DE Weekly: Meaning, Ex Nihilo, & the Chasm of Existence
Below is an archived email originally sent on October 27, 2025.
Meaning, Ex Nihilo, & the Chasm of Existence
For those not entirely familiar with existentialism, a pervasive mistake that can be made is to conflate the philosophy with nihilism, and to associate the beliefs of one with the other. In fact, even if you do have a solid understanding of existential philosophy, the two can sometimes bleed into one another.
The reason I like to differentiate between the two and really hammer home the fact that existentialism is not nihilist in its underlying beliefs is that I really do not have patience for nihilists and nihilism in general.
Nihilism as a philosophy purports that life is meaningless and there are no objective morals and values. Nihilists themselves believe life has no purpose and intrinsic value and everything is equally expendable.
This is why instead of calling nihilism a philosophy, I find it appropriate to refer to it as an absence of philosophy. If it claims that it believes in nothing, then it can hang its hat on nothing.
No principles, no bedrock beliefs, no values, nothing.
With that said, where, then, does existentialism direct us? How does it separate itself from nihilism?
Where nihilism tells us there is no way out, existentialism does the opposite: it beckons us to accept our radical freedom in this world––one without a predefined meaning––and to embrace the challenge of finding meaning and purpose and living a life of value.
In other words, existentialism offers a way out of the pit of despair. It says, “Yes, it’s there… but you don’t have to sink in it. Look up there.”
At the top of this newsletter, I wrote I have little patience for nihilist thinking. I don’t say that to be mean, nor do I say it simply because I don’t like the “beliefs” that it offers.
I say it because those same “beliefs” collapse upon themselves like a house of cards as soon as you invoke second order thinking to consider them.
Allow me to explain.
Nihilists claim that they believe in nothing. However, when you truly dig into it, even nothing is something. “Nothing” is a thing.
They praise nothingness as the cornerstone of their existence, but refuse to have it wrested from them. Scratch a nihilist and you will quickly discover one afraid of death.
They place upon their altar nothing, leaving space for whatever and whoever to be praised in its place.
It is said that the only argument to defeat a moral nihilist is death. In that case, there can’t be nothing. Because if we can conceive of death––of nothingness––this implies that we are something.
We are not nothing (not meaningless animals wandering a meaningless world); rather, we are ex nihilo: out of nothing. We were created so that we might be something instead of nothing.
Therefore, death as we understand it is not a release to nothing, but a release from something: a release from being. This is why we fear it.
If nihilists truly believe in nothing, then they praise nothing. If they truly believe we ourselves are nothing, then they should not be afraid of the nothingness they suggest we inhabit once we die.
If nothing is what you praise, then meet it! But I don’t really believe that they really praise nothing. I believe they praise everything.
Everything, that is to say, both everything and nothing at all.
They claim they believe in nothing so that they might believe in anything at any time––just not what you believe nor what anyone else tells them to believe, not when it's inconvenient for them and not when it might force them to admit their true beliefs.
A cheap cop-out of one’s utterly terrifying freedom. The easy way out.
In existentialism, there is a concept called the “chasm of existence.” It refers to the gap between the human desire for meaning and a universe that offers none. This is the absurdity of our existence. What should our response be?
It is much easier to be cynical than hopeful.
It is much easier to let yourself fall into the chasm of existence than to attempt to leap over it or, even more bravely, to stare into it and answer its claims of hopelessness with a resounding “No! Away with you!”
What I believe nihilists are truly afraid of, more than death, is meaning. They must know it exists. They must know it is out there.
Life is excruciatingly meaningful. We must not be afraid to heed the call. It’s what we were created for. It’s what we are.
We can descend into the depths of the pit of despair so long as, and only if, our aim is up––up to meaning, up to God.
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” –– Albert Camus
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Brandon J. Seltenrich
P.S.––
Two in a row offering my own thoughts and beliefs. Hope it’s something you all like.
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