Like many of Nietzsche’s ideas, commentators differ regarding their interpretations. Individuals only exist at the expense of others, an insight that prompted a more recent author, Ernest Becker, to write: “Creation is a nightmare spectacular taking place on a planet that has been soaked for hundreds of millions of years in the blood of all its creatures.” Even if there are cultures in which conflict is not the norm, the individuals in those cultures are still finite and still must die. It is only when he can affirm death that he can truly affirm life. H ow many people have turned away from belief in God because of suffering? There is a spectrum of suffering. Muslims believe that everything that happens is Allah’s will. Karl Barth viewed the evil of human suffering as ultimately in the “control of divine providence”. This site uses cookies to recognize users and allow us to analyse site usage. To experience the Dionysian element present in tragedy enables individuals to overcome momentarily their isolation and experience the ecstasy of participation in the universal cosmic Will underlying all things. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please, Friedrich Nietzsche shared at least one fundamental concern with the religions and metaphysical systems that he so criticized: the problem of suffering and how one deals with it. At the close of Book 3, Zarathustra, after all of his temptations and periods of despair comes to the place where he must decide whether or not he loves life, whether he can accept Eternal Recurrence. Homophobia I'm sure your all familiar with most of the ways of suffering, so there's no point of listing them. ————– The religions of the world have offered various types of answer. You’ve read one of your four complimentary articles for this month. Although there are passages in Nietzsche’s writings that support the stoic reading, I think the more severe reading occurs in Nietzsche’s long philosophical poem Thus Spake Zarathustra, the book that Henry Aiken believed “can only be regarded as his religious testament.” It is religious not only because of its parallels to the New Testament but because it offers Nietzsche’s view of what it means to affirm life. One of the conclusions: “God is powerful and has been on our side in the past; but is no longer our advocate and protector. Right conduct – Don’t hurt others or indulge in excess. Why is there so much gratuitous evil and unnecessary suffering? X. Some Christians have the image of the God the heavenly shepherd, who cares for his flock. Stoicism Stoicism is way more than the quotes you will find on the Internet nowadays. And it is somehow offensive for the cultured citizen to say of the bound slave’s experience “Thus I willed it.”. Nietzsche believed that one of the possible responses a culture could make to this terror of life was to cast a veil (Schleier in German) of illusion over the structures of existence, and that this is what the theologians and metaphysicians of Western culture have done. But what if the Will could say of the regrettable, even horrible past, “this is precisely what I willed”? But humans aren’t the only beings to feel pain. The convicted criminal who oversaw the bunkhouse spat that he just wanted to survive and would do anything to do so. supernatural Job is overwhelmed by the might of the almighty. The question is not why do humans commit and suffer evil, but why so much? Evil results when everyday is one of profound suffering and loss, as is the case for the majority of people on the earth. There he argued that the Greeks were “keenly aware of the terrors and horrors of existence” and to endure those terrors had interposed between life and themselves the “shining fantasy of the Olympians.” The Greeks folk wisdom was enshrined in the myth in which King Midas hunts down the wise Silenus and asks him what is the most desirable thing of all and Silenus answers: “What is best of all is utterly beyond your reach: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. “Eternally recurs the man of whom you are weary, the small man … Alas man recurs eternally … that was my disgust with all existence.”, Although the doctrine of Eternal Recurrence was at first Zarathustra’s most abysmal thought, he nevertheless dimly recognized that only if he could embrace this thought would he be able to embrace life itself. Job rejects them all as irrelevant and ineffective. We do not always see it, but that does not mean it does not exist. If you have not yet had children, do not have any. I can answer this question easily. Then we shall make you a gift of the Overman!” And Zarathustra becomes sad and says “They do not understand me. He did experiment with the idea that if there were a finite number of forces in the world and an infinite amount of time, this would mean that “all possible transformations must already have taken place. science and morality In getting a better feel … The myth of Eternal Recurrence simply means that you should affirm every moment as if you wanted it to exist eternally. Or to use Nietzsche language: “Thus I willed it.”. The question for theologians and ‘philosophical’ defenders of theism: Given the plausibility of a better world, what are the implications for belief in an omnipotent, perfectly good deity who oversees the human world? This concern underlies all of the distinctive positions he took on the role of tragedy in Greek culture, his critique of morality, his view of human nature, his theory that ‘ego’, ‘thing’ and ‘substance’ are ‘fictions’, as well as his criticisms of religion and metaphysics. The clearer your perception—and the more connected you are with the quiet, inner place of the Self—the better poised you are to respond with equanimityto changing circumstances, unmet longing, and patterns that may not be serving you. Analogy: In life you win some and lose some. He called this the principium individuationis or principle of individuation. social history nonexistence All of life is a flux and becoming, and in order for there to be redemption there must be creativity. But humans aren’t the only beings to feel pain. ), “God destroys both the guilty and the innocent. Yes, sometimes good people win (the trapped minors are rescued and all passengers on the down airliner are safe). 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