The NIHILISM of Religion | Nietzsche

Practical Nihilism

What if all your beliefs are actually nothing? No justification, no proof, no authority? This willing-towards-nothing is itself a nihilism. Dogmatism, religion, philosophy, all a willing-towards-nothing. Obviously, the tradition of the West doesn’t believe it’s willing towards nothingness. It fervently, without reservation, believes these values (God, the Forms, a Pure world, a world which is realer than this world of mere appearances). This nihilism is practical because it is performed through action, not reflection. Practical nihilism is a willing towards nothingness, but a nothingness that is still rich with meaning because even a willing-towards-nothing creates values. But these values, which supposedly transcend and seem above us, are nihilistic because they are profoundly anti-life.

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HISTORY

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