Nihilism: Confusion Made to Order, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 254
254
After our basic needs have been filled, and within every new condition, the dominance mechanism asks, “What is my rank now?” We often foist a value onto a thing or perspective according to the rank it promises us. And often when we feel that life lacks meaning or value, we have only suffered a demotion from a previously imagined rank.