Nihilism defined. (for a friend.)

The direct translation of the word= nothing. But a better way to call it would be, a will to nothing.

Here is a direct qoute,

"Nihilism is not only a meditating over the "in vain!" not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one's shoulder to the plough; one destroys. This, if you will, is illogical; but the Nihilist does not believe in the necessity of being logical."

I am not going to explain this one because I think he did a great job explaining it.

There are two forms of Nihilism:

A. Nihilism as a sign of enhanced spiritual strength: active Nihilism.

B. Nihilism as a sign of the collapse and decline of spiritual strength: passive Nihilsm.

I see active Nihilism as the adaption to the realization that you have nothing to believe in. All those people that say you only live once so they do everything. They are active Nihilists. The whole sixties time period was active Nihilism.

I see passive Nihilism as the defensive reaction to the realization that you have nothing to believe in. That you will break down in anticapation of what is inevitable. That there is no purpose, fuck it: to put it bluntly.

Nietzsche predicted Nihilism would be the result if christianity were to be proved wrong and science lost through corruption.

I also like this qoute by Nietzsche,

"Annihilation by the reasoning faculty seconds annihilation by the hand."

This reminds me of the rules of faith and how Christianity follows the same rules of Nihilism. That you have to believe in god before you can understand him. Mayby as a sign that christianity is a very human complex? possibly?

Here you go sorry I can't quite articulate what I mean in conversation as well as I can in writing.