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existential nihilism doesn't require that there is no meaning, just that there is no inherent meaning. Meaning can still be created and received through recognition of others.
Those who stop at the breakdown of old morality and wallow in filth are nothinglords who missed the point of breaking down the old social constructs, that is, to build new better ones and even later break those down again and so on... That is what history is, that is what the dialectic is - the eternal process of change and exchange.
There is objectively no meaning in the universe, but IMO nihilism is cringe. Absurdism is the way to go.
absurdism is also cringe because it implies that we should be content with a reality of meaninglessness rather than forging things that are meaningful to us. indeed the problem of the Absurd is not real, an issue only present in a culture that is used to relying on God for meaning
Yeah I definitely am more sympathetic to Hegelian ideas of meaning, in that I believe the connections and dialectical relation between people is where meaning is created and received. Meaning originates in the area between you and I, we both create it and then get it back - that is between two equal comrades.
There’s all types of unequal relations such as master-slave or tenant-landlord or employee-employer or two parties at total war. These create distorted and off balanced meaning that has to be enforced with violence and are filled with contradiction. At some point they will necessarily end.
This is pretty much where I'm at personally, and you worded the ideas very well.
Oh I should clarify Absurd-problem-like symptoms can also be caused by depression caused by living in shitsholeland so don’t take this as me saying your depression is invalid, your struggle is real. I’m talking more about the abstract idea of meaning than the emotional struggle of having a hard time finding it.
I certainly find De Bouviourvian goals in life and such, but ultimately looking for a “meaning of life” is a foolish task, because it is just our culture that told us it is out there. Ultimately we will leave this absurd world and find ourselves worm food.
I don’t see how a “meaning to life” has to make us immortal or something to be valid. My life has plenty of meaning in it and the fact I will die eventually doesn’t really hurt that at all. In fact it probably aids it.
I mean “the meaning of life” is a myth. You can find it meaningful but there isn’t some answer out there.
Think of it like free will. When most people think of it they think “a specific person could make any decision physically possible” and imply they might make a different one if you went back in time. Instead we do make decisions freely, but those decisions are completely determined by the way our mind works and the influences we have encountered.
The point I’m trying to make is that it can exist, but it’s different from how people colloquially imagine it (say, someone asking an omniscient being “what is the meaning of life?”).
I mean “the meaning of life” is a myth. You can find it meaningful but there isn’t some answer out there.
Answer to what? That seems dumb, I find plenty of purpose in everyday life. This idea of there being some sort of transcendent purpose to existence is what I mean when I say people are reliant on the idea of God for meaning. Christians culturally hyped themselves up for there being some fucking Thanos Infinity War that all of life is trending towards and got angry when they realized they were wrong and, in fact, it does not justify being assholes to the majority of humanity.
I agree with you completely, by the way. I just dislike how we have painted this idea of transcendent meaning as somehow better than the purpose given to us in our impulses and desires. I don’t know if a world with an objective, transcendent meaning would even be enjoyable to live in. It might actually be miserable to live in. Everything not bending towards that one purpose would become universally meaningless.
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Absurdism is just jokerfication for normies.