Human life is confusing and scary at times. When we believe in one factor of existence, we tend to let go of the other. In the adversity of making the right choice, ‘what is reality? and ‘who are we?’ are some seemingly unanswerable questions. It is here that the theory of nihilism comes to be relevant. It says nothing—religion, morals, rebirths, faith and destiny—is real. Everything is created by the humans themselves and later believed in by themselves.
As humans originated on earth, they started seeing a magical place where every day starts and ends with glow. This new home was more familiar and more suitable. So, they started seeing the stars as a secret mystery of life and the universe as our facilitator. But less do we know that we are the part of many dead organisms, that there is no mystery in glowing stars and that we are not the center of the universe. For it has existed before we came into existence, millions and trillion years ago. We all are the temporary residues of certain history. Nihilism denies the fact of humans to be special and different. It claims that we are just a part of the universe, thousands of planets and stars make up a galaxy and a thousand galaxies are a part of what we call an observable universe and we don’t know what infinity is.
We never had any purpose in life and naturally this sounds absurd to many but, in reality, we made up meaning to life so that there is no existential dread among humans. The millions of planets are not for us and, no matter how great we think of ourselves, the world will run in its own way with and without us.
How can we believe in any bad or good? Suppose A kills B. Who is wrong? One may say A is the culprit but what if person B is a psycho-killer? Then in this case, A might not be as bad for killing him. But again, let’s say, what if person A did not know that person B was a psycho-killer? Nihilism believes in no principle of morality. Morality is a thought, a perception to justify humans and their actions, so that a person can think highly of himself than any other.
We never knew the principle of gravity before Newton told us about it but what has existed is gravity itself and even long before. Having certain claimed knowledge won’t change the principle of the universe and life itself. The only control we have is of our own life, our own beliefs, the control of our choice and thoughts. As everything is meaningless, create your own meaning. Flow in the ocean of millions but only on your free will. Try new things. Be random. If the universe collapses, every humiliation you suffer in your life will be forgotten, every mistake you had committed would come to an end. So why do you worry when someone laughs at you? When someone is not nice to you?
Prasna Bhattarai is a grade XII student of management at Uniglobe Secondary School and College, Kamaladi, Kathmandu.
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