Written by: Gaurab KC - 25006, Grade XI
Posted on: 20 September, 2023
Throughout history, many great philosophers have offered many perspectives which have affected the lives of generations of people. People have been discussing philosophical questions since the beginning of civilization.
In the beginning, the questions were simple. We learned to know what was good and what was bad. We understood that helping people and contributing to the tribe was morally correct and things like greed and selfishness were morally wrong. This development in our society is what helped the ancient civilizations survive and eventually thrive.
The concept of philosophy first began in ancient Greece. The likes of Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and many others have literally changed the way we think. These philosophies ask questions that are beyond human knowledge. They are things that we still are yet to perceive. These questions are so beyond us that the modern world has mostly become hollow thanks to their influence. To understand why, we need to start from the beginning and work our way till the modern times.
A few hundred thousand years ago, our species became conscious and found their world very bizarre and confusing. From their perspective, everything was uncertain and bizarre to them. When they looked up there was a tiny hot ball in the sky that made them feel warm. There was flowing liquid that quenched their thirst. There were also different beings that coexisted with them. They could eat some, but some could eat them. Sometimes the liquid that they quenched their thirst with fell from the sky, and sometimes tiny cold rocks fell from the sky.
This is where the philosophical part comes in. Even though they were so unsure and overwhelmed, they still survived. They believed that the only reason for their survival in such a strange and hostile world was due to the protection of a higher power, a god. This thought gave them comfort so they could keep on hunting prey, quenching their thirst and admire the stars.
Only after human beings got older and we learned about ourselves, we realized that the stars aren’t twinkling for us, they just are. We learned that the universe is vast and much older than we thought. We realized that life wasn’t made by any god or deity. It was accidentally created by the molecules of self-replicating RNA in the oceans which eventually led to the birth of the first cell.
We realized that we weren’t special, that we were only a spec in this vast universe. There were many distant planets beyond our solar system that humanity would probably never visit. The universe was too vast for us to handle. But that wasn’t our only problem, it was the time we had left. The average human being only lives from seventy-five to eighty years old. One day we would die, and the probability of there being an afterlife was certainly low. So, there is a high chance that the life we had lived was the only thing we would ever experience and that we would now be dead forever.
This existential thought eventually became one of the most recognized philosophical topics called Nihilism. Nihilism means that our whole life, our beliefs, our experiences are utterly meaningless since we are going to die one day.
This philosophical topic had sparked a global debate. Many agreed and many didn’t, until one day, another philosophic topic was created that became a basis of many people’s lives. It was so impactful that many entrepreneurs, Billionaires and most of the world have been following it in the modern age, and It’s called Optimistic Nihilism.
Optimistic Nihilism takes the pessimistic nature of Nihilism and turns it into optimism. It is true that life is short, but life is the longest thing we will ever experience. If there is no afterlife, the life that we are living now is the only thing that is a mattress, so we need to make the most of it and live our lives to the fullest. Sure, we might never go beyond the stars, but there are still many things to do here, many diseases to cure, many people to help, many lives to be fulfilled. The fact that we are living today and are able to be having discussions here is simply a miracle and we shouldn’t take it for granted. So, we should live life to the fullest by doing the things that make us feel good and fulfilled.
The impact of Optimistic Nihilism in the world is interesting to say the least, Many people have abandoned their culture and beliefs. The rise of atheism is prevalent especially in western countries, but it is slowly creeping its way to the other parts of the world including Nepal. Youths are abandoning centuries of traditions due to philosophy. The younger generation is now lost. Since the new standard of society is now shifting to this philosophy, youths are now more comfortable with fulfilling their desires which leads to problems among the younger generation like smoking, drinking and drug use. Among the western youths, slang words have been created like ‘YOLO’ (which is a slang acronym for ‘You Only Live Once’) which directly support Optimistic Nihilism.
The world has quite literally changed due to this philosophy. Although it was created to give hope to the people to encourage them to face the world and fulfill their dreams in the limited time they have, it has now turned into the cause of many social problems which have left most of the younger generation lost.
