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Nihilism gives me ease in life. Knowing that nothing matters even if I mess up it won't matter. If I did something wrong in the past it doesn't matter anyways. And if you want to achieve something work for it and achieve it, it will bring you hapiness but in the end it doesn't matter, still aproaching the goal is going to be fun and achieving it even more and if you fail who cares not like it matters. It makes it really easy to move on

Just imagine a glass of beer half full, the pessimist is sad because half of his beer is already gone, the optimist is happy because he still has half of his beer and the nihilist just drinks it and gets another one don't thinking about all that stuff and just enjoying his time.

Optimistic Nihilism really is the greatest liberation. The notion of being able to find your own meaning when nothing matters is something that really helped me out. I feel free to conform to my own beliefs and values and to do whatever I want. There was a comment I saw in some other video that said "Optimistic Nihilism is like a hardcore Minecraft world. In the end you die, and it'll all disappear, but so what? It was fun while it lasted, and that made it worth it"

I think one thing people dont understand about nihilism is that it works both ways. If nothing matters, then there's no point in suicide, no point in not trying, no point in being depressed, no point in not being the best you can be. Just exist. Life doesnt need meaning for you to live it. Sometimes things just happen. It's okay. Just dont go too deep into it nihilism, and you should be fine. We dont need more depressed teens misinterpreting it and giving it a bad name

I never took life seriously. I'm lazy, maybe irresponsible, but I live life in the way it was intended: i take my time, knowing it will run out eventually. Nothing really matters, except your well being.

this is honestly the mindset i’m striving to have; nothing really matters but it’s fine because we can make something from nothing

Acid helped me realize life is both meaningless and meaningful. Nothing really matters but that gives us the ability to make anything matter. Life is like a game and we get to decide the rules. The most important thing to remember though is no matter what you’ll be okay.

this is honestly the best mindset for everyone to have, it's very balanced compared to regular nihilism

So we can say that optimistic nihlism is Albert Camus's ABSURDISM in a way where we know that there is no meaning but we keep looking for it anyway.

That's one of the tricky paradoxes of life, nothing really matters and at the same time almost everything matters to some extent in specific contexts

I don't know about everyone else but for me meaninglessness is incredibly liberating. I was set out to be a bright kid, with good parents, and well supported financially. I was free to choose the career I thought I'd like. Everyone, even myself, expected me to lead a great/extraordinary life. Yet I got bored easily and never have a love interest because I don't care much and can't force myself into anything for long. At the present, I am behind my friends both in career path, finance and marriage, yet I don't feel very bothered by it because I am content. Sometimes I wondered if I chose wrong somewhere, am I wasting my life, is there some grand purpose of my life that I ought to fulfill but neglected, did I fail at the test of life? Those questions could cause some stress for my otherwise carefree attitude in life. When embracing that there is no god, life is a meaningless but beautiful accident, I have no grand plan to follow, no reason to rush or worry, and the only certainty is this life that I get to experience, I feel all the worries about future vaporize and the present becomes most beautiful and precious. I don't necessarily love every moment of my life, but I love that I get to live through this unique life that I have.

"Embracing that none of these things ultimately matter is freeing. Forgive yourself for your past mistakes and look forward, excited to experience the future. Life is precious, beautiful, and awe-inspiring despite its chaos and disorder." I like this quote because it reminds us to let go of the pressure to find meaning in everything and instead embrace the freedom that comes with accepting the ultimate insignificance of our actions. It encourages us to forgive ourselves, live in the present, and find joy in the small wonders of life.

I've read some of the most "depressing" philosophers in the History of Western metaphysics: From Schopenhauer to Nietzsche to Sartre to Derrida. And in all of them I've found happiness.

I've been talking about this for awhile, I don't remember who I learned about this from, but I've discussed with many and the best way I like to put it into words is that "the only things that matter, are what you make matter to your individual" and if you don't openly choose a happy path, you won't find it.

It's so difficult to be nihilistic sometimes, especially optimistic nihilism. Sometimes I just forget and then start ruminating/worrying about some random temporary concept. But who cares, nothing matters.

Optimistic nihilism has been the mindset I've always indulged myself in. It helps dealing with problems in life and pondering useless questions about every single occurrence. It's just as simple as, accept.

