Why is it that people so readily believe in materialism and nihilism

>>8538249
it's easily embraced because it's the easy way out of existential anguish, although it only masks it, making despair the rock upon which they stand, and they refuse to look down

>>8538402
Ok let me ask using your terms, who invented this "existential anguish" and why do so many people peddle the thing when it is evident (to all?) that it's not a real solution?

Thanks for the reply btw

>>8538547
it's not an "invented" thing, it is caused by the sin we are born into. kierkegaard said sin is despair. etymologically, despair breaks down into "des" and "pair" so it means it is a disunity between two entities, the two being the eternal and the finite, God and man, the soul and the body, etc. in this state, man is not truly himself, he is damned from himself, and will die unable to attain selfhood, and will be cast into the fire like rotting wood. a man in this state, whether he is aware of it or not, this is how it is, and he is in despair and afraid of death, be it deep down or right on the surface.

jesus saves, btw

>>8538547
but i have not yet answered your question. it is pushed so heavily because they want it to be the solution, because it is easy, they do not want to introspect so much as to see the horrors in their own soul, they do not want to embrace anxiety as much as they want to take pills to make it go away, they do not want to love as much as they want to fear and shy away.

>>8538249
It's an easy answer for idiots who don't know better.

We arent talking about skeptics who do research in a department somewhere, we are talking about some highschooler who started smoking pot 4 months ago and it sounded good to say nothing matters when some other stoner asked what does it all mean.

It's also a difficult position to argue against when you don't know any philosophy. Rather than ask why nothing matters, most people would try to create positive systems of meaning that can be broken down, so the so called nihilist is always in the comfortable position, giving an easy positive answer, nothing matters, and then looking for holes in any other system that is posited.

Their confidence grows because of this and then they start believing they know what is up.