I’ve been reading Nihilism by Fr. Seraphim Rose, specifically, Chapter II, and one quote continues to come to mind each and every day since I’ve read it:
"The Nihilist Mentality, in the unity of its underlying aim, is single; but this mentality manifests itself in phenomena as diverse as the natures of the men who share it. The single Nihilist cause is thus advanced on many fronts simultaneously, and its enemies are confused and deceived by this effective tactic.” - Nihilism (pg. 21)
Before we proceed, we'll need to understand talking about Semantics is key:
What is the Nihilist Mentality?
What are manifestations of the mentality?
What is the Nihilist cause?
Who are the enemies?
Nihilism is defined previously in the book when Fr. Seraphim borrows from the Antichrist himself, Nietzsche, who argues:
“That there is no truth; that there is no absolute state of affairs - no ‘thing-in-itself.’ This alone is Nihilism, and of the most extreme kind.” - Nihilism (pg. 12)
An important note, there is actually a different translation for the words, ‘there is no truth,’ and that is, ‘all truth is relative,’ and therein begins the problem. Once you declare that there is no truth, you unleash a war on many fronts. Because if truth is relative, anyone can create their own ‘truth,’ which you’ll often hear as, ‘that is just my belief, that is just my opinion.’ Each opinion can manifest into something more sinister than the last but each opinion, at its core, has the same fundamental doctrine, ‘there is no (absolute) truth.’
Fr. Seraphim Rose was much smarter than we are today. He argues that all Nihilist Manifestations can break down into four main categories:
Liberalism
Realism
Vitalism
Nihilism of Destruction
For use less intelligent, we should understand this as the ‘one disease, multiple symptoms.’ I haven’t yet finished the Chapter, and I don’t know how qualified I am to speak with authority on any of the main four categories but I can say with certainty that Nihilism has without a doubt led to the current degeneracy of the world: unlimited porn, unprecedented divorce rates, children without married parents, suicide, depression, mental health, war, and so much more.
“One stage of Nihilism opposes itself to another, not to combat it effectively, but to incorporate its errors into its own program and carry mankind one step further on the road to the Abyss that lies at the end of all Nihilism.” - Nihilism (pg. 21)
The Nihilist Dialectic begins with Liberalism, or, ‘the neutral breeding ground of the more advanced stages of Nihilism.’ (Nihilism, pg. 23). I’ll let Fr. Rose do most of the talking:
“The incompetent defense by Liberalism of a heritage in which it has never fully believed has been one of the most potent causes of overt Nihilism.” - Nihilism (pg, 23)
“The Liberal humanist civilization… may be principally characterized by its attitude to truth… it is an attitude in which truth no longer occupies the center of attention.” - Nihilism (pg. 23)
“The Liberal still speaks… of ‘eternal verities,’ of ‘faith,’ of ‘human dignity,’ of ‘man’s high calling,’ or his ‘unquenchable spirit,’ even ‘Christian civilization,’ … these words no longer mean what they once meant.” - Nihilism (pg. 24).
Without truth, without God, these are just empty words. And like all the words listed above, to the Liberal, ‘God’ no longer means What He Once Did.
“To one endowed with the Liberal view of things, it is not necessary to believe in Heaven or Hell to lead a ‘good life’ in this world. Such is the total blindness of the Liberal mentality to the meaning of death… The Liberal lives in a fool’s paradise which must collapse before the truth of things. If death is, as the Liberal and Nihilist both believe, the extinction of the individual, then this world and everything in it - love, goodness, sanctity, everything - are as nothing, nothing man may do is of any ultimate consequence, and the full horror of life is hidden from man only by the strength of their will to deceive themselves…” - Nihilism (pg. 27)
I was sweating during this takedown of Liberalism of Fr. Seraphim Rose. Not only because it was so intense, but because it reflects modernity more than anything I’ve ever encountered. But it didn’t just reflect modernity - it reflected me. I believed in God but I didn’t act like it. Therefore I started telling myself, ‘you don’t believe in God.’ I had to acknowledge that I was no different from anyone else on the street who said they believed in God, despite how much ‘knowledge’ I may have learned about God. I didn’t even go to Church…
“The Liberal, who thinks his universe secure against this Truth, is the “rich man” of the parable, overburdened by his worldly interests and ideas, unwilling to give them up for the humility, poverty, and lowliness that are the marks of the genuine seeker after truth.” - Nihilism, (pg. 31)
One of my subscribers, Payload, put this quite succinctly the other day,
“… you support right-leaning governance and morals (vague Christianity) but you are not going to hold yourself accountable to those standards, you just pass the buck to the authorities to do that.” - (Source)
Remember what Fr. Seraphim Rose said at the start of this article. The many manifestations of Nihilism can be confusing to its enemies. Know now that you are the enemy. Anything that is not rooted in Absolute Truth stands on hollow ground. If someone says, ‘I believe in God but I don’t go to Church,’ or ‘I’m spiritual but not religious,’ you can be certain their thinking is unclear.
“The Liberal, the worldly man, is the man who has lost his faith; and the loss of perfect faith is the beginning of the end of the order erected upon that faith. Those who seek to preserve the prestige of truth without believing in it offer the most potent weapon to all their enemies; a merely metaphorical faith is suicidal.” - (Nihilism, pg. 33)
Though, again, I haven’t finished the book yet, (I have to write to try to understand what I read), in Nihilism, Fr. Seraphim Rose seems to be drawing a hard line in the sand: you either believe in God, or you don’t. If you do believe, you need to go all the way; all else is Nihilism.