Nihilism is the great non-starter.

I think Nihilism is very liberating. How can something that frees you be negative? Maybe it appears negative from the default standpoint to hold values as objective, absolute or a standard to base all other logical conclusions. It is the realization that all moral values are human social constructs and you are now free to re-evaluate and re-examine your assumptions). If they start doing that, though, they are existentialists, (the old saying, "nobody is Nihilist for long"). But people have managed to stay and refuse to define or accept human or moral values, or to assume it is all relative and contextual.

I do have to agree Nihilism is very liberating. It kinda sucks that most don't really see that so they go to Absurdism, which is pretty much the same thing. Existentialism is honestly one of those things that once you become interested in, it just kinda grows on you and you become rather obsessed.

You are equating existentialism and nihilism?

No i'm equating Nihilism with Absurdism. Existentialism is much more open than nihilism obviously

Ecclesiastes is a book of wise "nihilism." It opens with "all is vanity." But it advises one to enjoy life, work hard at something one loves, find a nice girl. Childhood in this culture sets us up to expect absolutes. Maybe we are hardwired to start that way. But the pleasure in life, in all of the little projects we make for ourselves, suffices for many -- assuming there is not too much pain. And things tend to get less painful as one gets the hang of a godless life. I tempted to say something along the lines of what the wise Joseph Campbell might say: the "finite" personality has to die to make way for the "infinite" personality.

When I first realized that I was a mortal being, and that death is terribly certain, I spiraled into a pretty un-fun depression in the face of my mortal existence. But you know what? It scared the shit out of me to where I confronted it and embraced it for the sheer certainty that it is, and proceed to live and enjoy life anyway. I am sure that there are more revelations and realizations that await me, and I can safely say that these presently hidden realizations of the nature of being are gateways to a life of authenticity and depth.

I feel you. It is terrifying indeed to accept one's annihilation. I also agree that this is nevertheless the path to authenticity and depth. One reasons that what must die is largely the vessel of universal virtues that will be carried on by the next generation. If a person happens to be too alienated to see themselves in others and others in themselves, then (in my experience) they fantasize about crystallizing their irreplaceable essence in the "great work." The alienated death-dodging personality carves a copy of his misunderstood soul or likely over-rated uniqueness for some future generation worthy of him or her. When I think of my younger self, I laugh and wince and how much I (unconsciously, defensively) exaggerated my uniqueness and/or its importance. And yet one can feel wise in one's awareness of one's ignorance. And one can feel particularly attracted to the universal ,take the impersonal personally, if you will, which is to say find a real passion for it and be joyfully absorbed in it. I like the idea of the universal as a flame that leaps from melting candle to melting candle.