I made peace with nihilism I realised if there is no reasonable / meaningful existence then you are the one that makes your existence meaningful. Your everyday actions your feelings , your emotions , your experience bring meaning in life. It kinda made me stronger imo

I've always wondered what the difference between optimistic nihilism and absurdism. But now realize that the first simply means doing whatever because nothing matters while the other is accepting nothing matters but still trying to enjoy it with the struggle as the point all along.

I'm so glad you' made a video about this; Kurzgesagt has covered optimistic nihilism before and I have yet to find an essay-style video on this topic since then. Thank you!

Ive been subconsciously following this mindset for years, and didn't realize it, thanks for enlightening me, this has changed nothing.

This optimistic Nihilism mindset keeps me less depressed and less stressful in life about things

I had this mindset for the last few years. They were some of the best years of my life. Know I am more stuck in my head than ever before. Needed this reminder. Thank you. Keep it up

Sometimes I feel like life is like one of those movies that drags on well beyond where it should have ended.

Nothing matters, so there’s no point worrying about it. Embrace the moment to moment spontaneity and creativity life brings. Enjoy the time you do have

I’ve always struggled to put my belief of this into words that aren’t harsh and ugly. This video was wonderful

This channel has had one of the greatest impacts of my life. It has completely changed how I view the world around me. Extremely grateful ❤

I always appreciate your educational and informative way of putting things that ends up making me just a bit more optimistic in life. I definitely needed this video right now and I appreciate the tools we're gaining knowledge you shout out. I'm definitely more of an optimistic nihilism because I realized the meaninglessness of life but I am able to do anything I want in the time allotted to me.

i unknowingly became nihilistic at the age of 12 and it has improved me so much and made my life much better

So glad your covering this Love your content Aperture keep up the hard work 🐐

i really love videos on topics like this from you so much. your voice is almost therapeutic and the writing is on par with it

Over the last year I began a fresh philosophical journey that sort of kicked off after several traumatic events, and it's interesting (and validating) to find this video because nihilism really resonated with me, but in trying to summarize to people how I was personally experience it, I found it challenging to emphasize the optimism and liberation I have been finding in it. So, thanks - nice to know this is a "thing"!

Missed this content from Aperture. Thanks so much for returning to your roots. (space videos next, pls?)

I think this sounds very informed by your experience of "ego death" you mentioned in an earlier episode after a pscychodelic experience. The idea of nihilism does get levied on those who've had spiritual awakenings as well, and it does seem nehilistic in some ways to hear some of the "talking points" coming out of certain communities, like so-called "neo-advaita." What I hear often from these folks is that nothing matters, because nothing is really happening, there are no people doing things, there's nothing to do, no one to do it, etc. I've also heard it phrased in a way that we are all just like characters in a dream. The dream seems real to us and has its own set of rules, but it's not ultimately real an in "absolute" sense. The main takeway being that you can and should have fun in the dream, do whatever you want, but it's still isn't nice to be mean to people and cause people to suffer intentionally and unnecessarily, but ultimately everything that's happening, good AND bad is all still "perfect" - but maybe just as part of a dream? From a non-awakened person who hasn't had any shifts in reality, it's hard to make a ton of "sense" about this stuff, but then again, these are things that you aren't supposed to really cognitively "understand" but rather "realize" in a "knowing" that goes beyond cogntition. You might call it experiential understanding, but nondualists quibble about that word because they contend that there's no one actually experiencing, there's only the experience or happening - only the hearing, only the seeing, no hearer, seer, seen, or heard. This point of view also asserts no real "meaning" to life, the universe, and everything. Or perhaps the meaning is whatever you decide it should be "within the dream." The point being that you understand that you are in a dream and so to a certain extent you get to make the rules - at least around how you think, not around how things work physically, etc.

Thanks for the great content. I really appreciate the way you make the visuals fit into the things you are saying. 😊

Wow beautiful video very well edited one of ur best omg. Such a treat to look at and listen to music with voice over. Luv aperture🎉

When real tragedy inevitably hits you, all this vague optimism will quickly evaporate because it has literally nothing to stand on. Right now you are just too comfortable to realize it.

Life doesn't matter after watching this video we all know that much, then again we keep searching for things that makes us happy. Having a bad day or a good day doesn't matter, because everything is going to end once your gone. People who knows you now will disappear too, your entire existence will disappear one day, then what's the point in worrying about it now. It won't change a thing.

The things that i fear is not so much the nihilism, but the apathy. i have a very hard time breaking away from the apathy. So the video of a perspective of using nihilism from a positive frame was refreshing. Life is tuff. My faith is a compass my nihilism is a path. May the destination be satisfying.

