If you have never read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams you should. Aside from the fact that it is probably the only book that I have read and laughed out loud while reading, this book is an incredibly witty look at nihilism. This is where I get my amazing math skills from.
In one of Adams' books the people of the universe decide once and for all to find out wh
at the answer is to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." So they create a supercomputer (nicknamed "Deep Thought") to solve the meaning of life. After 71/2 million years of calculation Deep Thought comes up with the answer: 42. The people of the universe then have to create another supercomputer (the planet Earth) to find out what the proper mathematical question would be. Earth comes to the conclusion that the original question was... 6x9=?
at the answer is to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." So they create a supercomputer (nicknamed "Deep Thought") to solve the meaning of life. After 71/2 million years of calculation Deep Thought comes up with the answer: 42. The people of the universe then have to create another supercomputer (the planet Earth) to find out what the proper mathematical question would be. Earth comes to the conclusion that the original question was... 6x9=?So there you have it. The meaning of life is: 6x9=42. Both question and answer are inane. One of Adams' characters (Prak) explains this mathematical and philosophical oddity by saying, "I'm afraid... that the Question and the Answer are mutually exclusive. Knowledge of one logically precludes knowledge of the other. It is impossible that both can ever be known about the same universe."
This is the conclusion that Adams reached. Douglas Adams was a life long advocate of evolution and a self-proclaimed "radical atheist." He recognized that the logical outcome of belief in Naturalism is Nihilism (a denial of the possibility of knowledge). If you believe that life happens by accident and then search for the meaning of life you have a question and answer that are mutually exclusive (6x9=? and 42). For someone that didn't believe in an answer and thought that asking the question was pointless, Adams spent a lot of time searching for both.
This is the world that we live in. Most people claim to have either the question or the answer. Many of us claim to have both the question and the answer... but do they line up?
Many people who do not believe in a "Christian" God look at Christians and are confused. In Adams' words, why would "otherwise rational... intelligent people... nevertheless take [the existence of God] seriously." I think, in situations like this, it may be that the questions and answers don't line up. But that's because Adams was either asking the wrong question or getting the wrong answer.
What are your experiences with Nihilism (there is no meaning/purpose in life)?
Do we, as Christians claim to have the question (6x9=?) or the answer (42)?
How can we bridge into an increasingly Nihilistic world?
Is "Marvin the Paranoid Android" funny or irritating?
16 comments:
Hmmm...and I thought "Hitchhiker's" was just a funny movie.
To answer the easy question first, though Marvin does have a witty and charming sense of humour he is a little grating on the nerves.
I hope I would never be as presumptuous to assume that I have THE question or THE answer. I do tell people who don't believe in God, if they ask, that I would rather go through life believing that there is meaning and purpose and take the small risk that maybe there is nothing more out there than go through life not believing in a greater purpose only to find out that there is and I missed out.
When it comes down to it I think people would rather believe in something than nothing at all, whether they realise it or not.
Now, I've done too much thinking and my head hurts. I think I might have to avoid checking this blog for my mental health!
All I know is that Friedrich Nietzche was a nutcase who spent the latter part of his life in an insane asylum of sorts.
Yet on the other hand, he did have a wicked sweet moustache...this is difficult...
You're right, Mike. Two of Nihilism's pioneers had rather unfortunate ends. Nietzsche went to an asylum and Hemingway commited suicide. That doesn't speak well about the effectiveness of their worldview.
However, many Christians have had unfortunate ends too...
...many Christians have also had wicked sweet moustaches...myself included.
So do you think that maybe the writer of Ecclesiastes was the first Nihilist("Utterly meaningless!")?
I heard someone explain some of the thought behind Ecclesiastes, and he said that the focus isn't so much that everything is completely meaningless, but rather that fully 'understanding' anything is futile (or in vain) because of the inherent mystery that comes with submitting to the Sovereign God.
And yes, that was my attempt to steer the discussion in the direction of biblical theology. I did it, and I'll do it again!
ok - i am NOT smart enough to comment on the stuff you write....BUT i do have a comment about FUSE and how much i miss it. and how WE all HAVE to get together because i miss everyone. and how if we NEVER play together ever again - i think i will die. and then you'll have to live with that. just some thoughts. haha...
