Faustian Nihilism Vs, the 41st Millennium

Okay I’m gonna give you a little bit of advice: don’t think. I’m being very serious, don’t think. The unthinking envy the thinkers because they inhabit a world the unthinking can’t enter, but the thinking envy the unthinking for the serenity they will never have again; and so it is with thought, it always leaves you in an obscure, unsatisfactory place somewhere between “what is the purpose of humanity?” and “did my dog possibly eat some of my puzzle pieces?”

Just don’t think about it, okay?

You’re thinking, I can hear you, I said stop. Fine, I suppose you need a little more encouragement to get those gears to stop moving.

Ever heard of nihilism probably associated with some crazy German philosopher by the name of Fredrich Neitchze (whose whole life could be summarized with a well-spoken “NO!”)? Well, while that guy prided himself on being the first and only nihilist (yes he in affect believed that his whole philosophy was pointless and he loved to preach it) he wasn’t.

You’re a nihilist too. Don’t think about it, if you didn’t listen last time, listen now. Right now you only have a minor case of nihilism; thinking about it speeds up its growth and turns you into the living dead. I’m serious, so don’t think about it, I don’t want the world ending in a zombie apocalypse to be on my hands. Not that I’d care, I’d be a zombie.

Anyway, you are a nihilist. Probabilistically you are something of a Faustian nihilist. Now I’m glad you made the connection that I’m taking about Goethe’s Faust, but please stop thinking.

Yes, as you presumed, Faust is a Nihilist – but a very bad one at that and hence why Faustian nihilism is a very minor case in my book.

Towards the beginning of the book, we find him in his study complaining about just about everything. After a chat with a spirit and a talk to his (assistant?) about Greek tragedy he then tries to kill himself as he feels life is meaningless as he is very disillusioned about his previous exploits in knowledge and learning. However, the fool can’t bring himself to kill himself and decides instead to drudge on. Later, as he is making the pact with the devil (Mephistopheles) it is important to note that he notes that the earth, life is like a prison and that “Thus by existence, tortured and oppressed; I crave for death, I long to rest.”

It is only until the devil promises Faust the highest level of satisfaction and pleasure does Faust begin consider living again. It is also important to note that Faust seems to have very little regard for the ‘afterlife’. This disregard for his eternal soul can be explained by the witch’s scene much later when the witch complains that she could not recognize him due to his change in form, and the devil puts the credit on the human conscious. Therefore we can conclude that hell and heaven are no more than you make them to be.

This is Faustian and your nihilism. We realize that there is no point, but we do not fully accept this and hence strive in various ways to make meaning out of life with great disregard to the effects of our actions, the ends justify the means to an extent.

Yes, that was a fancy, long winded excuse for me to call you a short-sighted blubbering idiot (don’t worry so am I).

So, if things are pointless, why do we try to make sense of things and strive for greater heights and pleasures? What would life look like if we didn’t?

Specifically, for the first question I would like to note that C.S Lewis in his book “Out of the Silent Planet” concludes that humans are “wise enough to see their death, but too foolish to accept it.”

That’s all I will say on that issue and book. It considers a lot of thought and in my opinion, I don’t give a rat’s tail about humanities purpose and if I had the slightest idea that my dog was chewing on puzzle pieces I would toss the puzzle – and probably the dog too.

For the second, I will turn to the lighter subject of the grim darkness of the 41^st Millennium (Warhammer 40k). What I want you to see are these: 

These are Orks. Pretty much they are an advanced species of lichen. They are green due to photosynthetic symbiots in their skin, they live to fight, and they use teeth as money. The thing about them is their simplicity. As noted by one of the “higher races” in the 41^st Millennium:

“The Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans on the road to their ruin? And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn’t bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude.”

The Orks have a great simplicity about them, these two cartoons illustrate this very well:

All in all, what we can learn from the Orks is that sure life may be pointless, but it doesn’t really matter. They don’t go around asking why? They just do. They have no real wants or desires like Faust, no idea of a higher pleasure as Mephistopheles tempted Faust with. For them, life itself is enough; they just take what life gave them and do the simplest thing. For them its strong bodies and so they fight (plus the threat of death makes one the most alive) and that is all they need.

The devil has no hold on them.

So you, stop thinking and just do, you’ve wasted enough time here trying to grasp a ‘deeper meaning’ from this blog, stop it and just life for a while, in the end that’s all you have.

(Cartoons courtesy of WobblyModelSyndrome.com, Warhammer 40K, Orks, and all affilates belong to GamesWorkshop, no infringement intended all rights belong to them and their affiliates)