What Is Optimistic Nihilism, And Why Are Gen Z Into It?

Zen populariser Alan Watts famously said we live on ‘an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy’. 

If that makes you feel insignificant, well, that’s kinda the point. 

It can be liberating to embrace the idea that, basically, everything, eventually, will disappear. 

Imagine every embarrassment, worry or failure you’ve ever had dissolving into the void of infinite expanse. Less stressed? You’re welcome. 

In a nutshell, that’s optimistic nihilism. 

It takes the central tenet of Nihilism — that we live in a meaningless world — and finds an upside. 

So why does it resonate with Gen Z?

Well, while nihilism can help free us from societal expectations, cultural conventions, and suppressive traditions, it still feels a little, um, gloomy. 

But by sprinkling some optimism on it, pointless existence is reframed as an empowering notion that gives us free rein to follow our own purpose in life. 

And that’s something young people can get on board with.