BBC Four: Genius of the Modern World (Part 2: Friedrich Nietzsche)
Historian Bethany Hughes continues her journey into exploring geniuses of the modern world. This time, it is Friedrich Nietzsche, a Prussian philosopher who dared to question the authority of the Christian church. Times were changing. Development in the sciences in the 19th century opened man's eyes and questioned the existence of God. Nietzsche was primarily thinking of man's behaviour in a godless world. He was thinking of where Man would get guidance if he were to disregard the scriptures.Life started so blissfully for this son of a Lutheran preacher. His memory of life was the picture of perfect with visions of angels singing in the sky waiting with classical music tunes playing in the background. All that came to an abrupt end when he saw his father suffering from a chronic stomach ailment that eventually led to his death. That was his first uncertainty about organised religion. He wondered why a servant of God as his father should suffer so much. Why did his God not spare him of his miseries?
Even though Frederich wanted to continue the family tradition by enrolling in Bonn University to study theology, fate had other plans. His association with a radical group that critically condemned the scriptures of Bible as mere folklore further shook his belief. Christianity seems to guide its believers to live for unknown after-life rather than for now. He lost his faith.
Looking at the events around him in the 19th century, where science seems to be replacing religion as Man's answers to the questions of life and as a guide to morality, Nietzsche wondered if society was leading itself to self-destruction. His famous quote was 'God is dead and remains dead for we have killed Him'. We were liberated or free to make our choices but why we able to fill up the vacuum? It is a big responsibility that we have to wrestle.
He embarked on a journey of discovery. He became a professor of Philosophy at the age of 24 and published his first book, 'Birth of Tragedy'.
He could not accept life as all pain as suggested by Schopenhauer. He was fascinated with the Greek art and tragedy in finding affirmation of life. Like the Greek tragedies, life is a balance between Apollo, the God of reason and rational, and Dionysus, the God of chaos and appeals to emotional instincts. He thought art made life worth its while. Even though society expects orderliness, logic is not the only way to the truth. [Do I sense a hint of Hinduism here? Shiva, albeit his decadent ways towards life through intoxication, spirits, wondering, lack of personal hygiene hanging around corpses and cemeteries did find secrets of inner energy and the core of the purpose of life through the discovery of the 'Third Eye'].He found this in his brief association with composer Richard Wagner. The friendship, however, met a short end when he realised that artists created only for self-glorification, not to improve life.
In Sil Maria, Nietzsche's spiritual retreat, he continued his search. Life is an eternal recurrence of the same. It is a cycle of good and bad. Just as one has to accept tragedy as the tide may turn for the better just as joy can be short lived. What does not kill you makes you stronger! Embrace life, not recoil away to suffer. [If that does not smell of Hindu spirit, what else would?]
The rejection by the love of his life, Lou Salome, in 1882 in Lucerne, further added to his melancholic life. Living true to his prophecy, he resisted the desire to end his life. In the depth of his misery, he continued writing ferociously. His magnum opus must be 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'. Still harping on his dictum that God is dead, he narrates a parody of the Bible of a character named Zarathustra, who comes from the mountains to tell the news to the world that God is dead, but nobody wants to listen. He also introduced the concept of Ubermensch (Overman, Superman). This perfect man is one who needs no external yardstick to tell him what is right or wrong for humanity. He sets the goals even though there is no blueprint for life. He is cocksure what is best for everyone, and he does it without fear of favour even though his actions may not be popular.Nietzsche was quite sure that his work would be misused by people. Hence, he was reluctant to publish some of them, especially his last book, 'Will of Power'. Unfortunately, his sister who was the guardian of his work after his death, altered it and used it for her benefit in her work with the ideology of Hitler and the Nazi party. It was made into a propaganda movie by the Nazi party (Triumph of the Will). In this movie, Hitler descends from an aeroplane just like how Zarathustra came from the mountains with the news of God's demise, but here Hitler has the blueprint to make Germany great again!
Through his other works, 'Beyond Good and Evil' and 'Genealogy of Morality', he tried to understand the purpose of life. He thought perhaps suffering is not all doom and gloom but a way to unlock happiness. Overcoming obstacles to achieve a goal is part the experience of joy. Pain is an enabling condition for happiness.
His views on Christianity angered many. The secular society, even though rejected Christianity, still held its values. He boldly said that the religion was a threat to humanity. It glorifies the after-life and spurs self-hatred to one's inner desires. On the other hand, it gives slaves worth that nobody cares. On a larger scale of society, it strives for mediocrity. It glorifies the weak and is obsessed with contentment. He defined this contentment as herd happiness, only worthy of animals. He called it slave morality
Slave morality values things like kindness, humility and sympathy, while master morality values pride, strength, and nobility. Master morality weighs actions on a scale of good or bad (classical virtues and vices) unlike slave morality which weighs actions on a scale of good or evil(Christian virtues and vices).
Even though high achievers are needed to catapult the society forward, they are viewed as selfish. The masters have their own sense of morality. Unlike their counterpart who tend the clip the 'over-achievements', the masters glorify ambition and despise compassion.
After 1888, his health took a turn for the worse after years of feeling unwell. Some quarters say that he was diagnosed to clinically insane due to neurosyphilis. His delusion of grandeur and megalomaniac tendencies increased. He started signing his letter as 'Anti-Christ'. It used to be Dionysus. His last decade of inactivity was spent with his sister, Elisabeth.The Nazis misused Frederich Nietzsche's works for their agendas. He was never anti-Semitic and did not really lobby for eugenics or selection of the fittest. Unlike Darwin who thought the continuation of species was the single most important duty of existence, he thought trying to be exceptional was of paramount importance, not producing offspring. In his unpublished work of 'Will of Power', which he thought humankind was not ready to accept, he argued that our survival is based on power. Everyone wants to exert over the other to survive!
Even though Nietzsche never expected the society to last long as an irreligious entity, some of his predictions have indeed come true. Modern men have filled the void left by religion by many trivial and narcissistic behaviours. The general public does not aspire to reach greater heights, are happy to be following the herd, gain happiness from trivialities of life, shy from greatness and celebrate the mundane. They profess the religion of comfortness and shun the higher values of mankind. He called them the last men (before Armageddon?)
These last men see the great lives but have no desire to pursue them, they merely stare.
"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby becomes a monster.
And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.". After all these years, we are still groping in the dark trying to live simply or simply trying to live! It is still a challenge.
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