Is Nihilism Curable With Awareness?

[PetarKa]

I feel very nihilistic / depressed. I think about how life is pointless and this makes me depressed, frustrated, and neurotic.

To resolve this, I went to the local park and just sat on a bench for some time and I was simply being aware of the phenomenon: I was observing my thoughts, how I feel etc.

My question is: Do you think that I can resolve this issue like this - by just sitting and observing myself day after day after day? If not, are there any other ways you might recommend for resolving nihilism? Any books / teaching / videos on the subject?

P.S. Even though this post was written in a very level-headed and cold-hearted way, believe me, the pain from this nihilism is agonizing...

Please help!

[Prabhaker]

2 minutes ago, PetarKa said:

Do you think that I can resolve this issue like this - by just sitting and observing myself day after day after day?

Sitting silently, 
doing nothing, 
the spring comes 
and the grass grows by itself.

There is no need to do anything – the grass-is growing by itself. And so grows the soul… so grows the inner being! It needs nothing; no prop is needed….

If you can sit silently doing nothing, the spring is not far away, the spring is bound to come. It always comes in silence. 

Those who are in search will need infinite patience. Patience is the greatest religious quality; if you have patience nothing else is needed. Patience is enough, enough unto itself. Patience means hope, trust, and without any hurry, without any impatience. Impatience simply shows that you are not trustful. Impatience simply shows that you want to impose yourself upon the will of God, that you want it right now. You don’t want him to work on his own. Impatience means, “My will is greater than your will.” Patience means, “I surrender my will to your will. Let your be my will, so whenever I am ripe, whenever — if it takes an eternity it is okay — I will trust, I will hope. I will not lose my heart, I will not be disheartened.”

[Echoes]

@PetarKa Ask yourself which part of you so desperately wants a meaning. What would this meaning be anyway? Pointlessness is in itself pointless, it has no inherent meaning. It is neither negative nor positive. So why did you decide to judge it negatively? Investigate your beliefstructure about why meaninglessness is a bad thing for you. dig until you hit the core

[Truth]

nihilism is very interesting, it's very humbling. I found it's difficult to walk through life experiencing this truth, but you must be careful about how your ego is using this truth. is it using it to make excuses not to do anything? is it using it to push things off? is it using it to procrastinate? I find that this is usually the case. because regardless of it's meaninglessness you still want to be happy and it's clear that this is not helping you be happy at all. be brutally honest with yourself here. could it be the case that you're using nihilism to be lazy and unproductive? To not do the work you value? To not doing the things you know you should/value/want to be doing? If your answer is no it's all meaningless then this is the video for you --> 

 

[Visitor]

9 hours ago, PetarKa said:

...I think about how life is pointless and this makes me depressed, frustrated, and neurotic...

The fact that you get low on the thought of piontlessness means that you are experiencing a lost point in life. Perhaps it is time to find a new point in life. What do you wish to become? Anything will do because life changes, and when it does you are also free to change your point.

Point to where you want to go, or where from where you are from. Obviously you do not want to be depressed (resentments of your past), frustrated (impatience), and neurotic (fearing fear). For starters, why not start accepting your past (even loss of points), accept that some things go slowly, and start facing (testing) your fears and accepting them too.

In life we have to create our own points (thumbtacks). "Blessed is he who sits on a thumbtack for surely he will rise again".

For as long as you have lived things have come and gone. So too will this feeling of pointlessness pass.

Everyday is the first day for the rest of your life. It is a brand new start, don't waste it on what has already passed.

 

[Emerald]

11 hours ago, PetarKa said:

I feel very nihilistic / depressed. I think about how life is pointless and this makes me depressed, frustrated, and neurotic.

To resolve this, I went to the local park and just sat on a bench for some time and I was simply being aware of the phenomenon: I was observing my thoughts, how I feel etc.

My question is: Do you think that I can resolve this issue like this - by just sitting and observing myself day after day after day? If not, are there any other ways you might recommend for resolving nihilism? Any books / teaching / videos on the subject?

P.S. Even though this post was written in a very level-headed and cold-hearted way, believe me, the pain from this nihilism is agonizing...

Please help!

I think this video will help you out. In my experience, the thing that causes the Nihilism is that you're aware in some ways and unaware in some other ways. So, the unconscious/semi-unconscious beliefs based in unawareness clash with the aspects of reality that you are aware of. It's part and parcel to the expansion in awareness... sort of like growing pains. Sometimes the body grows awkwardly and painfully in the same way. So, it creates a lot of discomfort and beckons for you to let go of those beliefs, which can be hard to spot. We are often like fish who have no idea what water is because they know no contrast, and don't recognize the difference between belief and reality. It requires a shifting of worldview to resolve and a ton of cognitive dissonance. But the Nihilism is based in a misunderstanding of reality as it is due to beliefs that are taken for granted but incompatible with reality. 

