Posted by kendricks on January 16, 2001 at 00:25:46:
In Reply to: Re: Nihilism: A Way of Life posted by HornyMike on January 15, 2001 at 23:28:48:
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One small area of disagreement: Nihilism does not preclude helping others that you feel sympathy or empathy for, or even just helping others fight a common enemy. It just means that all is pointless in the end. For example, you may play a game of chess, football, etc., knowing that nothing is really at stake, and the outcome will not change your life at all, yet still play to win. Likewise, a person with a nihilistic outlook may still help or fight others, just because he enjoys doing so, or favors a certain cause - even though he knows (or at least believes) that all is futile and pointless in the end. As for trying out belief systems and outlooks, I have tried out a number of them, yet always seem to reach the inescapable conclusion that there is no inherent meaning in anything. For example, I know people who say that their belief in a god gives their life meaning. But if all we were, as they claim, created by an all powerful, omniscient god, then he would already know how are lives would end, and could have created us differently if he wanted a different outcome. Thus, free will would be an illusion, and we would simply be acting out a script we are powerless to change. So, I simply see belief in afterlives as a sedative, and a way to keep the masses from demanding justice or redress in this lifetime. For example, if a poor hindu believes in the caste system, the rich do not need to exert any effort to control him, as he will be controlled and "kept in his place" by his own mind. Although western religions may be slightly more subtle, they ultimately serve the same purpose. Just my two pesos, of course. I don't claim any knowledge of reality that is inaccessable to anyone else, I just became disillusioned with the glaring fallacies in the religion I was indocrinated into long ago, and have spent a lot of time thinking about this shit since then . . . . In the end, most people are simply going to believe whatever they need to believe to get themselves through the day. To get back on the topic of this board, I have actually had some interesting conversations on this subject with chicas (few and far between, of course!) Is there anything stranger than discussing nihilism and existentialism in La Zona Roja over a few tecates with a chica you just met, and are about to screw? Orale carnal, kendricks
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