Introduction: Thrown into Emptiness

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Since the death of God was proclaimed by Nietzsche, the spirituality of the West has been trapped in a nihilistic death spiral. Philosophers like Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Sartre exposed the fundamentally limited, "all too human" nature of metaphysics, as well as the groundless insecurity and anxiety that lies at the heart of the human condition.

The ensuing banalization of nihilism within postmodernism has now so saturated the West's intellectual culture that—a century-and-a-half later—even those outside the ivory tower of academia are starting to smell the miasma surrounding God's rotting carcass. Staring Into the Void brings an unexpected force to bear on the West's seemingly intractable spiritual and intellectual predicament: the existential and phenomenological wisdom contained in the earliest teachings of the Buddha. By putting these truths into conversation with existentialism, Staring Into the Void pulls no punches as it explores the fundamental nature of belief, meaning, security, and futility—expounding a radical, uncompromising resolution to the problem of nihilism and humanity's existential situation.

Through a revolutionary existential interpretation of Buddhist teachings, readers will stare deeply into the void, questioning common assumptions about safety and security in a world that can ultimately offer anything but. Through the cultivation of restraint, composure, tranquility, and discernment, our primordial yearning for a deeper telos may be eliminated, thus curing ourselves of nihilism and, ultimately, of suffering itself.