Playing “the long game” and thinking about humanity smallness compared to the vastness of the universe can help some I’m personally more on board with humanity being awesome and we’re gonna shake this universe to its core

"Once you realize that nothing matters the universe is yours"

As someone who had an issue with developing tilts it prevents it majorly. focus on the good things and ignore the bad things and your life becomes better.

This video literally summarizes my brain in the past three months months

Thanks for giving a name to what I’ve been feeling for a while now! Actually, ever since I read the book Existential Kink. After years of Law of Attraction and other spiritual stuff, it’s been freeing and a huge relief to realize that I don’t actually NEED ANYTHING, because in the end it doesn’t really matter anyway…AND, through realizing this and letting my grip loosen, my life has changed for the better (and I got more of the things I wanted and am much happier).

I used to think and say nothing matters and I do from time to time but it really means I want something to matter.

I feel like I relate to this. In my view life is a game and death is the leaderboard. If none of it matters so may as well go for a high score or something. your score isn’t something you take with you when you go but simply the legacy you leave behind weather good or bad Popular or unknown it doesn’t matter you won’t be here to see the results so just have fun for the time being. Everything being meaningless means you can assign meaning to things. And it also teaches you to embrace the meaningless as our time is limited. Truthfully meaninglessness may be our meaning

I find this video to be uncomfortably comforting. The thought of nihilism isn't new to me. It's what I believe in but struggle accepting. This video helps me to do just that. And only then I can move on. Thank you for making it, Aperture.

NO WAY you made this video! Your first video was great and it covered nihilism but not so much of the optimistic side. That first video came to my mind a few days ago and I wondered how many people know about optimistic nihilism which is the way I also think. Thank you.

The greatest aspect of optimistic nihilism is it keeps you going in life, no matter what. So in a way, it’s a moral compass or at least part of one.

Aperture, Can you do a video on the fact that adults always tell teenagers "I know it feels like the end of the world"? Speaking as a teenager, I understand that my problems and emotions seem petty and insignificant compared to those of full grown adults, but if we are meant to learn responsibility and maturity, shouldn't our elders spend less time telling us that our problems are small and more time helping us get through them?

Fascinating video. I have been struggling for years with the meaninglessness of life, perhaps I could call myself a "negative nihilist". But being a "positive nihilist" seems to be a wonderful way to look into my life. I think you may have inspired me to explore this view with my therapist.

Just want to say, THANK YOU APERTURE, your all videos are well written and explained. Never stop making them. ❤❤

Our lives can weigh so heavy on us because we are so caught up in it. What helps is stop taking everything so serious, every feeling is temporary. Why do we think our lives are so significant, so remarkable? You are literally just one person living his life out of 8 Billion people on earth.

We will always support this channel. They've got what it takes to break down boundaries.

Need this, perfect timing, thanks

Very insightful and feel like watching a few times timely later to absorb the wisdom shared in it

Isn't optimistic nihilism another term for apsurdism. I was staring in nihilism about a year ago and then i discovered apsurdism by Albert Camus. It really changed my perspective on a lot of things. In the meantime i have forgotten about apsurdism and I started to be depressed. This video reminded me of filozofy of optimistic nihilism or apsurdism. This was really strong video to me. Thank you.

I do not understand how anyone thinks this way. How could you possibly see purposlessness as a positive thing? Do you give yourself purpose? How is that not just finding religion with extra steps? How do you know your chosen purpose is correct? How do you know you’re not just deceiving yourself to try and feel better about the sheer magnitude of the hopelessness of your situation? It’s like being stranded in the middle of the ocean and saying, “well I can still swim so I’m okay.” It sounds like dissociation in an attempt to defend against terror.

good topic, i do think about this every single day. i try my best to be optimistic sometimes, i am sometimes i am not. nihilist through and through. being an optimistic nihilist is the only way forward. choosing things that actually has meaning to you, even if it has no meaning, when looking at the bigger picture.

Nihilism sounds so freeing... Definitely need to look into this more. The thought of nothing mattering in the long run feels so relieving. Thank you for this video. ❤️

It’s always a good day when aperture uploads some mind bending shit

To believe in optimistic nihilism is easy, but to truly embrace it is exceedingly difficult.

Thank you for this content Aperture! 😊🙌

that has gotta be the most smoothest transition to a sponsor I've ever seen

Living your life the way you want to shouldn’t be a revolutionary concept but it is. Do what makes happy unless you want to be unhappy then you can do that too ig.