[PetarKa]

@Prabhaker @Echoes @Truth @Visitor @Emerald

To be more specific, this thought / idea keeps bugging me:

If (and when) we die and nothing will matter about what kind of life I lived when I'm dead (miserable or fulfilling), then what's the point of living at all?

This is where my nihilism stems from...

How do I reconcile this?

[Prabhaker]

13 minutes ago, PetarKa said:

If (and when) we die and nothing will matter about what kind of life I lived when I'm dead (miserable or fulfilling), then what's the point of living at all?

Whatsoever your life is, death reveals only that. If you have been miserable in life, death reveals misery. Death is a great revealer. If you have been happy in your life, death reveals happiness.

[Emerald]

25 minutes ago, PetarKa said:

@Prabhaker @Echoes @Truth @Visitor @Emerald

To be more specific, this thought / idea keeps bugging me:

If (and when) we die and nothing will matter about what kind of life I lived when I'm dead (miserable or fulfilling), then what's the point of living at all?

This is where my nihilism stems from...

How do I reconcile this?

It seems to me like the primary distortion you have is believing that 'in order for something to be valid, it has to have some kind of utility. It must matter, be significant, or have value.' The fact of the matter is that "mattering" isn't real. It is not a part of reality. The idea of 'mattering' is just one of the mental measuring tools of the human lens that we use for practical matters in daily life. We use these tools for decision making and weighing options in 99.9% of human endeavors. But in that .1% exception, when you apply these measuring tools to existential questions, such as "What's the 'meaning' of life?" or "What's the reason for all this?" or "What's the point of all this?", the worth-measuring tools are not compatible with that paradigm. They are just inadequate to understand... and even understanding and reason themselves are incompatible. The measuring tools are incompatible with Truth, despite their practical utility.

So, you have to be able to let go of the idea that the validity of something happening or existing hinges upon it having utility, worth, significance, importance, value, or 'having a point.' The reality is that we are infinite and reality is infinite, and the infinite is synonymous with unconditional love. It's unshakably valid despite having no reason, no value, and no point. And the measuring tools of the human brain cannot wrap itself around it. So, it gets confused when it cannot use it's usual worth-measuring tools to understand its value. There are no such things as value, worth, significance, reason, importance, reason, justification, or 'having a point' beyond the limited sphere of the human intellect. They are mere figments of our imagination.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Emerald

[Echoes]

@PetarKa Isn't it wonderful? It doesn't matter how one spends his lifetime: miserable, fullfilled, pathetic, anxious, depressed, joyful, lost, ... Total freedom! Nobody cares what you do. No "higher" meaning dictating anything. No jury at the end of life where you have to hand in your life, so somebody can judge if it was a good life or not. "I better be fullfilled in life and make the most of it, so that I get my degree and official certificate of a "good life"". As a child you just played, seeing miracles everywhere, entranced by life. Then you entered the neurotic school system, where every thing had to have a purpose for some later point where this "very important" previous actions where tested. Suddenly everything is so serious, because some external authority is judging you. Now you have the possibility to find this awe for life again and enjoy your freedom, without a superimposed important meaning. You even have the freedom to kill yourself. Notice how easy it would be... no big deal. Not as hard as people make it. But why do it? Just play with the thought that you could do it everytime and look what arises. "Ah ok, yea I could hang myself now...But I can also do this and that and someday maybe see this place..." And all of it without fear because you made friendship with death and have absolutely nothing to lose.
Freedom is the only thing there is. The freedom of choosing your mode and perspective of living. Ranging from ecstatic wonder to neurotic search for meaning. I wonder though why someone would choose the latter? 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Echoes

[Truth]

It seems your agenda is to not fix the root issue, just cover more delusion with delusion. How can you help someone who doesn't want to help himself? 

 

I say this cause you can't see how your shooting yourself in the foot, how your ego is literally feeding off itself.

Study the ego, study self fulfilling prophecies, how beliefs work, how the ego works. 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Truth

[Visitor]

7 hours ago, PetarKa said:

@Prabhaker @Echoes @Truth @Visitor @Emerald

To be more specific, this thought / idea keeps bugging me:

If (and when) we die and nothing will matter about what kind of life I lived when I'm dead (miserable or fulfilling), then what's the point of living at all?

This is where my nihilism stems from...

How do I reconcile this?

Consider this. You are not here for your self (ego-self).

[Mastral]

I do like one of the insights from @Emerald 's video about not running away from it but fully immersing yourself in it and coming out stronger and accepting.

On 04/06/2017 at 4:48 PM, PetarKa said:

If (and when) we die and nothing will matter about what kind of life I lived when I'm dead (miserable or fulfilling), then what's the point of living at all?

Isn't living a fulfilling life just better? We don't want miserable life. Think about it... why don't you go and break your leg (or save money on an anesthetic when going to the dentist)? It will heal so in the long run the pain and suffering don't matter.