The Paradoxical Nihilist believes that all of existence has a higher meaning. Despite (or perhaps because of it) they'll act in a highly nihilistic manner, claiming that the acts of pitiful mortals are all insignificant in comparison to the higher meaning of existence.
This kind of higher meaning can take many forms. If their idea of a higher meaning is religious in nature then they're a Fundamentalist
. They may be a believer in fate and that it's impossible to fight it.
On the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism
this places rather oddly. A Paradoxical Nihilist
will be highly idealistic in the sense that they think that things will get better when this higher meaning is achieved while at the same time will be highly cynical because they believe that any attempt to make things better by mortal efforts will always be doomed to failure.
Compare Straw Nihilist
. Contrast the Anti Nihilist
Yes they exist in real life. There still shouldn't be real life examples.
- Grimjack's Uncle Jack. As a Fey he can see into the future and knows how he will die. Not only that it's hinted he has observed the ending of the entire Multiverse. A young grimjack asks why he doesn't change anything if he knows so much. He responds by saying that ''"nothing we do matters, not in the long run. Nothing we achieve or destroy matters. Love,friendship, family, honor, wisdom, knowledge,power,-- none of it really matters, because none of it lasts. It's all mortal, every endeavor, every accomplishment. Even our Gods become food for worms. Some day even the worms will end, and there shall be nothing".'' It explains why he's still living with his brother's family mooching off and hardly working or doing anything for that matter. He also drinks a lot to forget how he will die. Eventually his older brother finds out he slept with his first wife and smashes his face repeatedly on the stone fireplace, one eye popping out, his jaw splitting open falling on the floor.
- The famous-within-the-fandom 'Death And Dust' speech from Stephen Colbert. Even stranger because the character is (usually) a die-hard Catholic. Shortly after the 2000 Florida recount, having decided that all the debate and argument is irrelevant and who's President doesn't even matter:
: You see, nothing means anything. Mankind is just a random collection of self-replicating protoplasm, floating in a godless universe where the stars blindly run and however frantically we may try to deny it, all our efforts amount to nothing more than death... and dust. [long pause] Stephen
] Oh, and I'm having a Christmas cocktail party...