Martin Butler's Negative Philosophy

Martin Butler's Negative Philosophy

Nothing

I’ve found that people who buy into life are generally afraid of death. Well, of course they are. Their massive investment can turn to nothing in an instant.

Martin Butler's avatar
Martin Butler
Dec 07, 2025
∙ Paid

a space shuttle is flying through the dark sky
Photo by Abdullah Ahmad on Unsplash

I try not to buy into my life, for the simple reason that absolutely nothing will remain of it a few decades from now. It seems like a silly investment. To quote the old complaint, we didn’t ask to be born, and finding ourselves stuck with our existence, we then go on to fill it with as much stuff as we can, experiences, memories, skills, enthusiasms, disappointments, etc. The result is that, day by day, we add to the illusion that we exist as a person, weaving an intricate life story. The life story is nothing but a collection of unconnected, accidental events, yet we insist on creating connections to tell our story.

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