I'm a Nihilist. It doesn't affect me negatively because I am also a Stoic and a Taoist. You choose life's meaning. So you better choose wisely. You say "Nihilism is meant to be temporary" but that is not true. You grow into an "active nihilist" after conquering "passive nihilism." The passive nihilist says "life has no inherent meaning, we are lost" and the active (optimistic) nihilist says "life has no inherent meaning, we are free."

Love your videos man Keep up the goodwork.

It's got in my head that every story i think of the protagonist will be center so I keep trying to push him aside untill he is no longer has a role, i have thousands of thoughts why then he would be the protagonist then i realised that in the protagonist I want myself but I am meaningless in my thoughts. Why am I so, then i searched till I found this is optimistic 😁 nihilism knowing all this meaningless no matter what I do still keep doing is the best self. Thanks for you i have a name for my feelings inside heart.

Life is passing , exams are coming and going yet nothing keeps getting better. Depression is growing.

This has been my view point for a while now. I find it makes me happier to accept it, and live the best version I can, of this strange thing we call existence.

The way you keep sowing your ads in is great!

Thank you, this is the term I've been looking for!

As a gamer I understand. Once i beat the final boss there is nothing left i have won. I feel an emptiness in that my goal is completed. As a Christian I realize the difference here. There is literally more for me to strive for. Its about the difference that I made and hopefully the souls I saved along the way. All else is distractions. Distractions that I admittedly spend way to much time on.

This is a certified absurdist moment of all time

"I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter I had to fall to lose it all But in the in it doesn't even matter" - Chester Binnington

My personal understanding of this is, Embrace the Void. If nothing matters, that is a reflect of everything mattering allowing more possiilities to assign matter too. Aspects that hold significance.

Optimistic and Nihilism are two excluding terms that cancel each other out. Either you face life with the foreseen conviction that whatever shitty situation will be soon to pass, or just bundle yourself into fetal position and lay wheresoever you may be, which is the nihilistic depressed cousin that follows, named pessimism. The one will eventually lead to the other. There are no gray areas, there is no middle point. Crawl towards nothingness or face life with the realism that life's cycles do changes from one spectrum towards the other. "Do or do not; there is no try"

being part of a world void of meaning, isn't meaningless - it empowers you to fill it with meaning, if you dare

I was an optimistic nihilist when I was a child and only knew Catholicism. I was able to accept it My life was terrible and painful but none of that mattered because this world was a drop in the bucket compared to eternity in heaven. Losing that crushed me and nothing is ever really replaced it

I'm really thankful to hear those words :) Really thankful I subscribed to Aperture on the first hand :)) Thankyou

I think this resembles stoicism at some point. Just live with yourself, the outside doesn't matter, it means nothing in the end anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Nihilism: Nothing matters Optimistic Nihilism: Since nothing matters, you're free to assign value to whatever you want. So you don't have to feel like you've wasted your life playing video games and reading comic books. It made you happy. So it mattered. And if it mattered to you, you mattered too.

Thanks. I needed this.

This served me really well in life into my early-mid thirties... then I tried to write a novel and MAN it's hard to make a fictional story whose lesson is "Nothing matters" that isn't just Hitchhiker's Guide but crappier.

So basically make up a purpose with no backing to it. A made up purpose. A makeshift salvation with nothing but deception. To delude yourself with a temporary peace of mind. I find that pretty pathetic. Edit: let me rephrase my statement. I just don't understand when people say life is nothing but then try to make up something. I don't buy that they actually believe in something. In my eyes they are just trying to cope and deep down are sad. So I don't believe anyone actually believes in something while believing in nothing. Deep down they know they are coping. The reason why I say pathetic, I mean the hypocrisy itself is pathetic. I hate hypocrisy. It's in the realm of lies, and delusion. But it's whatever since almost everyone is a hypocrite. I don't really care that much though I just wanted to unload my thoughts.

the fact that anyone can say that nothing matters and it's ok is funny asf to me because it is contradicting statement. If we are here to simply give our selves a made up purpose, wouldn't that in itself be the purpose why we are here?

