Nihilism and the pursuit of happiness

Just about everywhere you turn, nihilism is viewed as depressing. And I can completely understand why. Coining phrases such as “God is dead; and we have killed him, and he will remain dead.” It is fairly easy to see the dark of all of it. However, if all you look for is darkness, then that is all you will see. But we are not here for the dark of nihilism, we are here to find its balance.

And the pursuit of happiness has a similar problem. For you see, hunting something that brings extreme joy or happiness is like a high; not just emotionally, but even chemically and biologically in your brain. The lift lasts for a short time, then fades, and you go out and try and try to find the same level of euphoria you felt before. This is identical to the chase of hard drugs. They too give rush of euphoria, and please then slowly fade, till you need to do more. However, I don't think this was supposed to be the true path of happiness either.

The largest problem is that when you look at them side by side, at first the pursuit of happiness seems more preferable, till you look at the ups and downs it provides; then it almost seems better to be one constant state of down. But this is a poor way to live. No, there are ways to look and see things that can make both better than the existential nightmares these become.

Now fundamentally seeking humbleness in nihilism and a more controlled form of the pursuit could lead to an extremely fulfilling life.

Nihilism is simply summarized as the belief that life is pointless, there is no higher power, and everything just ends at death. That there is no meaning in our actions, choices, and beliefs; other than what we choose to give it. But that is right there, what we choose to give it. The chaos that happens in life; for example, losing your job, getting sick, loved ones passing one, etc. These incoherent things with no attachment are anymore than random chaos that occurs, have no meaning or purpose. It just the machinations of the universe flowing ever forward. But this chaos This madness that seems to function as the foundation of the universe and life, it in and of itself, is true freedom in the purest form. It does not operate by rules or logic. But through this chaos, we can find the factors that will bring order into our life. That order is found in our acceptance of everything outside our direct control. No, this does not mean controlling others; they fall into the outside our control territory, because they are them and you are you. The stress, strain, and pain of worrying about things we cannot control limits the expanse of our minds. That limitation can even bring a screeching halt to the things we would normally enjoy; whatever that may be per the individual. So if you can accept things that you cannot control as that reality and worry far less about it, you can begin a much easier path on your own pursuit of happiness.

Now I criticized the pursuit of happiness earlier, but there is a way to go forward in one regard that won't leave everything feeling hollow and empty. That is simply choosing to do things that you can just lose yourself in, even if that isn't something that is overly joyous. It is choosing things that can bring a sense of contentment more frequently, so you can bring up a base line that is not very low. So if your big rush pursuit is rock climbing a mountain without a support line, perhaps your content task may be simply taking a nature hike, and those difficulties can even fluctuate up and down based on things such as mood, fatigue levels, stress, region, and the list goes on. But this sets up your low to be a higher point than the pursuit of happiness normally allows. But those baselines of contentment can be found once you accept the chaos of the universe for what it is. Once you set your baselines, finding joy becomes a far easier task. Because joy is found in taking what you know as content or regular, and seeing how far you can go with it. This path could even lead to growth in your quality of life. Well, that's my two cents on these topics anyway.