Nietzsche once said that whoever fights monsters should take care not to become a monster himself. He also said that when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
His are profound words.
They apply to everything and everyone. This is why Nietzsche is the point of reference of nihilism.
Take the case of personal loss.
When someone one loves dies, the survivor experiences a plethora of feelings, chief among them: guilt.
This most often stems from the depth of their sorrow. For you see folks, when you stare into the abyss of sorrow, it is an abysmal amount of unending despair that gazes back at you.
The profundity of your dejection is never going to go away. You are alone. And because of that, you alone will carry it for the remainder of your days.
In time, you will become numb to its disturbing gaze. You will forget its bite. And you will forgo its necessity. Pain is your sole companion, at first. Then, it becomes a burden. A burden of despair. And what do people do with burdens? They sometimes put them down.
One can carry one’s physical burden much easier, and farther, and longer than one’s mental baggage.
The abyss of sorrow is only matched by that of guilt.
Götterdämmerung 