Nihilism: Do Some Peoples Childhoods Set Them Up To Be Nihilistic?

If one was to think about what someone would be like if they are nihilistic, the main thing that could come to mind is that this person will believe that life has no meaning and nothing matters. They are then not going to be full of life and they might be happy to destroy things.

Through being this way, there are likely to be certain feelings that they will typically experience. They could have the tendency to feel down, frustrated, helpless, angry and enraged.

Two Experiences

Their feelings are then going to cause them to be in a very low place and take away their desire to do anything or they will elevate them slightly and potentially give them the urge to do something. If they do give them the urge to do something, it is unlikely that they will do anything creative.
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Due to how they see life, they will be no point in them creating anything; what is likely to be far more appealing is to do the complete opposite. Not only will there be no point in them creating anything but will be seen as a complete waste of energy.

Cut-Off

If they are not experiencing life from one of these two places, it could mean that they will have completely lost touch with how they feel. The best way to describe them would then be to say that they are totally apathetic.

Through being this way, what is going on around them won’t bother them and they won’t have the desire to do anything. One will then be physically alive but they will be devoid of life.

One Dimensional

Regardless of what inner place they are in, their life is not going to be full of colour and it will generally be as though there is only one season. When it comes to how they see the world, it could be very similar to watching an old black and white film.

There will only be black, white and grey, and the sound won’t be all that great. Further, it might not matter if the sun is shining or the rain is pouring as what is going on might not have much of an impact on their mood.

Daily Life

When it comes to what they do each day, there is the chance that they will have a job they would rather not have. This is then likely to be something that they do for the money, not for any other reason.

If they consume a lot of entertainment, they could typically watch films about revenge or where society crumbles, for instance. Watching these types of films will allow them to vicariously fulfil certain needs.

A Legitimate Outlook

When it comes to the view that life has no meaning, this is a view that will easily be backed up by the mind. This part of someone could say that they were born for no reason, there is no reason for them to be here and their life will come to an end at some point.

To add to this, they could talk about how meaningless the modern-day world is, with it being purely about working and consuming what the corporations create. So why would anyone bother? And if they do exert any energy, wouldn’t destroying the rotten system be the best option?

A Different Part

However, although the mind can come up with all the reasons why life has no meaning, and that the current system should be destroyed, the heart can come up with reasons why it has meaning. This part of them - the part can be seen as an expression of their emotional self - is where love, connection and joy are found.

Unlike the mind, this part of them is not concerned as to whether life has meaning or not; it simply wants to give and to share and to embrace life. When someone was a child, they would have just wanted to express themselves and to embrace life; they would have been in the now and wouldn’t have been concerned about whether or not life had meaning.

A Deeper Look

The mind is then the part of someone that allows them to think about life, whereas their emotional self is the part that allows them to experience life. Without the mind, one would be completely consumed by life; without an emotional self, they wouldn’t be able to truly embrace life.

Based on this, if someone believes that life has no meaning, it could show that they don’t have a good connection to their emotional self or that this part of them is not in a good way. If ever they are in touch with this part of them, it probably won’t give them much emotional support or supply them many positive feelings.  
Back In Time

When someone in this position, it may illustrate is that their early years were anything but nurturing. Perhaps this was a time when they were abused and/or neglected on a regular basis, which would have meant that they experienced a lot of trauma.

To protect themselves, they would have ended up disconnecting from their emotional self and ended up living on the surface of themselves in the process. These early experiences will also have had an impact on how they view themselves and the world.

A Miserable Existence

How they experience life as an adult will have a lot in common with how they experienced life as a child. During their early years, their life would have been painful, bleak and there would have been very little pleasure, and it will more or less be the same now.

As a result of what they experienced, they can carry a lot of rage, and destroying things can be a way for them to release some of this rage. What they destroy can, at an unconscious level, remind them of the person/people who harmed them.

Awareness

For their emotional self to support them and to provide them with a sense of meaning and motivation, it will be necessary for them to heal their inner wounds. Undertaking this work will allow them to become a more integrated human being.

The outcome of this is that their emotional self will give them the warmth and pleasure that their mind simply can’t provide. This is something that can take place with the assistance of a therapist or healer.

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Oliver JR Cooper
http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk