Perhaps this paradoxical "topic" is one with which we here have dealt a little more, or a little more consciously, than the average population.
We used to have our heads full of beliefs (which we called "truth") in every direction: on theology, on cosmology, on paleontology, on past history, on so-called prophetic future, on heaven above, on earth, on she'ol beneath. On many things -- current events, traditions, other peoples' beliefs and behaviours -- we had strong opinions which were directly or indirectly (the famous "conscience" matters) part of the same deal. And of course our life was filled with activities and relationships, a community of "friends," people to "help" or "teach," etc.
Then, gradually or suddenly, we came to suspect, often with a measure of terror, that all of this was not what we had thought and might sooner or later turn into... nothing.
This "nothing" is perhaps one of the most scary thoughts to people contemplating leaving the org one way or another. Whence their natural inclination to ask, or to look, for something to replace what they are about to lose -- alternative beliefs, political or moral opinions, activities or communities. Which the Internet today make easier to find, for the better or the worse.
However, with this experience of loss we may also develop an unexpected taste for "nothing". With less and less beliefs and opinions as lens to "uncipher" the world and make "sense" of it we may find that we actually see it better and enjoy its vast meaningless wealth of ever-changing forms and colours in a non-judgemental way. Without a cause to uphold and promote, without a "club" of kindred minds we find it easier to relate to complete strangers and appreciate their differences. Without the noise of constant "reasoning" in our mind we hear the sound of life better and enjoy its uncanny music. So "nothing" was nothing to be afraid of after all. "Nothing" was nothing but the secret door hidden in the darkest depth of anguish and self-worry, and opening on "everything".
In philosophy, "nihilism" (apart from a 19th-century Russian revolutionary movement by this name) is claimed by almost nobody. It is a sort of "libel label" which philosophers tend to pin on each other and defend themselves of (Nietzsche, Camus, and several so-called "postmodernists" come to mind). Everyone wants to come up with positive "values" and "truths" -- even of an increasingly paradoxical kind. In religion Taoism, to a lesser extent Buddhism and some "negative theologians" of the middle ages, have left a central place to "non-being," "non-doing," and "non-willing". But the end product still looks like a doctrine -- something to think, to teach or to practice. Having something to say about nothing is not the least of contradictions -- to which this post is no exception.
Our unfinished approach to "nothing" (the hole-shaped god perhaps, to parody Blaise Pascal) is, of necessity, a secret and silent one. But we can still wave to each other along our diverging ways. Which I felt like doing, although I know I have nothing to say.
Comments welcome. Nothing will be fine.