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What a great thread. Gotta share with my twitter philosophe buds. @Failed_Buddhist

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Oct 26, 2018

Chidi's descent in nihilism on The Good Place made me think of a set of tweets on here about positive nihilism or optimistic nihilism, to which someone replied "Isn't that just absurdism?" Which, no, it actually isn't.

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This an interesting thread - as suggested by Kenneth - what are you immediate thoughts

@chagmed

? It wasn’t very long ago that we discussed your personal brand of ‘cheerful nihilism’ informed by decades of dzogchen and alcohol use/abuse.

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and

First, for a dzogchenpa such as myself, all use of alcohol is a sacred duty. I don't enjoy it, but it' something I must do. I appreciate

@alexandraerin

's thread. I am unfamiliar with The Good Place. Unless it's a euphemism.

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I agree that the absence of absolute meaning does not prevent beings such as ourselves from enjoying, loving, and drinking

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Fictions are perfectly fine, provided we realize they are fictions, that we use them for practical purposes, and that we realize they don't represent ultimate reality, whatever that may be

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Nihilism can be cheerful. It is possible to understand that "meaning" is a human fiction, but despite that, we need not give in to anxiety and/or depression.

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Very good point. I can see an argument with regards to semantic here, but in practice I think this agrees with a reject of certain 'philosophical extremes'. Where nihilism becomes problematic is in the fixated/deluded denial of meaning/enjoyment/vividness.

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and where can we find this straw man of evil nihilism? often in Buddhist philosophy, the glass house which enjoys throwing stones.

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It's convenient to strawman those who challenge you when your chief enterprise is the prescription of value systems that are not to be questioned.

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bingo. you get to sound philosophically sophisticated, while keeping your followers enslaved. it's a shell game.

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As an aside, I do think you can make quite solid critiques of nihilism on other points, for specific purposes. But the negative nihilist trope is showbiz philosophy.

9:38 PM · Oct 26, 2018Twitter Web Client