Nietzsche Fights Nihilism

Nihilism is the Meta Problem. Nietzsche wrote this on the first page of his last book (1889). A vague sense that nothing really matters. A healthy life requires that you scrub this feeling out of your soul with as much aggression as you can muster. Nihilism has terrible costs👇

The most powerless creature in the world is not an ant, not the grounded plant, but a nihilist. The ant and the plant will automatically fight to preserve themselves but this central instinct of life has been removed from the nihilist's toolkit. He is compromised beyond saving.

Those who tell you the world is worthless will, after you renounce it, rush in to rule. It's a power grab, plain and simple. This is why for Nietzsche, the way out of nihilism is not community service or "sacrifice" but Will To Power. A healthy controlling urge is the antidote.

A standard movie trope: you only meet the villain's lackeys and side pieces at the beginning. Then there's a grand revelation of the main villain at the end. Nihilism is that main villain, and the movie is human history. He stands unmasked now, and the protagonist must fight

The feeling that you are puny and helpless next to deterministic historical forces, climate change or "the elites." The feeling that the inside is more worthy of attention than the outside. The sense that your agency is limited. The instinct of surrender to fate. All nihilism.

Nihilism condemns people to a fate worse than that of an insect or a rock. A rock has no dignity to speak of, and even an insect unironically pursues its goals. The sooner people fight and overcome nihilism, the sooner their real life begins. And there is only one way out.

One way Nietzsche's Übermensch is different from the Great Men of the past is that he's fighting an extra enemy: a cynical age. Alexander was considered a direct descendant of Zeus, Caesar painted his face red to imitate God Jupiter, but today Demi-Gods are considered impossible.

Nietzsche's ideas are the best route out of a cynical age. Keep reading: Insights From Nietzsche