Once awareness of nihilism has been awakened by an encounter with the abyss, there is a choice to be made. How do we respond? Do we now col-lapse into passive despair, or do we defiantly push forward, feeling our way through the darkness, striking out on a path leading nowhere? With the death of God, the collapse of objective meaning and the revelation of an absurd void underling human life, it becomes apparent that nothing remains outside of ourselves to compel aspiration. If we are to avoid utter despondency, we must turn attention inward, toward our own powers of creative imagination, making the resolute decision to become self-motivated.

This is not easy. A glimpse into the abyss permanently changes us, making us suspicious forever after of claims to finality. Our faith in the existence of objective and independent standards of worth dissolves. We no longer believe that we can possess the Truth, and now we must either passively accept the absurd nature of the world or actively confront this situation and rebel against it by becoming creators of our own values.

If we choose the former of these two options, we descend into passive nihilism. In this, a sense of resignation and despair dominates. We become convinced that the world has no point, value or purpose and that despite our wishes, there is nothing we can do about this. While passive nihilism has long been condemned as pessimistic and life-denying, it nonetheless has the potential benefit of forcing us to accept reality and the limits of human power. If nihilism is indeed our true condition, then passive resignation may even be preferable to an active orientation that propagates cruelty, pain and suffering by vainly lashing out at a world that, in the end, cannot ultimately be changed. Perhaps we do less damage in passive withdrawal.

If, however, we choose to rebel against the absurdity of the world, we become active nihilists.