Catch Up

In hopes of playing some catch up and building some internal momentum in writing, I believe I shall take tonight (which is really this morning) to write a short bit on nihilism, what it means, and how I view its usefulness in this modern era. This post will (hopefully) be one of two this weekend as I am still a post or two behind schedule. Nihilism after the jump.

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I was first introduced to the theory of nihilism by the book The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima. Now it's been a while since I've read it, but the story, roughly, is about the sailor Ryuji, who falls in love with Kuroda Fusako, a widow. She lives on the land while Ryuji feels most at home on the sea. He also feels he has a special destiny out on the water, but abandons that as he falls more in love with Fusako. This angers Fusako's thirteen year old son, Noboru. As part of a gang of same aged children who follow the Chief and believe in "objectivity" and rejecting the world of adults, Noboru begins to undertake a terrible action. Ryuji is at first an ideal role model for Noboru because he has come in from the sea, mighty in his glory, and been with Ryuji's mother, but then leaves again. He is rejecting the land and, by extension, society. However he falls in love with Fusako.

The most important part for nihilism though is the ending. Noboru invites Ryuji to eat with him and the other members of his gang. There, he is offered a tea that the boys have laced with a sedative. The reader is aware of a plan by the boys to perform a similar act on Ryuji as they have on a cat earlier in the novel. This is to say they plan to dissect him.

Now one of the central questions a keen reader is likely to come away with is whether Ryuji knew or didn't know if the tea was poisoned. While the argument can be made for either side, my stance (and nihilism for that matter) is firmly settled on the side of Ryuji being fully aware of this, or at the very least having an idea that something was afoot. The following quote is the last line of the book, if I recall correctly: "Still immersed in his dream, he drank down the tepid tea. It tasted bitter. Glory, as anyone knows, is bitter stuff." The idea here being that, because Ryuji has abandoned his love of the sea and all that made him an ideal role model to Noboru at first, the only way he can regain his glory is in death.

Death is expressed and addressed in many ways throughout the novel, but Noboru's view on the subject is made clear in this description:

"At thirteen, Noboru was convinced of his own genius (each of the others in the gang felt the same way) and certain that life consisted of a few simple signals and decisions; that death took root at the moment of birth and man’s only recourse thereafter was to water and tend it; that propagation was a fiction; consequently, society was a fiction too: that fathers and teachers, by virtue of being fathers and teachers, were guilty of a grievous sin. Therefore, his own father’s death, when he was eight, had been a happy incident, something to be proud of."

Here is a good time to tear away from the book, lest I spend too much time on it. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea is a fantastic read that evokes thoughts in a way that is likely uncommon to most who speak the language I'm writing in. It helps the reader understand the society that Mishima lived in and fought against. But that is a topic for another time.

On to nihilism. Nihilism comes from the latin nihil, which means "nothing" and "-ism" which is a belief or set of beliefs. So it is the belief in nothing. More precisely, it is the belief that life is without objective meaning or intrinsic value. I agree with this belief, but am not in a state of mind to explicate the reasoning behind this. Perhaps in a subsequent post.

For now, suffice to say that if life is without objective meaning that this also denounces the existence of a god of any form. More than that, there is no greater plan, no guiding destiny for an individual. For this reason, I believe nihilism is a sort of freedom. It grants the freedom to give whatever meaning, whatever value you want to life. And should this meaning fail or be torn from your life, you can dust yourself off, and pick a new one. Yes, this is a selfish world view, but there is a key point that needs to be made and understood before I can continue.

This next bit is something I cannot stress enough and the part that I feel is often overlooked by anyone wishing to deny the virtue of this belief. By giving any meaning to life, it does not mean that others do not matter. Today I say that my life has meaning in part because I enjoy the company of my friends. And if I wish to keep them as my friends, I understand that I cannot pursue my selfish belief into oblivion, for a multitude of reasons.

I have a sinking sensation that I am doing quite the poor job of defending my position. For this reason, I'm going to end this post. However, I will be back at another date to further discuss and expand this issue. For now, it is time to become immersed in a dream.