☀️ JOIN SPN MOBILE
Forums
New posts
Guru Granth Sahib
Composition, Arrangement & Layout
ਜਪੁ | Jup
ਸੋ ਦਰੁ | So Dar
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ | Sohilaa
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ | Raag Siree-Raag
Gurbani (14-53)
Ashtpadiyan (53-71)
Gurbani (71-74)
Pahre (74-78)
Chhant (78-81)
Vanjara (81-82)
Vaar Siri Raag (83-91)
Bhagat Bani (91-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
Gurbani (94-109)
Ashtpadi (109)
Ashtpadiyan (110-129)
Ashtpadi (129-130)
Ashtpadiyan (130-133)
Bara Maha (133-136)
Din Raen (136-137)
Vaar Maajh Ki (137-150)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗਉੜੀ | Raag Gauree
Gurbani (151-185)
Quartets/Couplets (185-220)
Ashtpadiyan (220-234)
Karhalei (234-235)
Ashtpadiyan (235-242)
Chhant (242-249)
Baavan Akhari (250-262)
Sukhmani (262-296)
Thittee (296-300)
Gauree kii Vaar (300-323)
Gurbani (323-330)
Ashtpadiyan (330-340)
Baavan Akhari (340-343)
Thintteen (343-344)
Vaar Kabir (344-345)
Bhagat Bani (345-346)
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ | Raag Aasaa
Gurbani (347-348)
Chaupaday (348-364)
Panchpadde (364-365)
Kaafee (365-409)
Aasaavaree (409-411)
Ashtpadiyan (411-432)
Patee (432-435)
Chhant (435-462)
Vaar Aasaa (462-475)
Bhagat Bani (475-488)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੂਜਰੀ | Raag Goojaree
Gurbani (489-503)
Ashtpadiyan (503-508)
Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
Gurbani (527-536)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ | Raag Bihaagraa
Gurbani (537-556)
Chhant (538-548)
Vaar Bihaagraa (548-556)
ਰਾਗੁ ਵਡਹੰਸ | Raag Wadhans
Gurbani (557-564)
Ashtpadiyan (564-565)
Chhant (565-575)
Ghoriaan (575-578)
Alaahaniiaa (578-582)
Vaar Wadhans (582-594)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੋਰਠਿ | Raag Sorath
Gurbani (595-634)
Asatpadhiya (634-642)
Vaar Sorath (642-659)
ਰਾਗੁ ਧਨਾਸਰੀ | Raag Dhanasaree
Gurbani (660-685)
Astpadhiya (685-687)
Chhant (687-691)
Bhagat Bani (691-695)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
Chhant (703-705)
Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
Bhagat Bani (710)
ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
ਰਾਗੁ ਬੈਰਾੜੀ | Raag Bairaaree
ਰਾਗੁ ਤਿਲੰਗ | Raag Tilang
Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ | Raag Suhi
Gurbani (728-750)
Ashtpadiyan (750-761)
Kaafee (761-762)
Suchajee (762)
Gunvantee (763)
Chhant (763-785)
Vaar Soohee (785-792)
Bhagat Bani (792-794)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ | Raag Bilaaval
Gurbani (795-831)
Ashtpadiyan (831-838)
Thitteen (838-840)
Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
Ashtpadiyan (902-916)
Gurbani (876-902)
Anand (917-922)
Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
Sidh Gosat (938-946)
Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
ਰਾਗੁ ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ | Raag Nat Narayan
Gurbani (975-980)
Ashtpadiyan (980-983)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
Gurbani (1319-23)
Ashtpadiyan (1323-26)
ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
Salok | Gatha | Phunahe | Chaubole | Swayiye
Sehskritee Mahala 1
Sehskritee Mahala 5
Gaathaa Mahala 5
Phunhay Mahala 5
Chaubolae Mahala 5
Shaloks Bhagat Kabir
Shaloks Sheikh Farid
Swaiyyae Mahala 5
Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New resources
Latest activity
Videos
New media
New comments
Library
Latest reviews
Donate
Log in
Register
What's new
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Welcome to all New Sikh Philosophy Network Forums!
Explore Sikh Sikhi Sikhism...
