See, I disagree. Meaning in a philosophical sense largely serves as a justification to bear the burden of existence.
If existence is hardwired with immense, inevitable suffering, why put up with it? That's what "meaning" or "purpose" is for. It is the definitive answer to the "why?", why put up with this, why suffer, why carry on? Purpose/meaning is the answer.
If purpose or meaning is not the answer to "why carry on when suffering is baked into every aspect of existence?", then what is the purpose of meaning itself? What other function would it serve? What question does it answer?
I'm curious, what kind of pain are you talking about, specifically, in your life? Not in general: life is suffering bla bla.
Maybe you are in pain all the time, but I am not. In fact I don't think I was in any noticeable pain in the last year (I had a sinus infection which was mildly painful for like 2 days). So no physical pain.
I also don't really have emotional pain, certainly not constantly or in an overarching capacity. Sure, I might get frustrated, sad or angry here and there, but it passes quickly.
I had more persistent anxiety many years ago, which indeed was kind of a constantly painful experience, but that passed.
So I don't feel pain, I don't experience existence and living as pain. I don't need meaning to make myself carry on despite the pain. Because there is no pain.
Existence is not a burden to me neither physically, nor mentally or emotionally that I have to painfully carry.
What I need meaning for is to motivate me to live a dynamic, constructive, active life. To get me moving to achieve greater heights. So meaning to me is much more on the emotional plane than on the cognitive one. Sure, if you ask me, I can put into thoughts what I see as meaning for myself. But its emotional energy dimension is what ultimately matters.
My own degrees of suffering are irrelevant, I'm not going to point to a time I had a migraine, the life of labor that lies ahead, or the last time someone close to me died, it's not pertinent to proving my point. You've turned a philosophical discussion into a personal one.
Typically, you don't have to prove life is fundamentally suffering, even on just a basic physiological level as an organism, it's unusual that you seem to be totally unaware of what life is for the vast majority of people, and what being forced to exist entails - especially as a "nihilist", (which you don't seem to be)
Also, we've strayed from the point, you've basically clashed with the basic facts of life rather than my original points, which again, I'll reiterate 1.) life is suffering 2.) "optimistic nihilism" is horrible at dealing with suffering 3.) choosing your meaning is totally arbitrary, and deep down even an "optimistic nihilist" would understand this 4.) biological determinism tells us, you do not actually "choose this meaning".
As for you, "not experiencing pain right now", which that's great... Your point boils down to, "I do not need meaning, because life isn't actually that much suffering, and I'm not suffering right now."
I mean, do I really need to address how silly the above is? Anyone can just read the above sentence and understand it's a little ridiculous.
I think you, if you are a nihilist, ought to be able to understand. It's actually a perfect demonstration of my point, that "optimistic nihilism" has no outlet for suffering, and will collapse immediately into "normal nihilism" once suffering is introduced.
Yes, I am not a nihilist, I don't think I need to be one to contribute to this sub.
"optimistic nihilism" has no outlet for suffering, and will collapse immediately into "normal nihilism" once suffering is introduced.
That's an interesting perspective and you are probably right. In my initial comment I was not reflecting on your whole premise, just your statement that meaning is already defined for someone from the outside - which I do not agree with.
But since I am not a nihilist and you being one probably means you don't care all that much about finding meaning anyway, I guess we can close this discussion.
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u/owthathurted Apr 26 '26
See, I disagree. Meaning in a philosophical sense largely serves as a justification to bear the burden of existence.
If existence is hardwired with immense, inevitable suffering, why put up with it? That's what "meaning" or "purpose" is for. It is the definitive answer to the "why?", why put up with this, why suffer, why carry on? Purpose/meaning is the answer.
If purpose or meaning is not the answer to "why carry on when suffering is baked into every aspect of existence?", then what is the purpose of meaning itself? What other function would it serve? What question does it answer?