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Comment by DyslexicAtheist | Hacker News Reader

nihilism and existentialism helped me overcome quite a lot. things like Thomas Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race", and Emil Cioran's "The trouble with being born" have opened my eyes to a new way of thinking that doesn't revolve around societies fetishism of positivity & optimism.

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I think that nihilism is only useful in a fairly narrow set of circumstances, namely the otherwise healthy and succesful young to middle aged person suffering from ennui.

I spend a lot of time with people that are dying (for work, not for fun). I can tell you that nihilism is cold comfort for them.

What do you mean by cold comfort?

It's a phrase meaning basically "is no comfort".

this reminds me of the "cold shoulder" when someone of ill repute came to dine they would be given the cold shoulder, a gristly fatty hunk of bone and maybe some meat, left unheated and tossed to the not quite welcome guest.

interesting! I had no idea. there are probably hundreds of proverbs which I don't actually know the origin. Must get myself some book on this. It is really a basic knowledge which we happily forget over time.

I personally have found nihilism useful because if nothing matters then I can do whatever I want as long as I can bear the consequences. It’s very freeing in that way.

When it comes to being afraid of the consequences, stoicism and negative visualisation helps a lot. What’s the worst that can happen? Oh I’ve been in that spot before, that’s not so bad.

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