This was an interaction from the Forever Dirt discord server which I made and run for the internet personality. It began with me posting a screenshot I took showing that the nihilist thinker André Cancian of whose writings I'm an admirer of, had followed me on Instagram. Asked who it was I explained and uploaded a picture of his 2018 book, neatly named Nihilism for simplicity sake.
CCarle: Oooo this is absolutely a must read for me. I’m sure much of will be a retread of what I already hold concerning ontology and metaphysics and the question of “free will” (doesn’t exist), the base and wretched condition of humanity and other such fundamental existential questions but still, I’m always intrigued and pleased by new and updated literature defending and describing the nihilist tendency in novel ways.
Me: I recommend it. It doesn't deny its negative posit but as much does breath an interesting air into the topic where, as an example, "our consciousness [is] as if it were a 'movie being displayed within our brains,' rather than existence itself,'" and radical skepticism which is similar to my own posture of Neurotic Nihilism, which comes about in certain states of depression or mindfuck. As he would put that though, "this explains why, during depressive phases, nihilism seems to us a viscerally coherent view, with which we can identify ourselves both intellectually and emotionally."
CCarle: That visceral coherence in depressive phases you describe as neurotic nihilism is very real and I feel you on it. I experience it myself, but didn’t have a name for it. Fascinating, now I understand. What neurotic nihilism is then, from my perspective, is when you’re experiencing reality without the mechanisms that normally mediate it. The distinction between the thought “there is no transcendent meaning” and the thought “therefore nothing matters and I cannot move” blurs and collapses. Everything becomes permeable to the void when one is in that mind space. It is what happens when the foundation becomes unmoored from any structure capable of holding it. The intellectual position metastasises.
This where I take up Philosophical Pessimism as the structure that I build on top of the foundation of Nihilism. Both intellectual traditions work in tandem. Refusing illusions and human constructs requires active management. That active management I say comes in the form of several concepts that were outlined by that Norwegian thinker I shared recently shared (Peter Wessel Zapffe).
These are as follows: Distraction, Isolation (or psychological insulation) , Sublimation and Anchoring. It’s the deliberate psychological work required to inhabit a true nihilistic foundation without being consumed by it.
Me: I find American Psycho an excellent depiction of this-
CCarle: The visceral coherence that one experiences in Neurotic nihilism is thus for me is not just a confirmation of the conclusions of nihilism but also a test of sorts. It tests whether or not you can actually live it or whether you will let it unmake you. Most people fail and fall back into false illusions and try to make meaning. That or they get swallowed and bite the bullet either directed at one self or others
Me: Sort of like how Nietzsche (though his whole schtick was an attempted combat against Nihilism's encroachment, largely) said, "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." though what can really be only heard fully, when, as Gerard Way sang, "that you only hear the music when your heart begins to break." An excellent example in reality of this would be Oppenheimer.
No comments:
Post a Comment