After some exposure to Nietzsche’s work, I can understand his appeal, and his sacrifice. Nietzsche said that if one were to seek happiness, seek faith, and if where to seek truth, one must keep looking. To be ever changing, always evolving, ceaseless in change was a preamble to his Übermensch, the over man, a man who will overcome his surroundings, his God, and achieve freedom, a Godless freedom, a freedom from duty.
Nietzsche’s sacrifice was to me quite questionable, was a really a sacrifice? Or was his philosophy an attempt to manage his pain? His world was Godless, he saw his father, a man of God, suffer and die, without God, how could he have justified his suffering. His radical statement, “it is best not to have been born, and if one is born, it would be best if one dies quickly”. There was no doubt concerning his brilliance, but his premises are not perfect. His disregard for women, calling them stupid and childlike, no doubt influenced by Schopenhauer, his selfishness, he believes that the lay are beyond salvation, that he cannot flourish in their midst. He rather stays silent in their presence than try to influence their thoughts. A true hermit can remain alone even in the midst of people, such a man is Nietzsche.
Nietzsche considers philosophy as the summit of the entire scientific pyramid, it only collectively separated from science in the minds of the masses when it posed the question, what kind of knowledge of the world and life is it through which man can life the happiest (Nietzsche H.A.T.H). Knowledge like everything else in our known universe is not homogenous. There are different forms and typologies of knowledge. If one desires to seek truth, or even be able to comprehend the various truths, one must be aware of the taxonomies involved. It is at this juncture the intellectual lends her insight to the lay. One must pursue and prove that which is necessary, towards a greater truth, towards freedom. What is the point of proving a metaphysical world? It is certain that knowledge of it would be the most useless of all knowledge, more useless than knowledge of the chemical composition of water must be to the sailor in danger of a shipwreck (Nietzsche HATA). Knowing what to look for is far more crucial than the act and effort of looking.
The lay who takes appearance as reality, paradigms as Truth, they are as Nietzsche calls them, worshippers of the form. They are blind, because their eyes have not yet discovered the charm of the simplest form, hence they thoughtlessly imitate old forms, and not engaged in rigorous thinking. They have made a serious occupation out of the spinning out of forms and symbols (Nietzsche H.A.T.H).
These forms and symbols are reified by the effervescence of the masses, forged into the belief that they are Truth, and from this belief that the truth has been found out of which the mightiest sources of energy have flowed. Temples of Consumerism to Shrines of Distraction, man create a world to lose himself within, men became lōtophagoi themselves.
Within the madness that has come to take the place of normalcy, duty sneaks in insidiously. That which fetters the fastest, especially in the case of men of a high and select kind, are their duties. Duties to family, country and to Love shackle the moral and intellectual. Why? Because those who are truly intellectual are inevitably moral, to be intellectual is to be at the pinnacle of morality.
However, petty intellectuals stumble over a common pebble. Kant postulates that understanding does not come from nature, it is prescribed to nature. They make the mistake of morality. Morality must be guided by Reason, and through reason we will overcome and become the Übermensch. We as a species must empower ourselves, it is our future that regulate our today. We must live in the future in our heads so that we can find rigor in our bodies today. Reason guides morals, morals guide actions, actions shape reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment