DESTRUCTION and REDEMPTION

He who knows the heart finds out how poor, helpless, pretentious, and blundering even the best and deepest love is--he finds that it more prone to DESTRUCTION than REDEMPTION!- KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LOVE: the martyrdom of the most innocent and most craving heart, that never had enough of any human love, that DEMANDED love, that demanded inexorably and frantically to be loved and nothing else, with terrible outbursts against those who refused him their love; the story of a poor soul insatiated and insatiable in love, that had to invent hell to send thither those who WOULD NOT love him--and that at last, enlightened about human love, had to invent a God who is entire love, entire CAPACITY for love--who takes pity on human love, because it is so paltry, so ignorant! He who has such sentiments, he who has such KNOWLEDGE about love--SEEKS death!

Darkness and Reason

We all like to root for the underdog. The dying, struggling last Ray of light fighting against darkness. Because we see ourselves in that place, rallying against all odds to reach somewhere. Yet wherever it goes there is darkness already. And darkness is all pervasive, it is all there is nothing. And maybe we are looking at it the wrong way. Accepting darkness is beginning of reasoning and converting from being wanderers to travellers.

Maybe by accepting the darkness that is there and was already there and will always be there is what we need to accept as reality and adapt to. Maybe we have become complacent because we can't use the senses that we have now to navigate through black. We need higher reasoning and become something more than man to rise, to evolve. We are rope, bridge between men and ubermensch.

What ourselves will become with all this hypocrisy and procrastination. We keep delaying evolving and resist changes that come our way. Let's develop into something of that darkness. Its not that there is nothing, it's that we are not yet developed enough to know what darkness actually has in store for us. Maybe that is where the madness lies. And all madness do have reasons for it. And with reason we will stop being someone who has travelled far off and yet haven't reached destination because there is none that we can imagine with our half developed brain. We can reach the cities of knowledge, gardens of love and palace of peace. 

We fear it because we cannot comprehend darkness like we can't understand other being. Like we all are so unique that to know someone else completely is a bliss that not all of us are blessed with. Like love, we cannot comprehend love as well. Its a bottomless pit, an abyss, something so powerful that we get overwhelmed by it at the slightest chance of it becoming reality. The same way, darkness is fearful because it is so powerful that a ray of light will be extinguished, if not today than tomorrow. Sooner or later it concedes defeat, maybe it's not defeat actually, its lights destiny as well. To change. And me, being at the same level of consciousness cannot fully understand the workings of light and dark. Only thing that I can understand is that I welcome darkness as much as light. I love both because in the end both is me and I am it. I am everywhere and always. If not me than a part of me, with all my virtue and all my vice, with all that's bad and all that's nice. I am and therefore I will be.

Why Nietzsche?

As with all beautiful gift i have received, i was introduced to Nietzsche by my brother. When he moved to States he gave me all his books and one among them was "Modern Classics Selected Writings- Nietzsche."

Who was Nietzsche, you ask. Telling you that he was a philosopher will not suffice. He was a psychologist as well, in fact Sigmund Freud said Nietzsche was the greatest psychologist ever lived, but that is not all. He has been called Antichrist as well, for questioning the prevalent Christian practices, so we can understand the impact he had and keeps having on the world.

His themes are not just revolutionary and thought provoking but for some people they seem to be offensive as well. For example when, through the mad man he declares that god is dead, he offends the whole institute of church. He does not stop at that, he goes on to say we have killed him and it is too early for him to come and announce of the events that have taken place because we are not ready. The other themes include one of the most infamous of his work- ubermeinch or the superman and the one with most impact- Will to Power. These are but just some of his works.

When we talk about a philosopher his personal life has also to be talked about as it has a huge impact on development of one's conscious self. His was a very sad life. And his demise was even sadder. He died after a decade of complete insanity. But between these two generic events that every person has to encounter it was the work he did between that made him what he was, and it certainly is the uniqueness of this world, even today. There are some anecdotes that I am going to share about his life which I remember now that can arouse interest in you about this man. Once he went to a brothel and was overjoyed at finding a piano there and enjoyed his time there by playing piano. Another time, towards the end of his life, he embraced a horse on a busy street and started weeping. The reasons for such behavior is topic to discuss another time.

I am not a Nietzsche scholar. I am just a regular reader who came across his work and stood there for a long time in awe and admiration as well confused and unknown to the acuity of what he wrote. I might be wrong in comprehending what he actually meant when he wrote, but as they say one cannot know what was written but only that what they read. I too will write about what i understood of things i read. After all a philosopher has one thing to do, to make people think. Ignite the flame, rest has to be done by the individuals to arrive at their own conclusion. A representation of a philosophers mind like Nietzsche can provoke thoughts in a well reasoned man while other's may just find him disgusting as we talked earlier.

What i am concerned with here is the philosophy that he proposes in a unique way. He writes mostly in form of aphorisms. To start thinking about things we do not think in our life, but are important for development of an individual as well as a society as whole. I have drift away from such hard hitting, thought provoking ideologies making my mind limited in the way that recieptiveness of it has became limited. Let me dive into myself a little by little for a better way to think and thus- to live by trying to understand by expressing myself, which is another limitation which caused by lack of open thought process.

Therefore, I will try to express myself on what Nietzsche wrote as I perceive it.

Ubermensch

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say… lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
            Tyler Durden

There is so much more to Ubermensch that I will write more on that later, its just that I read about Ubermensch and it clicked that Tyler is the character that comes closest to being Ubermensch that I have come across so here is an introduction to Nietzsche's Ubermensch.

