Hello lovely readers and welcome back to my high-flying newsletter! The only newsletter that believes the inherent meaningless of existence is a blank canvas you’re meant to paint meaning on to… And the only newsletter to suggest you should paint it fucking red!
Following a 3-2-1 approach, it contains 3 thoughts from me (that you should ignore), 2 quotes from others (that you should read), and 1 joke that’s so bad, it’s good!
Let’s begin!
3 Thoughts:
1) “What typically follows atheism is a confrontation with nihilism. It sits like a dark storm cloud gathering strength on the horizon. This is where we run the risk of throwing out the baby with the holy bathwater in the modern age. When we decide that we can do whatever we feel like – only whatever feels good. This, of course, makes everything harder. Over time, it only serves to reinforce the belief that our own lives are meaningless. This is the trap that nihilism sets.”
2) “When we ask what the meaning of life is, the instinct is to search the stars for some cosmic significance. In doing so, we unwittingly set the bar for what a meaningful life should be so high that only God Himself can reach it. If you don’t believe in God, that’s a big problem.”
3) Meaning is the lift we need to get out of bed in the morning. We generate it in one of two ways:
- The first is by taking responsibility for our life. Our responsibilities are the weight we carry. If we neglect them they keep us grounded. By taking responsibility for our lives we lighten the load. In doing so we have more energy to tackle the things we really want to.
- The second is by helping others. We want to help others intrinsically. But we’re also intrinsically selfish. The difference is, helping others gives us the lasting peace we crave. The kind of lasting peace we fail to find when only acting for ourselves. It’s the lift we need to sustain us over the long-haul.
2 Quotes:
“What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism. . . For some time now, our whole European culture has been moving as toward a catastrophe, with a tortured tension that is a growing from decade to decade: relentlessly, violently, headlong, like a river that wants to reach the end, that no longer reflects, that is afraid to reflect.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run—in the long run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”
– Viktor Frankl
1 Joke Poem:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.And you, my father, there on the sad height,
– Dylan Thomas – 1914-1953
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
You can find more of AP2’s writing here at: https://wiseandshinezine.com
You can also find him on Medium at: https://anxiouspilot2.medium.com
You can also email him directly at: anxiouspilot2@gmail.com
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Clear Air Turbulence 
Thanks for the thoughts, AP2. I happen to totally disagree with the first thought, and the approach I follow instead is more in line with the quote by Viktor Frankl. But you and I may have had a similar discussion in the past! 😏 Many thanks for Dylan Thomas’s poem, one of my favourites. I had just read it in a university English class shortly before my father very unexpectedly passed away, and I kept saying that poem over and over to myself. I hope you are finding ways to be kind to yourself. 😊🙏
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The first thought is a warning about nihilism. Not a suggestion to follow it! It’s a great poem. I’m so sorry to hear about you’re father dying. Thoughts are with you. Wishing you well 🙏
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I wasn’t thinking of it so much as being a suggestion but thought if it being a likelihood, which is what I don’t agree with. Thanks for the thoughts, AP2, but my Dad died in 1965 when I was 19 and my Mom died 9 years later. That probably has a lot to do with my view of death not being something to fear, but rather that living the best life you can while you’re here is what you should strive for. 😊
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Fair enough. And you may have a point. I think it’s a danger not necessarily a likelihood. Probably needs rewording. I agree with your views on death. It can’t have been easy to lose your parents young. Thank you Jane 😊🙏
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Every morning we get to wakeup to a new day is like a gift waiting to be unwrapped. ✨
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That’s a beautiful line. So true. Thank you Barb 🙏
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I commented on Wise & Shine:
“You have brought up some very deep, essential-to-life questions.
I myself cannot live without a sense of God in my life. Having come out of 2 very strict fundamentalist and evangelical churches, my perception of God became skewed over time, and I came to be brainwashed into believing a wrathful, hard, vengeful God was sitting in judgment of me. Only after I left churches did I discover God’s true nature which is ALL love. This changed my perspectives so radically that I never wish to go back to organized religion which uses a twisted, mishappen form of God to incite deep fears and to be able to control their congregations.
After all I went through, I now see I need to believe in God, but I need to believe in God in the purest form and essence, and not accept man’s teachings about who they think God is. Having this new belief has helped my mental health, for I feel grounded and stabilized. whereas before I was a mess.”
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Thank you Tamara. I saw your message on w&s and replied there. 🙏
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“What typically follows atheism is a confrontation with nihilism. It sits like a dark storm cloud gathering strength on the horizon. This is where we run the risk of throwing out the baby with the holy bathwater in the modern age. When we decide that we can do whatever we feel like – only whatever feels good. This, of course, makes everything harder. Over time, it only serves to reinforce the belief that our own lives are meaningless. This is the trap that nihilism sets.””
nope, not at all but nice attempt to try to scare people into theism.
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I’m not trying to scare people into theism. I don’t believe in God. I do believe there is a real danger with nihilistic beliefs. Your conscience will weigh on you over time if you simply do what you like instead of adhering to set a values. I don’t think that’s a terribly controversial viewpoint is it?
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It’s a viewpoint based on nonsense and the common lie theists tell about how atheism always leads to nihilism.
There’s nothing supporting this “conscience will weigh on you over time if you simply do what you like instead of adhering to set a values”. We see that in the sad cases of feral children.
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It very depends if you have a conscience or not right? If you only act in your own self interest it only makes sense that that would weigh on any person with half a sense of morality. The world is rife with people struggling with guilt and shame. There is plenty of evidence for it. Call it nonsense if you like but the healthy thing is to consider differing viewpoints instead off simply writing them off. Of course that’s hard because you don’t like to challenge your own beliefs. And I wouldn’t/didn’t say that atheism always leads to nihilism – only that it’s a danger. When you consider the modern unprecedented mental health crisis it seems evident to me that it’s a big one.
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I have a conscience, no god needed.
And there is no evidence for your god claims, AP. It is no surprise, though yuo made the claim, you can’t present any.
It isn’t healthy to blindly consider baseless nonsense offered as some “truth”. Unfortunately for your claims, I have indeed challenged my beliefs, and have not found them wanting.
It isnt’ even a danger, AP. It is a typical lie told by a theist in your need to try to scare people into accepting your nonsense.
you also make false claims in your attempt to invent causation between mental health and atheism. I stand against such false claims by theists.
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I am on you as a reader. I have read several blogs and lost interest at the start or midway. In your case, however, I have followed through your tracks like a hound. I feel like there is much to relate to and learn from your perspective on life
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Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it 🙏
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