Suppose there is, ultimately, nobody coming to save us. Suppose there is, at the end of the day, no absolute hope. Suppose that when it comes down to it, all will end in oblivion. Well, then, what need for renunciation and restraint in the present? If that is the case: eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!
You can do what you want, have what you want, be what you want. No holding back. The only price is giving up any shred of meaning, any shred of hope, any last vestige of significance.
It makes sense, and of course if you are convinced that this is how reality is, this is how you'll live - one way or another. It may not look like unbridled excess; that might not be what you want. But it will mean self-indulgence, even perhaps the self-indulgence of frugality, even perhaps the self-indulgence of generosity and genuine love. Nothing means anything, and there is no hope: so why not just live for yourself and the things that you choose to value in the fleeting moment which you have - as you make your way all too quickly from darkness into darkness.
It makes sense.
I just don't understand why so many people seem so cheerful about it.
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