Thanks Steve, just to clarify. I don't suggest abandoning nihilism because it is an empty philosophy that I believe is harmful. If the physicalist story on which it is based were true, we would have to abandon all other ideas about what is real. But as I have written in most of my over 120 posts, there is compelling and growing evidence that it is not true. There is something more than matter and forces. Do we know exactly what it is? Of course not. The very evidence (and a lot more) than convinced longtime atheist philosopher Antony Flew to abandon his atheism, convinces me. While Thomas Nagle does not endorse theism, his rejection of physicalism is very sound. I'd encourage you to read Mind and Cosmos. My point about nihilism is that is based on a faulty belief system and therefore there is no need for this hopelessness.