How The Concept of Optimistic Nihilism Might Help In Finding Your Purpose
(What’s the true purpose of life? How to create an everlasting impact with the short time that you have?)
We all live a considerably moderate life, mostly defined by others in the society. If you compare your life with a handful of others, you’ll find very little difference as to how you spend your day. It’s a similar routine for everyone!
But, why do we live such a common life when we all can live towards our dream? Why not live the best of your life while you can?
The fact is that we’re all scared. Scared of losing the comfort, scared of losing dignity, scared of losing the position we’ve already created.
From early childhood, we’re discouraged to take risks and go in a predefined path. We tend to forgo our talents and go after what worked for our ancestors.
What’s The Problem With This?
With a predefined career path, you have very little chances to show your creativity. You don’t have many opportunities to express yourself. By time, you forget the very reason for your existence — to create an everlasting impact on the planet and all around you!
“If the only reason you’re living is because you firmly believe that afterwards you will go to a better place, then why not go now?”
I believe that everyone has a purpose of being, they’re not created just at random and to live a rather monotonous life. If you look at everything around you, you’ll see a purpose. The sun’s perfect for our existence, the planet has enough water for us to survive, there’s food for us, so on and so forth.
In essence to that, you have a purpose, too. Maybe you have something to give to the earth and your society that no one else might be able to give.
This is why you must know how to explore yourself; who you actually are, what makes you different from the others.
Maybe you’ve got a hidden talent talking to people, maybe you’re good at articulating thoughts — it’ll come up when you start asking the fundamental questions of who you are and why you’re here on this planet.
“…even the concepts we use to explain this overwhelming situation are totally arbitrary in the face of our profound ignorance. Add to this the problem of our infinitesimally brief lifespans and inevitable death and you’ve got the perfect recipe for existential dread.”
— Alan Watts
Optimistic Nihilism: Dictating Your Life’s Purpose
Till now, I’ve been talking about the importance of finding your life’s purpose. But, why do most of us forget to look for our purpose and get entangled in life itself?
It’s because of the notion that life may turn out to be worse than what we’re going through.
While this might be the case, you can’t just leave out the hundreds of opportunities that you decide to let go by clinging on into your current lifestyle. You never know if you get a billion-dollar opportunity if you haven’t taken it.
This is one of the fundamental concepts of Optimistic Nihilism.
The popular German YouTube channel Kurzgesagt defines it like this:
“Optimistic Nihilism: You only get one shot at life, which is scary, but it also sets you free. If the universe ends in heat death, every humiliation you suffer in your life will be forgotten. Every mistake you made will not matter in the end. Every bad thing you did will be voided.
If our life is all we get to experience, then it’s the only thing that matters. If the universe has no principles, the only principles relevant are the ones we decide on. If the universe has no purpose, then we get to dictate what its purpose is. … We are truly free in a universe-sized playground, so we might as well aim to be happy and to build some kind of utopia in the stars.”
— Kurzgesagt
From the transcript above, one thing is crystal clear — all your actions will ultimately be forgotten if you don’t leave a legacy of your existence.
You’ve already used up a large part of your life available to you, and there’s no reason not to have fun and to live as happily as possible. This not only encompasses your friends and family, but also yourself.
Think about this: are you happy the way you are now? Do you think you’re serving your purpose in this universe? Would the universe be affected if you weren’t here?
If all the answers came out to be big ‘NO’s, that indicates that you need to change the way you’re living!
So, follow your heart closely — it knows exactly what you are. If you feel like you’re not living up to the marks, you need a change in your life. If you think you can give a better shot at something, go for it.
Every mistake you made will not matter in the end, so why not give it a try?
