Is God really Dead?
Friedrich Nietzsche was arguably one of the first people to write “God is dead”, or at least the first one to fully expand on that idea. This is one of the most profound ideas, in my opinion, ever to be cast upon human existence; the unfortunate fact is that most are not able to conceive it. Nietzsche uses many tactics to help people think outside of this cookie cutter life that limits us. This seems to be a philosophy that has been emerging rapidly over the past several years with books like The Secret, The Power of Now, New Earth, and many other spiritual books that question the many religious teachings that have guided our world for centuries.
Nietzsche is very admirable, in that he speaks the unspeakable, and devoted his whole life to the expansion, and expression of his ideas, which continued until his death in 1900. His works were however not very well received, as most deliberately contradicted the belief systems of most of the world; particularly the Judeo-Christian World. His way of thinking freely, without restrictions or concern of repercussion, made him in my eyes very noble.
Although Nietzsche’s work is often difficult for people to understand, his influence is seen throughout our culture. He made it okay to not run with the crowd, to be an individual; he stressed new forms of morality, ideas beyond this hypocritical “good” and “bad” structure in which we live. His writings went beyond the normal philosophical thought, and in some views redefined life; beyond the ideas of Nihilism, and Existentialism into a higher understanding, of life and belief as we know it today. Even though his name is not often mentioned in our society, his influence runs deep, and in my opinion his philosophy will continue to spread through his writings for years to come; as society becomes more able to receive him.
Many have comment on his work, and there are several that I will note to hopefully give a better understanding of his influence. One such critic is Harold Bloom, in his book Bloom on Friedrich Nietzsche, he writes extensively about Nietzsche; from this book I have reviewed an excerpt from Essayists and Prophets. I feel that Bloom does very well in presenting Nietzsche’s ideas without misrepresenting them, he is very careful in doing that, as noted in the line “Nietzsche’s deepest teaching, as I read it, is that authentic meaning is painful, and that the pain itself is the meaning” (Bloom), which is further emphasized when he states “I hesitate to name this as Nietzsche’s most fundamental insight, but I myself always remember it first when I think of Nietzsche” (Bloom). I feel this is extremely important, and commendable, as he expresses humility in his writing, and gives the reader room to form their own interpretations; not proclaiming himself as a expert, as if that is even possible. While he does leave room for interpretation, I do tend to agree with Bloom, in my limited exploration of his work; as this is something I have experienced in my own life, truth is painful, but that does not mean we should avoid it as many do.
Another article I chose was written by Tad Beckman titled The Gay Science, in which the author summarized Nietzsche’s works. This seems to be a very difficult task, and there were few that I felt were successful in doing so. In this article the author seems to give a good overview of Nietzsche’s life, and how it related to his writing, in more of a biographical way. The only trouble I found with this author is that he expressed Nietzsche’s views as if he totally understood him and his writings, this I do not feel is possible, and hurts the effectiveness of his writings; although I do feel his writings to be very informative. He also expresses an idea that seems to be a common thread to all Nietzsche historians, the idea that “In #13 Nietzsche explores a view of power and the powerful which will become significant in all his writing. As he sees it, the powerful show respect and admiration for their opponents. Moral virtues derive ultimately from the society of powerful men. Weakness does not generate value; it is the weak who invent systems of pity. ‘Pity is praised as the virtue of prostitutes’”(Beckman). I to agree with this idea and I feel many can learn a lot from this, especially in today’s society where we are constantly victimized by propaganda.
Next I analyzed an interesting article, written by Matthew Bennett titled Beyond the Veil: A Woman Named Truth and the Truth of Woman, which goes on to examine Nietzsche’s use of “Woman” as a metaphor for “truth”. This idea is expanded extensively in Bennett’s writing, from his writing it becomes evident the greatness of Nietzsche’s writings, by this minor detail that holds major importance. It seems that the underlining idea is summarized in Bennett’s passage “I suggest, Nietzsche’s complex relation to this woman named truth concedes her value whilst rejecting the validity of a traditional philosophical project that aims to unveil her. Nietzsche does not deny the possibility of truth; nor does he deny its value and its important function. Ironically, Nietzsche criticizes the will to truth not for its strong belief in truth, but for its destructive impulse to reveal truth.” (Bennett). These ideas are triumphant, and profound, and seem to be reflected in every piece of Nietzsche’s work. The use of this metaphor in his writings helps intrigue the reader with the beauty, but it also hides his discoveries from those who might receive it wrongly; I feel this is a very insightful way of using metaphoric language.
Lastly I chose an article that emphasized the possible implication of misinterpreting literature, whereas Adolf Hitler gave Nazi soldiers books of Friederich Nietzsche, as he felt that his ideas coincided with Nazism. However, Max Whyte writes in his article Nietzsche and the Nazis, “Yet today Nietzsche (1844-1900) is one of the guiding lights of modern and postmodern thought, his exploitation by the Nazis dismissed as a travesty based on ignorance and willful distortion.” (Whyte), noting that this did not harm his philosophy too much, although it definitely had an effect. This is obviously a large concern but, this is just another example of how propaganda, and rhetoric, can twist a good idea, and make it bad; there is no better example of this reality in the last hundred years then in the Holocaust. Although Nietzsche believed in creating a sort of higher race of humans, which may coincide with Nazism, he was totally against anti-Semitism. With all the black eyes his philosophy has been given through the years, thankfully it is still alive, and well, and I believe that his influence will continue to live forever; because as he said it “That what does not kill me, makes me stronger” (Nietzsche).
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