The Nihilist is the Black Hole Around Which the Universe Spins

Check out CPROBES' "A Call For a New Active Nihilism", in which RIPope makes the case for those fed up with Bush/Al Qaeda fanaticism to take on the yoke of active non-belief themselves, "[B]ecause being a nihilist is the only truthful position in (what's left of) this world."

I've been thinking along similar lines lately (though I'd prefer the term "reconstructive cynicism"), and I steadfastly stand by the idea that, contra some of my peers here in Boulder, the most authentic path is certainly a constant questioning of everything (both in the world and in oneself), and not a blind faith in the Erotic ideal of an evolving universe, nor the coming of an Age of Integration, or the inherent Emptiness of all phenomenon, or anything else.

The standard argument against nihilism, of course, is that it will lead to a self-indulgent glorification of the ego at the expense of everyone else. This standard misinterpretation of Nietzsche's "beyond good and evil" assumes that those freed from the fetters of imposed morality, recieved opinion, and unexamined assumptions will automatically go "beyond evil" into Super Evil, forgetting they just might also become Super Good. This seems to be RIPope's position, as summarized here: "We must find a new nihilism, to let the Truth ring out into the universe, to reveal through assuming the stupidity - yes, of nihilism itself."

Re: the title of the post. It is my self-serving theory that the Radical Doubter -- a.k.a. He Who Throws Everything Into the Air, Mr. Maybe, the Faithless One, the Grandeloquent Deconstructionist, the Apophatic Activist, Mecha-Negativa -- is one of the primary forces around which phenomena seems to organize itself (i.e. in terms of sociocultural evolution, who is it but those who refuse to accept the status quo, nor its pat excuses for why things are the way they are, that leads to upheavel and novetly?). It is he who sticks to no star, no bit of dust, no planet, but pierces through all of them into an invisible dimension he does not understand.

Though the abyss inside horrifies him, it is his relentless Suction that keeps a galaxy spinning, keeps stars running into each other, new stars being born, planets coalescing, life springing up. The heavens intensify and speed up as they approach his unrelenting Gravity, thoughts congeal, priorities are made, weak links broken, fuel ignites, ideas compress, actions move faster than the speed of light. Nothing escapes his Infinitely Small Zero-Point, but beyond it, new universes are born.

In other words: radical negation forces you to take stock of your life, of your world, of everything that occurs, and forces you to Do Something.

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