Nihilism = No Purpose: Eternalism = Creating Purpose

Understanding people.

Nihilism is a philosophical and ethical stance which holds that nothing in the world has any meaning, value, or purpose. Eternalists create their own transitory purpose or meaning.

A nihilist believes that life is meaningless and that the only known truth is the existence of the self. 
An eternalist believes that meaning can be created by the individual.
Because each of these standpoints entails belief, taking offence is inevitable.

People are too rational for their own good, maintaining a conclusion that leads to other conclusions which eventually leads either to nihilism or eternalism.

The Middle Way is not being stuck in either of these extremes – but people are.:-) People may see ’emptiness’ as ‘nothingness’ and, as a result, become cold, or they see the ‘form’ as something to believe in, and therefore become hot.

The Middle Way is awareness before it moves out into a religion or a philosophy. 

What sort of person is in the Middle Way? 

They’re nothing special, and they don’t take offence.
The practice is keeping this in balance – not too tight, and not too loose.