Friday 18 May 2007

Why I am A Nietzcheist.

Regular readers will know that I am very much a fan of the philosopher Nietzche. When I discuss Nietzche with people I meet, I get a mixed reaction.

Most look unenlightened by hearing the name. Did he play for Bayern Munich?

A good number look uneasy. Didn't he influence Hitler, they say?

But I always know I've met a kindred spirit when they say 'Nietzche- Yes! The Genealogy of Morals, so direct!'.

Nietzche gave such a message of hope to humanity, a cry to all, that it's great to be human, that we, humanity are far more than we acknowledge. Most other philosophies tell us to despise ourselves, even our new PC doctrines, which tell us we fight too much, use too much fuel, abuse our bodies etc. Nietzche is all about focussing on just how amazing we are and aspiring to do the godlike things that are potential in our species as a whole.

Nietzche is about feeling the strength within and loving beauty for itself.

Yes Hitler got something out of that.
So did Jim Morrison.

But that's enough from me about Nietzche. Hear the man himself.

From 'Thus Spoke Zarathrustra';


When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest town which adjoineth the
forest, he found many people assembled in the market-place; for it had
been announced that a rope-dancer would give a performance. And
Zarathustra spake thus unto the people:
I teach you the Superman. Man is something that is to be
surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man?
All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and ye
want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to the
beast than surpass man?
What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just
the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of
shame.
Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is
still worm. Once were ye apes, and even yet man is more of an ape than
any of the apes.
Even the wisest among you is only a disharmony and hybrid of plant
and phantom. But do I bid you become phantoms or plants?
Lo, I teach you the Superman!
The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The
Superman shall he the meaning of the earth!
I conjure you, my brethren, remain true to the earth, and believe
not those who speak unto you of superearthly hopes! Poisoners are
they, whether they know it or not.
Despisers of life are they, decaying ones and poisoned ones
themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them!
Once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy; but God died,
and therewith also those blasphemers. To blaspheme the earth is now
the dreadfulest sin, and to rate the heart of the unknowable higher
than the meaning of the earth!
Once the soul looked contemptuously on the body, and then that
contempt was the supreme thing:- the soul wished the body meagre,
ghastly, and famished. Thus it thought to escape from the body and the
earth.
Oh, that soul was itself meagre, ghastly, and famished; and
cruelty was the delight of that soul!
But ye, also, my brethren, tell me: What doth your body say about
your soul? Is your soul not poverty and pollution and wretched
self-complacency?
Verily, a polluted stream is man. One must be a sea, to receive a
polluted stream without becoming impure.
Lo, I teach you the Superman: he is that sea; in him can your
great contempt be submerged.
What is the greatest thing ye can experience? It is the hour of
great contempt. The hour in which even your happiness becometh
loathsome unto you, and so also your reason and virtue.
The hour when ye say: "What good is my happiness! It is poverty
and pollution and wretched self-complacency. But my happiness should
justify existence itself!"
The hour when ye say: "What good is my reason! Doth it long for
knowledge as the lion for his food? It is poverty and pollution and
wretched self-complacency!"
The hour when ye say: "What good is my virtue! As yet it hath not
made me passionate. How weary I am of my good and my bad! It is all
poverty and pollution and wretched self-complacency!"
The hour when ye say: "What good is my justice! I do not see that
I am fervour and fuel. The just, however, are fervour and fuel!"
The hour when we say: "What good is my pity! Is not pity the cross
on which he is nailed who loveth man? But my pity is not a
crucifixion."
Have ye ever spoken thus? Have ye ever cried thus? Ah! would that
I had heard you crying thus!
It is not your sin- it is your self-satisfaction that crieth unto
heaven; your very sparingness in sin crieth unto heaven!
Where is the lightning to lick you with its tongue? Where is the
frenzy with which ye should be inoculated?
Lo, I teach you the Superman: he is that lightning, he is that
frenzy!-
When Zarathustra had thus spoken, one of the people called out:
"We have now heard enough of the rope-dancer; it is time now for us
to. see him!" And all the people laughed at Zarathustra. But the
rope-dancer, who thought the words applied to him, began his
performance.

I recommend you read the work in full.
How can that not be a creed for the future?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

To me the biggest difference between the left and the right is the opposite outlooks on life. One is self-hating, afriad of seeing anyone better themselves and leave the crown and the other welcomes individuality and the freedom to try; accepts the risk of failure and the rewards of success.

My life started to improve when I learnt that the adoration of heroes is not a bad thing but a positive influence (in moderation)

Anonymous said...

Don't see Nietzche as being left or right. I actually see the right-left spectrum as misleading. People would describe the Catholic church as right wing, as they would the Nazi Party, yet to me, the first is founded on Love, the second Hate.
I think Nietzche is a feared thinker because, like with Marx,people fear the true message within. And both can only be accepted when people understand Darwinism as the beautiful truth it really is, the true free will of humanity the species.
exactly the way a loving God would have wanted it.
But Nietzche is a very crucial part of my worldview.

Anonymous said...

I read that he masturbated himself to death -is that true??

Anonymous said...

GReat post crushed. I recall reading a quote that "Nietzche killed Jim Morrison". Having never read Nietzche, I assumed he was a dark and gloomy philosopher until I read this post. Now I see the light. Thanks.
INteresting that he inspired so many to reach beyond the mundane and strive for greatness. As much as Hitler was a terrible person one cannot take away from him he was an overwhelming success in what he attempted to do.
Jim would not have perhaps been "Jim Morrison" and experienced all what he did without Nietzche and the other philosophers he read.
It amazes me how people are quick to shun /condemn what they don't understand or what/who does not fit into the norm.

Anonymous said...

I've tried to masturbate myself to death, Mutley - the most I've achieved is a coma.