I've found that the antidote to pessimistic nihilism is optimistic nihilism. Going from the "world has no meaning, why do anything" (perhaps existentialist) to meaning the "world has no meaning, why don't I just do a bunch of things?" is a reasonable leap.
The antidote to nihilism itself could be to accept lack of free will. Accepting lack of free will means that you get to enjoy the passage of time. Jimmy Carr said this and I really like it. Relinquishing control in a way that you allow your nature and your perception of the world to unravel itself to you. Ironically it makes the journey so much more beautiful.
This whole thread seems ridiculous to me. It just looks like "people needlessly complicating how they think about life". Why do you have to permit yourself to do anything? At least appealing to a higher power justifies why you would feel restricted. Nihilism just isn't for me, I guess.
Things being "permitted" wouldn't occur to someone born recently in a secular context. This is a historical artifact in relation to the 1700+ year grip that Christianity had on people's minds.
As far as I understand, nihilism and existentialism were both reactions to the "death of religion". Nihilism concludes that everything is devoid of meaning. Existentialism concludes basically the same thing, but then is like "so let's go be ourselves and have fun, find ways to enjoy life" basically. I think this is where the "is permitted" part comes in.
But anyway nihilism is related to religion in the sense that it's a reaction to the end of religion.
The antidote to nihilism itself could be to accept lack of free will. Accepting lack of free will means that you get to enjoy the passage of time. Jimmy Carr said this and I really like it. Relinquishing control in a way that you allow your nature and your perception of the world to unravel itself to you. Ironically it makes the journey so much more beautiful.