[MD] Thoughts on Nihilism

[Steven Peterson]

Hi Marsha,

The Buddhist sort of nihilism is what drove Pirsig from Benares if you
recall. (Don't have time to dig for passages right now.)

Best,
Steve



On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 7:20 PM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Matt,
>
> It's not plain to me, but so be it (in some cases.)
>
>
>
> Marsha
>
>
> On Jul 24, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Matt Kundert wrote:
>
>>
>> Not usually, but it has the same kinds of turns of thought
>> as other major religions (e.g., reincarnation).  If life is
>> suffering, and nirvana is the "extinguishing" of suffering, I
>> think the relationship (in some cases, self-established by
>> adherents) between Buddhism and nihilism should be fairly
>> plain.
>>
>> I'm not talking about refutations: I'm just talking about us
>> thinking more about the beliefs we keep and their
>> relationships to other phenomena.  Steve's challenge was
>> about what he called the "religious impulse," which doesn't
>> seem to care whether you believe in God or not, and so is
>> something we all must be vigilant of.  Steve talked a lot
>> about Christianity, but since there's another relevant
>> interest group here, I thought I'd point out that just
>> because you like Eastern philosophy doesn't mean you
>> escape the hook Steve was using.
>>
>> Matt
>>
>>> Matt,
>>>
>>> How so?  Buddhism doesn't state that everything is meaningless.
>>>
>>> Marsha
>>>
>>> On Jul 24, 2010, at 6:12 PM, Matt Kundert wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Well done.  It should give Buddhists something to think about.
>>>>
>>>> Matt
>>>>
>>>>> The nihilism of the religious is often not recognized as such because
>>>>> it is often an optimistic sort of nihilism. The promise of the next
>>>>> world is thought to be the assurance of everything that one could ever
>>>>> think to hope for. But then, we know how that sort of thinking in the
>>>>> suicide bomber works out for the rest of us, so even optimistic
>>>>> nihilism can be something to be concerned about. Religious people who
>>>>> think that believing in God makes them immune to nihilism and the
>>>>> nihilism is part of "the atheism problem" should turn to the Bible and
>>>>> reread Ecclesiastes which has Solomon, son of David and renown for his
>>>>> wisdom, "Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is
>>>>> meaningless." Clearly even the Bible demonstrates that that nihilism
>>>>> is not just a problem for skeptics.
>>
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