THIS VIDEO IS ACTUALLY LIFE CHANGING. THANKS MAN. LOVE YOU

This is what i felt after being invested from vids like this a month ago, and then i thought bothing really do matters which is great, felt so much freedom and is now happy👍

I prefer to be a Christian rather than being a nihilist because it's better putting my faith on someone who promises me internal life if I believe rather than not believing in anything at all but simply dieing and hope to feel nothing after death

Nihilism is a fallacy. When following your train of thought you can maneuver a bit, saying "but still", however this attitude doesnt work when faced with the reality of life. if im sitting at home doing nothing its easy to follow any philosophy because it never comes into question. When you try to live though, you ll get challenged and it will boggle your mind, it happens to me almost every day. When trying to think about things in a wider scope, nihilism fails. Why should you be good or benevolent if nothing matters? Does being kind make you happy? Why should you strive to be happy, it doesnt matter anyway. Humanity crumbles when we stop considering our soul. When we deny that we are meant to be something more than what we are at any given moment. They say its a matter of perspective but perspective will only last you so long in face of fact. You can cope momentarily thinking you had fun in your life but if you deny that eternity follows death, you realise this joy is fleeting and it fades with this realisation. If you assume there is no purpose to any of this, why is it "ok"? Its not ok, thats a cope and nothing more. If you accept nihilism you can doubt everything, and reach evil this way. Digging deep enough you will see the evil of nihilism surfacing in different scenarios. In a totally self centered approach i could say "oh, being kind makes me happy" but does that matter? no nothing matters. So i can murder people on a whim. did the fact that i was upset matter? no, nothing matters, not even my own emotions because the soul doesnt exist. The fact that an ideology has the potential for this makes it evil. If you try to bargain by saying "oh but i dont interpret it like this" then you accept only the surface level traits of it, the "nothing matters so i can move on from past mistakes" right? So the ideology is flawed and requires a partial look for very few apothegms to have the slightest application in real life. "Nothing matters" is not a relief, its an excuse for our ego to survive unharmed as we go live the worst life possible. To make something out of nothing is impossible and its not whats happening in our lives. There is something there, as there was something when the universe was born. The problem is we dont focus on that something. We stick to the material things, and now, when people realise its unnatural they go ahead and say nothing matters. Thats not true. The material things dont matter. What matters is our soul. The love for each other, making sure our co humans can live in a utopia in the afterlife. So when you say nothing matters, in your soulless perception of existence, you meant the material world. to that i agree. this world doesnt matter. But the next one does, and so our life, and our souls matter, because thats when we will meet our true purpose and be with each other and God and experience existence in full and true bliss, instead of this phony fleeting substitute for joy delegacy we experience now

Thank you for explaining it the right way. Everyone thinks denialism means you are excused from your wrongdoings but has nothing to do with it.

Aperture is back!! Let's go

If you are not in the financial market space right now, you are making a huge mistake. I understand that it could be due to ignorance,but if you want to make your money work for you...prevent inflation

Yeah I didn't realize this but I guess I'm an optimistic nihilist with a touch of anthropic principlism. For some years now, my conclusion has been that in this vast, grand universe, our menial lives mean little to nothing in the greater scheme of things, yet also it's for this exact reason that life simultaneously means everything. At the same time, it is our role in our lives to create our own meaning, and without us the universe just simply exists. We are the universe's eyes, ears, heart and soul, and for that we should be ever grateful. These days I look at the relative meaninglessness of everything and can't help but to chuckle a bit. Here I am worried about this girl, my finances, family, friends, kids, cats, and everything that creates meaning for me in my life both good and bad, and it's all just nothing. The universe both doesn't care in the slightest and cares entirely about these things, as I am a manifestation of a part of said universe. 🧿✌️🕊️

I was waiting for someone to make this. :)

The idea that optimism makes nihilism any better is actually funny. I'm sure that optimism will provide great comfort and reason to persist adversity when life lays you low and nothing matters and nobody cares.

this is the 1st time I've heard of this term and I love it. It describes me perfectly.

This has basically been my way of thinking since watching the Veritasium video 'Our Greatest Delusion' with a bit of my own perspective as a disabled person. Ultimately nothing matters, so make the most of what you've got whilst you've got it.

“Nothing matters 😔” vs “nothing matters so you may as well have fun 😁👍”

Aperture, this video cause me to recall a moment I was walking into music store when they use to exist but now they do not I was transformed into black, it like I was sent into void before earth was formed and I could feel this super peace it was a complete black out on hot summer afternoon on A Saturday it only happen for few seconds and then I came out of it, It was the most unusual experience I ever had. that what Nihilism seems to be. Thanks for your video.