i gave up on it i tried learning trading i did demo trading made 10000 dollars of fake money but now due to my existential crisis i gave up on it aswell.

Cherry on top you know how i felt about school so i literally told everyone around me because these motherfuckers always want to know what you are doing or going to do in your life even when you don’t have an answer. I told them I am going to take a gap year so all of those around me started asking me what I was going to do, and I made up bullshit
That I was going to use AI somehow to start making money and build my business but four months have gone by, and I since I didn’t make any progress and didn’t give any college entrance exams. Now due to family pressure i am being forced to go to a college and guess where it is
RIGHT BESIDE MY OLD FUCKING WORTHLESS SCHOOL WHICH WAS A SYMBOL HOW MUCH PRECIOUS TIME OF MY PRECIOUS LIFE WAS WASTED BY MOTHERFUCKS OF THE SYSTEM WHO WANT TO KEEP US ALL SLAVES OUR ENTIRE LIVES AND NEVER WAKE UP.

Working out from the past 1 year changed my life and mental state otherwise i would have jumped from a building long time ago.its the only thing that makes me feel good in my now worthless little life.

I have never posted pictures or stories of myself on social media because even when i do i feel like they are a complete waste of time so when I see pictures of other people my age, having fun almost everyday it makes me feel miserable and unable to live with myself that car crash made me feel alive after long time

My biggest enemy is none other than me myself.i am someone who wants everything but does nothing i am hopeless aimless and without purpose or meaning

I don’t expect anybody to read this because I am not somebody or anybody who deserves your precious time and support because right now at this moment in my life i am a loser but remember, I don’t intend on staying this way the rest of my life.