existentialism, absurdism, and nilhilism

hi, I’m pretty new to these boards so I think I should share a little about myself so you can understand where I’m coming from before I launch into my question.

I’m a chassidic (jewish) rebel. I live within the chassidic community, but I don’t believe in their god (or any god?) any longer. hence the name koifer (koifer = heretic) I lead a double life of wearing the chassidic clothing, and secretly visiting sites like this…which could end up ruining my life. I have no formal education in philosophy because I am not allowed to even THINK of trying to get one. so forgive my lack of knowledge and logic skills. and I end up getting confused with a lot of the higher level language because yiddish is mostly spoken in my community. luckily I have spell check, and my parents raised me in an english speaking home so I do have a better grasp of the language than most. so if you could forgive my grammar and occasional comprehension gap I would greatly appreciate it. if you would like to know any more about any chassidic rebels there is a good blog I like to follow about someone in a similar situation to mine…hasidicrebel.blogspot.com

but now on to my question.

what is the difference between absurdism, and nihilism?

I know it’s a simple question…sorry. but my problem is that if absurdists and nihilists say that there is no meaning…doesn’t that inherently have meaning? don’t they have to concede that for you to base your life around that statement you must agree it has some meaning? I know this is a basic question…so sorry. and why do nihilists keep living? if they don’t even have the revolt to live for, as absurdists do, why continue living? this is where I don’t understand the difference. if absurdists have a reason to live, then so do nihilists (since many are obviously alive) so what is the difference?

and also…why do people often refer to absurdism and nihilism as a part of existentialism? simply because life has no meaning?

sorry if these are basic/answered somewhere else. this site is pretty extensive.

thanks.

I see you’re not big on nihilism. this is why I feel like absurdism explains it a lot better. that you continue living and you may “trip” over meaning but really you know that it’s just a false meaning and it’s meant to be that way. you continue living as though your life has meaning and purpose, but really you don’t really believe it does. am I right in this assumption?

and as for running from the community…easier said than done. I’ve never known a different world. my entire family is here, my job, everything. I don’t understand the outside culture for the most part. I don’t even have a high school diploma. they really keep you trapped. I would like to leave, but I’m too terrified to at this point. I don’t want to ruin my siblings chances at marriage.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism

remember, meaning is what you make it

it is your life- you, and only you, must live it…

some are born to live a certain way, and that is fine…

the grass only looks greener on the other side of the fence- once you cross that fence, the grass is often not as green as you thought…

(your family is your family- cherish them)

-Imp

I read that absurdist link.
Am I to believe that absurdists think you can escape existance by suicide, that’s not very clever is it, although almost all philosophical thought(except for mine) is based on life being our existance and not the fact that we are merely transient parts of the universe(as are all parts), and that life is a human labelled morph of that transience.

btw, Imp, do you know of any reading centred or touching on the underlined phrase, would be greatly appreciated, but don’t go to any trouble, I don’t want to go thinking I came up with it or I’ll have to buy new hats is all.

try reading either/or by kierkegaard (warning- it’s huge)

-Imp

absurdists don’t believe you should commit suicide. that is indeed an option, but it is an “easy out”. they think you should do the opposite. live passionately. throw yourself into life to revolt against the absurdity of it. in fact, that is why camus advocates the arts. then you are able to lead extra lives through your arts and revolt even more. and I don’t think they say that life has no meaning what so ever…just that if there is…we can’t know it. but really…I’m no expert. I’ve only been able to read what limited amount I’ve found on the internet. all I know is that it seems to make a lot more sense than nihilism. and it does indeed give me a “just do it” attitude.

I’m not saying I’m an absurdist, but I’ve grown to like it. I do feel as though it just may be a reaction to my circumstances (where meaning is in everything in judaism…down to how I put on my shoes…) but for now I find it very liberating. it’s the ultimate free-will. I’ve just ordered the book “the stranger” and I can’t wait to read it. I’ll post my thoughts on it when I’m done.

and thank you realunoriginal for the encouragement. it isn’t something I typically get. it’s extremely nice to hear. I really appreciate it.

The simplest way I can put it is that nihilists insist that meaning cannot exist, and an absurdist would say that one can fabricate a meaning for themselves.

But when you simplify things that much, both terms become less meaningful. You should definitely read The Stranger if you haven’t already. It’s a very short read (if you know French, you might want to pick it up in the original French).

You might also be interested in another work by Camus called The Myth of Sisyphus.

is Camus the author of The Stranger?
Same author of The Plague?