| Stance | Eternalism | Nihilism | Meaning/ness |
|---|
| Summary | Everything is given a fixed meaning by an eternal ordering principle (Cosmic Plan) | Nothing is really meaningful | Meaning is nebulous, yet patterned; meaningfulness and meaninglessness intermingle |
| What it denies | Nebulosity; meaninglessness | Pattern; meaningfulness | |
| What it fixates | Pattern; meaningfulness | Nebulosity; meaninglessness | |
| The sales pitch | You are guaranteed a good outcome if you follow the rules | Don’t get fooled again | Accurate understanding of meaningness allows both freedom and purpose |
| Emotional appeal | Control. Reassurance that if you act in accordance with Cosmic Plan, everything will be well. | Intelligence. Also, nothing means anything, so not getting what you want is not a problem. | |
| Pattern of thinking | Sentimentality; self-righteousness | Contempt; rage; intellectualization; depression | Joyful realism |
| Likely next stances | Mission | Materialism | |
| Accomplishment | Unify self with Cosmic Plan: impossible in mainstream religion, possible in mystical sects | Total apathy | Wizardry |
| How it causes suffering | Cosmic Plan makes insane, harmful demands | Have to blind self to meaningfulness; undermines any practical action | |
| Obstacles to maintaining the stance | Difficulty of blinding oneself to manifestations of nebulosity, and submitting to Cosmic Plan | Difficulty of blinding self to manifestations of pattern, and abandoning all desires | Unappealing due to complexity and uncertainty |
| Antidotes; counter-thoughts | Enjoyment of nebulosity, meaninglessness, un-knowing | Enjoyment of pattern; recovery of passion | |
| Intelligent aspect | There is meaning, and it is not merely subjective, so nihilism is wrong | There is no inherent meaningfulness, so eternalism is wrong | |
| Positive appropriation after resolution | Respect for pattern is a compassionate aspect of realism | Recognition of nebulosity is a wisdom aspect of nihilism; nearly-correct understanding of defects of eternalism | |
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