Charles Gian, Period 1, 3/14/24

Charles Gian

Period 1
3/13/2024
Modern Mythology 2024

Research Paper: Nihilism

We’re a blip in the history of the universe. One tiny speck of more-than-average intelligence out of 70 quintillion planets. Planets get old, kaput, form a new planet, and the cycle continues. Like the famous quote goes, time stops for nobody. Everything goes to an end with enough time, just like how we will eventually, so what’s the point? Why do homework, why battle taxes, why challenge yourself and, inevitably fail, if you could just do nothing? Why do anything at all?

I’ve heard this constant buzz throughout my life, and I’m sure you’ve heard it too. This constant denial of any reasoning in life, the sly little devil on your shoulder, that you should just give up and let time take its course on you. It’s always intrigued me, but I’ve never paid much attention to it, as I’ve always been steered on a set course for my whole life. Now, with more freedom comes more choice, and I hear the buzz picking back up. What is Nihilism and where does it come from?

Summarizing one of Friedrich Nietzsche’s definitions of Nihilism, a renowned German philosopher, Nihilism is “... the negation of life through its subordination to a ‘higher realm’”. Nietzsche’s definition of Nihilism is more based on religion, where this “higher realm”, or higher being, is actually just fiction, lies that give people purpose in life. Without this “made-up” religion and higher beings, they would also see from the same perspective as him. However, people are so caught up in religion, and the “lies” as he puts it, that almost any other viewpoint seems alien. Everyone else falls victim to this, in a religion or not. We completely put our faith in science, believe it’s completely rock-solid in the discoveries we have today, and are extremely confident in explaining almost everything about this planet and our universe. However, within these fundamental bases come tiny little “lies”, gaps, or inconsistencies in science. For example, it’s well known that the Big Bang was the event which started the universe off, eventually leading to the creation of space, our stars, and our planets, over time. Keep in mind though, that it’s all just a theory. Once you start looking into ideas like this further, small fundamental questions like “How did we come about?” still haven’t been answered yet. The Big Bang theory does explain a lot, and connects with the findings we have today, but what caused it? What caused this massive explosion out of nowhere, from nothing, to kickstart our universe? Does science really explain what the world and universe is governed by and describe it, or is it all just fancy terms made up to sell that we know what we’re doing, and that more people should further this research of lies?

As in Gardner’s Grendel, the humans in the story, notably the shaper, just sing lies and make up stories about wars between their various groups, encounters with monsters, and the Gods which look after the humans. Grendel even imitates being The Great Destroyer to Ork, one of the priests. Humans in the story completely believe in their religion. All of Grendel’s nihilistic thinking was kickstarted by the Dragon. This further emphasizes that sometimes we need to listen to the other side, no matter how crazy or against what you believe it is, as they could be speaking the truth. Maybe there really is no meaning behind life, but it’s just up to us to create meaning for ourselves.

Works Cited:

Nietzsche’s Shadow: On The Origin and Development of the Term ..., journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0191453720975454. Accessed 13 Mar. 2024. 

Puiu, Tibi. “There Are over 700 Quintillion Planets in the Universe -- but There’s No Place like Home.” ZME Science, 15 May 2023, www.zmescience.com/feature-post/space-astronomy/astronomy-articles/how-many-planets-universe/.