A variant that seeks spiritual experience and transcendence through the Wired, rather than despite it. Spiritual Cyber-Nihilism argues that the dissolution of self that cyber-nihilism welcomes is not merely destructive but potentially liberating—a form of technological mysticism. It draws on contemplative traditions, reinterpreting them for the networked age: meditation becomes data-stream immersion; ego-death becomes identity dissolution in the Wired; enlightenment becomes the recognition that there is no self to save. This variant is less interested in destroying the world than in transcending it, using the Wired as a vehicle for spiritual transformation that leaves meatspace behind.
Spiritual Cyber-Nihilism Example: "She spent hours in VR meditation spaces, letting her avatar dissolve into particle effects while chanting mantras. 'Spiritual cyber-nihilism,' she called it. 'The mystics sought to lose the self in God. I seek to lose it in the network. Same goal, different medium.' When asked if she believed in anything beyond the data, she smiled: 'The data is beyond enough.'"
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 19, 2026
Get the Spiritual Cyber-Nihilism mug.