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.

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Socrates’ views about death as these are outlined in Plato’s Apology and in the Phaedo.

Socrates had very unorthodox views about death, especially for his time. Much of these were depicted in Plato’s Apology, and the Phaedo. Plato’s Apology showed Socrates views on death at the time of his trial one month before his actual death, and the Phaedo was a dialogue one hour before his death, and his views were consequently different.

Socrates almost welcomed death, as outlined in the Apology, he definitely did not attempt to escape it. As reflected in the Apology Socrates refused to pay a fine, be imprisoned, to move, or change his ways, basically in stating this he was saying the only way to stop him would be to kill him. After the vote of death by the jury Socrates maintained his composure, and courage, he addressed the jury, and stated that at the age of 70 he did not fear death; he believed that it was either an end, and thus good, or a immortality, and thus even better in his eyes. He also welcomed the idea of being able to further his search, and continue on his work. He maintained that he would not beg, or plea out of principle and righteousness.

Socrates mind set seemed to change slightly in the month after to his trial, as reflected in a Phaedo. His ideas, and beliefs about death seem to have been further developed, as he no longer question what would happen when he died; he believed that death is merely a separation of the body and the soul. He also stated that he has been preparing for this day, as he stated philosophy is a preparation and practice for death. He was said to have stated that philosophy prepares the soul for a separation of the body, that which is death. These ideas did not seem to be present at his trial, although there were some actions that hinted towards that.

Do we need a new Declaration of Independence?

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I feel compelled to write about Independence day as today was the day that the US declared it’s Independence from Britain or Great Britain as they liked to be called at the time. So I was just reflecting on this idea, and the ideas presented in the Declaration of Independence, and I am a bit concerned as we seem rather far off from the plans that were set out.

I know people may say rules were made to be broken, but is this declaration a set of rules, or is it a way of life, a code of ethics, values, and moral; if its the latter, I don’t believe anyone would suggest that these principles should be, or are okay to be broken. So why are they? We want independence, but we also want to feel safe, unfortunately the two don’t always coinside. So what happens, it seems to be a reoccuring theme, people get scared, and they very easliy give up some freedom to feel safe again. The real unfortunate fact is that once freedom is lost it’s very difficult to get it back, so the more people fear, the more freedom lost, so on and so forth till we get to the point we are now stuck in a corner with little to no way out.

So whats the solution? I wish I  could say I know, but I really don’t, I do feel that it’s worth some thought and discussion though. Do we need to redeclare our independence, or are we indepent enough? Maybe we are, or maybe we have just accepted our lack of independence….

© Copyright chris nolte