Beyond Nihilism

“Do not go gentle into that good night.” - Dylan Thomas, poet

I’ve written before that Albert Camus is my favorite philosopher. Of course, we differ on some things; for example, he was a strong atheist, while I’m a hard polytheist. Otherwise, I agree with the vast majority of his views.

Albert Camus

 

A central element of his philosophy was how we should respond to what he perceived to be the lack of meaning in the universe. Camus didn’t see a universe infused with meaning as others, such as most Greek philosophers and Christian theologians, saw. He perceived no fingerprint of God upon the world. Camus found the Cosmic silence deafening.

Camus decided that the silent universe, paradoxically, gave us a message. The universe, including us, lack inherent meaning.

He wasn’t the first to come to this conclusion. Existentialist writers like Sartre had similar results when they looked at the Cosmos. On this point, they agreed.

However, Camus differed in several important details from the existentialists. One difference was that Sartre believed one could give one’s life meaning. Camus said that this was futile. One could not grant oneself meaning in a meaningless universe.

Camus then asked what choice do we have if our lives are meaningless? He said we have three choices: self-destruction, blind faith, or revolt. Neither self-destruction nor blind faith is an acceptable choice, according to Camus, for they both involve surrender.

Our only choice is to revolt. 

Our revolution begins by embracing the uncomfortable truth that our lives lack meaning and that it’s impossible to grant them such. To seek meaning in a meaningless universe is absurd (hence, the name of his philosophy is Absurdism). 

We must then accept that this lack of meaning isn’t a negative but is liberating. This lack of meaning gives us the freedom to live our lives as we see fit. Doing so can make our lives meaningful to us, even though our lives lack meaning. 

Nihilism is not the end goal. Instead, nihilism is the key to opening the door to freedom. In his book The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus wrote, “even within the limits of nihilism, it is possible to proceed beyond nihilism.” 

Don’t get trapped in nihilism. Move beyond nihilism and embrace life.