Sign up
Log in
Discussions
Interfaith Dialogues
Is That All There Is? The Question Of Nihilism
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="spnadmin" data-source="post: 153741" data-attributes="member: 35"><p>by Dmitri Hamlim</p><p></p><p>Is that all there is?</p><p></p><p>Recently I found myself in New York at The Huffington Post office, talking to Arianna herself about the questions my generation is asking of a world that seems increasingly meaningless despite our outward progress and technological development. Inspired, Arianna invited me to start this online dialogue as a continuation of that conversation, providing a forum to articulate and share insight from various points of view. She even came up with the title: Is That All There Is?</p><p></p><p>Apart from echoing a sentiment of disillusion, the question reminds me of a scene in a movie about mistaken identity ("The Big Lebowski"). The protagonist responds to a particularly sexual advance by questioning whether the encounter would be appropriate under the circumstances.</p><p></p><p>He apprehensively asks, "Are you sure he won't mind?" -- referring to how the interested woman appears to be already taken by someone lounging in the pool right beside them. She retorts that the other man, passed-out with an empty bottle of whiskey, "doesn't care about anything -- he's a nihilist." The protagonist observes, "Oh, that must be exhausting."</p><p></p><p>Of all traditions I can care to apprehend and elect to carry on through life, nihilism strikes me as being terribly comical. The irony is delicious: the unconscious nihilist ventures to make a point out of purported meaninglessness. Just because I have been disillusioned and disappointed by particular value-systems, it does not follow that I need to deny the real existence of absolute or objective meaning, value and purpose to all experience and life. Acting as though I do not care does not prove that there is nothing to care about. On the contrary, I think every act is intentionally directed to progressively discover our fundamental understanding of the world as built upon the structure of care itself. Care is how the world makes a difference to us by enabling our free involvement and interest with things, including alleged concerns with meaninglessness.</p><p></p><p>If the question "Is that all there is?" does not necessarily evoke strict nihilism and misguided moral nihilism, then it can actually be quite liberating. Instead of ironically reading disappointment with some things not meeting expectations as evidence in support of nihilism, I choose to direct my attention to how important I feel it is to anticipate making a difference through correspondence with the world. I find it liberating to understand how everything is permissible not because the absence of God or Truth practically provides moral license for any and all action; instead, because everything expresses itself first as the potential for experience, there exists a "nothing" before actual things. Nothing is true and everything is permissible, therefore I am free before everything.</p><p></p><p>Nothing is the positive yet indeterminate impression on the horizon, just before becoming something definite. It is nothing and it is not-nothing. Together with the present, it is the future and it is the past. It is the pure potential and freedom to experience -- the initial "I can" of intentional consciousness that provides for my participation and correspondence with wonder.</p><p></p><p>I think the world is interesting because I actually care about the possibility of nothing.</p><p></p><p>Singing, "Is that all?" the chorus calls for us to recognize the continually conspicuous presence of an absence. Disappointment is not so much the problem now if we believe in nothing; because nothing, by definition, actually exceeds all possible expectation: "wherefore it is right that What Is be not unfulfilled; for it is not lacking: if it were, it would lack everything." </p><p></p><p>(Parmenides, fr. 8.33) I think that sometimes we mistake things for their absence and for this, in the end I trust, there will always be more to say about nothing.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dimitri-hamlin/is-that-all-there-is-the-question-of-nihilism_b_975863.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dimitri-hamlin/is-that-all-there-is-the-question-of-nihilism_b_975863.html</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="spnadmin, post: 153741, member: 35"] by Dmitri Hamlim Is that all there is? Recently I found myself in New York at The Huffington Post office, talking to Arianna herself about the questions my generation is asking of a world that seems increasingly meaningless despite our outward progress and technological development. Inspired, Arianna invited me to start this online dialogue as a continuation of that conversation, providing a forum to articulate and share insight from various points of view. She even came up with the title: Is That All There Is? Apart from echoing a sentiment of disillusion, the question reminds me of a scene in a movie about mistaken identity ("The Big Lebowski"). The protagonist responds to a particularly sexual advance by questioning whether the encounter would be appropriate under the circumstances. He apprehensively asks, "Are you sure he won't mind?" -- referring to how the interested woman appears to be already taken by someone lounging in the pool right beside them. She retorts that the other man, passed-out with an empty bottle of whiskey, "doesn't care about anything -- he's a nihilist." The protagonist observes, "Oh, that must be exhausting." Of all traditions I can care to apprehend and elect to carry on through life, nihilism strikes me as being terribly comical. The irony is delicious: the unconscious nihilist ventures to make a point out of purported meaninglessness. Just because I have been disillusioned and disappointed by particular value-systems, it does not follow that I need to deny the real existence of absolute or objective meaning, value and purpose to all experience and life. Acting as though I do not care does not prove that there is nothing to care about. On the contrary, I think every act is intentionally directed to progressively discover our fundamental understanding of the world as built upon the structure of care itself. Care is how the world makes a difference to us by enabling our free involvement and interest with things, including alleged concerns with meaninglessness. If the question "Is that all there is?" does not necessarily evoke strict nihilism and misguided moral nihilism, then it can actually be quite liberating. Instead of ironically reading disappointment with some things not meeting expectations as evidence in support of nihilism, I choose to direct my attention to how important I feel it is to anticipate making a difference through correspondence with the world. I find it liberating to understand how everything is permissible not because the absence of God or Truth practically provides moral license for any and all action; instead, because everything expresses itself first as the potential for experience, there exists a "nothing" before actual things. Nothing is true and everything is permissible, therefore I am free before everything. Nothing is the positive yet indeterminate impression on the horizon, just before becoming something definite. It is nothing and it is not-nothing. Together with the present, it is the future and it is the past. It is the pure potential and freedom to experience -- the initial "I can" of intentional consciousness that provides for my participation and correspondence with wonder. I think the world is interesting because I actually care about the possibility of nothing. Singing, "Is that all?" the chorus calls for us to recognize the continually conspicuous presence of an absence. Disappointment is not so much the problem now if we believe in nothing; because nothing, by definition, actually exceeds all possible expectation: "wherefore it is right that What Is be not unfulfilled; for it is not lacking: if it were, it would lack everything." (Parmenides, fr. 8.33) I think that sometimes we mistake things for their absence and for this, in the end I trust, there will always be more to say about nothing. [url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dimitri-hamlin/is-that-all-there-is-the-question-of-nihilism_b_975863.html[/url] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Discussions
Interfaith Dialogues
Is That All There Is? The Question Of Nihilism
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top