I'm with Jenelle.. but tim.. wondering if that david crowder book is good? can I borrow it or should I buy it? looking for some reading material for my holidays!
j
Well Tim, it seems that you have completely lost control of your blog and this is only the third post. Oh well, perhaps people don't see the meaning or purpose in it. But seriously I have met many people that to some extent have a nihilistic world view. However, unlike the authors that you mentioned I think most peoples beliefs are not that well thought out. Ask a hard core Christian what they believe and they will give you an hour sermon. But ask a random person in the mall what they believe and most of the time you get a, "well... I think... I'm not sure... but maybe". Logically, unlike the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which by the way I only watched the movie, the question and answer must be joined together. The answer is useless without the question and the question is just frustrating without the answer. I think that everybody at one point has asked the question in one form or another and in not getting an adequate answer they have denied the questions importance. My Dad is into puzzles and he loves to find the solution to them. I however, get frustrated and deny that it is fun to solve the puzzle. Mostly because I am to lazy or I don't want to look stupid when I need help finding the solution. This is how most people run their own belief system. They don't want to ask for help when they don't understand the purpose in life. They are confused because they are taught in school that we are an accident and even though many don't quite believe it, they fall back to that because they are to lazy or they don't want to look stupid. However they are really missing the great joy of putting the question with the right answer. The joy of learning how God created us and finally doing what He created us for. Why do you think that the "Purpose Driven Life" book was so successful. People long to know the purpose for their lives. And when crisis hits, or nerves start to fray, then people are more interested in asking for help and are willing to put in the effort to find the answer for their question. God created us for a purpose, and it is through salvation in Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit that we can finally realize that purpose.
Oh and I want a picture of Mikul's wicked sweet moustache.
Tim
First of all it should be noted that while Mikul says that his moustache was "wicked sweet" he is overstating it; it was simply "sweet". No more, no less.
Secondly, I don't think that Solomon (or whoever it was that wrote Ecclesiastes) was a nihilist, or at least he didn't remain one. As with most people who don't find any purpose in life, Solomon tried to find purpose in the material things of this world and found that they proved to me "meaningless". What he did find purpose in was fearing God and keeping His commandments (Ecc. 12:13). While all the things of the world proved themselves to be meaningless, honouring God provided Solomon with lifelong purpose. I also have found this to be a sure cure for Nihilism.
See Mike, I'm all about the Bib.Theo.
No, my moustache wasn't wicked sweet in the same way as Nietzche's was, that's for sure.
I do, however, appreciate your submitting to its sweetness.
It's better than other Tim-like comments, such as:
"It sucked." and
"What moustache?"
I agree that the writer of Ecclesiastes didn't remain a Nihilist. I just find it interesting to think that all people (including, if not especially, Christians) need to resign many things of life to being a mystery that is transcendent of them. But I guess this all connects a bit better with your "Water" post.
Don't you think the term "wicked sweet" reflects a world view that only the wicked can be sweet and that goodness is inately boring and lacklustre?
According to a slang historian I heard on the radio, young people's tendency to use negative terminology in a positive way is there attempt to have a linguistic independence from the previous generation. Hence, if "wicked" is used in a positive sense, all the parents of the kids who say "wicked" are really confused.
I'm starting to feel old as I can already see this happening to me. Kids are starting to use slang like "sick" (which means good) that I have never used. I guess that means I'm an obsolete adult now:(
My moustache was gorgeously, sweetly, happily, and incandescently sweet.
....and brutally sweet.
All rolled into one.
First, I'd like to say that this is a wickedly, sweet, awesome blog with tight comments. And I do think we should bring "tight" back as a slang "cool" word.
Secondly, I'd like to point out that the movie is rather pointless as it does not conclude the story and so you never receive the answer to the question. Therefore I would recommend reading the books which are more enlightening to what you are talking about and just generally hilarious.
Third, I've never thought of them philosophically before. I've learned a lot from this blog. Thanks everyone.
The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is a trilogy in 4 books...or is it 5 now...I highly reccomend this as reading for everyone.
6x9=42 is in base 13 Part of Adams' warped sence of humour. (kinda like the Sawatzky's)
Lots of things give us purpose in life. Raising kids. Having kids as employees or students and see them go on to bigger and better things. Most importantly, to be happy. But what if our purpose wasn't any of these things. From my heavy science background...what if our purpose is just to make more DNA. I read somewhere that men were just a sperm's way of making more sperm. OK, biologists tend to simplify things too much. They never take any emotion into actions.
However, Adams does make some good points. In another series he wrote, about Dirk Gently's Holistic detective agency, a bumbling detective doesn't always know where he is going, but he gets to where he needs to be. This might seem silly, but that is how I ended up at MBC. Went for a drive, ended up helping at VBS...
Excellent blog, Tim. And excellent comments by everyone, especially Tim S. Gets those gears grinding in my head.
Rick
I will not acquiesce in on it. I think polite post. Expressly the title-deed attracted me to read the sound story.
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