There is a human path between these two demons: fanaticism and nihilism.
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“How to move beyond nihilism?”
Nihilism is a frightening guest
Nietzsche said: “Nihilism is standing at the door. Where did this strangest guest come from?”
What does this mean? The world suddenly seems so complicated that we can't understand, “What is the meaning of life? What ideal should we live for?”
In earlier times, this question was simple: God means meaning. In Christian society, if someone lived outside of religion, they couldn't be a “good person.”
Religion was the social GPS.
When Nietzsche says, “God is dead,” his real meaning is, “God is dead. And we have killed him.”
So, he isn't saying that God is truly dead. He's saying that God's old role in society has died. Previously, religion used to say: “Live life in a way that is right.”
Now people say to each other: "You think differently? Fine. You still deserve respect." So, the "central control system" that God once served as is no longer there. This void is called nihilism. "Which direction should I take now? Everyone is equal, so what is right?"
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The good side of nihilism is freedom!
In the 20th century, new freedoms arose from this void. Freedom that allowed women, African-Americans, LGBTQ+ people, laborers, and people with disabilities to find a free voice.
When there was no longer a "right way,"
many new ways were born. People like Martin Luther King and Simone de Beauvoir became the voices of this new freedom.
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But the price of freedom is tension!
When you don't know what to do,life begins to feel directionless.
T.S. Eliot's character Prufrock says, "Nothing is fixed, so there's no decision." Samuel Beckett's character says, "I don't know what I'm waiting for? But the wait continues..."
David Foster Wallace, "A pain in the stomach like sadness." Hence the addiction to distractions: TV, alcohol, sex, ambition, everything.
And finally, "empty." That is, the freedom of nihilism, the emptiness of meaning, and restlessness.
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David Brooks's question, "Isn't everyone troubled?"
Journalist David Brooks says, "Writers portray America as very sad." While in real life, people are finding happiness and meaning in religion, family, community, the military, etc. Meaning, "Our world is not as empty as it appears in novels."
But the question is, "Is this happiness real? Or are we deceiving ourselves?"
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Two paths,
First, false happiness. Nietzsche's fear seems to be that "my religious path is right for everyone." Such thinking is no longer acceptable in society. Because the new rule of today's society is, "You can think differently and still be good."
That's why those who say, "My truth is everyone's truth," are no longer called "great" but fanatics. So this happiness appears holy, but at heart, it's self-deception.
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A new kind of happiness. Was Nietzsche wrong?
Who knows, Nietzsche was wrong? Who knows, people may have learned early that "meaning doesn't have to be universal."
Meaning, "My meaning is mine, and your meaning is yours."
In this new happiness, I find meaning in my work, family, city, art, and understand that someone else, even following a completely different path, is living a good life. This is after-God happiness, which doesn't insist that "everyone should do the same."
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Herman Melville: “Meaning Must Be Local”
Thirty years before Nietzsche, Melville, the author of “Moby Dick,” said, “Take a little less pride in being happy.”
Meaning: “Happiness won't be found in something universal, cosmic, once-for-all. Meaning can be found in small commitments.”
Like home, relationships, work, neighborhood, country, hearth, these small fires offer the warmth of meaning. And that's enough to keep nihilism at bay.
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A New Polytheism, Many Good Ways
Melville says, “There's not just one way to live. There can be many good ways to live.”
Some people, forming families, kindle different fires: some for the nation, some in art, some in meditation, some in labor.
And we can respect the warmth of each other's fires without conflict.
This is "polytheism,"(not the polytheism of gods) but the polytheism of many human lifestyles.
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A path between two extremes of danger
Melville says, "Between these two demons, fanaticism and nihilism, there is a human path."
The fanatic says, "My truth is everyone's truth."
The nihilist says, "There is no truth, everything is nonsense."
The new man will say, "My truth is mine, but yours can also be valid."
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Future: “Highly cultured and poetical”
We need a society that understands history, takes art seriously, and is full of imagination and sensitivity, because a world of diverse meanings doesn't function solely on logic; it needs poetry, story, art, and culture.
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Melville says, “If a future civilization can bring back to life the joyful gods of old, then the great whale of its sea will be the king of gods.”
This means, “If humans can rekindle joy, play, art, diversity, celebration, love—all of these, then meaning will return to life.”
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God's “social role” is dead. Universal meaning is no longer there. This has brought both freedom and emptiness. Two dangers have arisen: fanaticism and nihilism. The solution to this can be the polytheism of lifestyles.
“Many small, local, sincere commitments together give meaning to life.”
And the sweetest thing, “Your particular way and my particular way can both be good and both worthy of respect.”
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“Finding meaning in life is difficult, but determining meaning is entirely possible for us.”
Read more : - The Schopenhauer Cure: Navigating the Intersection of Life, Death, and Connection
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