The Narrator, an insomniac who has been going to support group meetings because seeing other people suffering more than himself makes him sleep like a baby. He buys the dining table that shows what he is as a person. He has to buy a table, which has yin-yang design, which says he is intelligent. He is someone whose only desire is his comfort and cannot see anything beyond him. Like the Last Man of Nietzsche, buying things he did not need but them because he has become a consumer in this materialistic society and does not have the power to go against it by himself. He is stuck in this hell hole for as long as he can remember.

Tyler Durden, is the Ubermensch of Nietzsche. He says “Self improvement is like masturbation, Now, self destruction…” He is nihilistic in the approach to make The Narrator an Ubermensch as he is. He tells The Narrator not to worry about things he owns so much because if he does so, the things start owning him instead. They start a club where more people like them come to vent their anger. They are law abiding and working people in their daytime jobs but every Saturday night they live their emotions and fight until the last breath.

As outlined by Nietzsche scholars the last aim of humans would be to self-combine. These opposites tend to be unified within the phase. Overabundance of any force necessitates a reverse force in the future in being for the sake of balance. This Ubermensch advances the thinking behind “great health” as an all-embracing totality by which almost all opposites tend to be combined in oneness.. Fight club says this like no other movie. Becoming one with both extremes is the ultimate human form.  Nietzsche said that man is the bridge between the animal and Ubermensch. We have to think and overcome our worst fear- fear of being lonely for being the one with difference. If we have different value system and principles, we will be left lonely but it is the price one has to pay for evolving.

The Wanderer

The man who has only yet partially arrived at freedom of reason cannot relate to this earth as anything but a wanderer- although not as a traveler turning his eyes towards a final goal in the distance, because there is no such thing.

Taking turns at every crossroads, while wandering, makes it seem as if there is no end to these deserted streets. There are people on these streets, yes there are, but still these streets are deserted.

 This life of wandering is a tormentor, for there will be no companions on the boulevard of chaotic changes, but it is changes that a wanderer strives on. A wanderer will meet many faces, he will go to many places, but he should not bind his heart to any single thing, because he will have to move on. There will be faces he will fall in love with, faces whom he will want to be with but he will have to let himself go. And at night all these faces will come back to haunt him, like the deserted streets. It will seem to him then, that it is his life, too, that has become barren, the second deserted street.

There is no place open for him, at nights of these torture, that will give him any refuge. And at the dawn he will meet a face from whom he had walked away from, that face will be like a vengeful sun, scorching his skin and blinding his vision. These faces will be as torturous as the deserted streets because they will be deserted of any emotions as well- just blank staring eyes.

The only recompense he will have is that he will see new suns- meet new faces. These faces will be to him like a dew drop on a grass in a winter morning, like the smell of soil when first rain falls. And when such dawn appears, with so much suns, he will see the streets further and  start his journey down the path again.

He will see other people understanding and treading the paths towards freedom of reason. They will take different paths but they will never reach anywhere because there is no destination for these wanderers.

The Parable Of Madman

Have you heard about the transfer student, who seems like he has a screw or two lose up there? I was thinking about him. He doesn’t believe there is any god. The other day, when asked about what god he believed in, he asked if anyone had seen god and if not, then why do we believe in him. He says that if there was any god, benevolent, wouldn’t he come down before a single drop of blood is shed in his name and, if it stops bloodshed, would say, he isn’t the true god and whatever that would make the murderers want to not kill. If the god was all powerful he would cripple the murderers before they get to the innocent people to kill in his name. If he is omnipresent he would see the atrocities that his creations are going through and help them. The truth is this world has always been, simultaneously, a marketplace and graveyard where we sell our souls, bury them every day in graves that we dig ourselves…. and also exhume it. And there is no god, even if there had been one at any point of time, he is dead. And it is us that we have killed God. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.

What was the greatest sin that killed the god? And what was the greatest dream that blinds us to see what comes after the darkest hour-dawn, what is beyond horizon, we can’t see.  The festivals that we celebrate are because we want to cast out our own fears and guilt. What will happen when you are to pray and know that there is no god to answer them? That why is why we still pray to him and keep believing in him?

All were laughing at him then because they thought of him as atheist and that was a matter of laughter for them as they thought of themselves as believing in god. It was then that he felt silent threw his books and walked away. I didn’t knew why that happen then but now that I think of it again and again, it came to me that he had realized something. The news haven’t reached those around him that were laughing. The god was really dead. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves." 

The original Nietzsche work:

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/friedrich_nietzsche_quotes.html

The Men Of Knowledge

“The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.” 

Anyone who looks directly into others eyes and understand the thoughts behind these curtains to soul will be terribly horrified by things he will see there. There are always things on other side, the darker side, simple side, the side which we do not look at because it makes us weary of our own self and the environment- the bubble that we have created around ourselves to feel comfortable. And these things make one wonder- would not we be happier if we did not have the understanding to have come to know of these feelings. 

In eyes of people he considers his enemies will be envy of a kind that comes through helplessness, sometimes respect for you are able to weather their efforts of trying to reduce into slithering and maybe at times a little hint of compassion as well. What would that make the person your enemy then? More often than not it will only be the opinions he holds for things you desire, you like or you have that makes you feel he is your enemy. Even if these people are really hate mongers and love to see you fall, there will be a time that you will find some emotions in their eyes that will make you think-only if we would have met in other circumstances we would have been friends.

A friend is a person who knows all about you. He is still there because what will you do if he leaves you, what will you think if he leaves you- that he is selfish! At times they would have thought why they are even with a person like you, epitome of all corrupt and wrong in this world. They have contempt in their eyes, hidden far behind veil of love, happiness and other whimsical feelings, but its still there and will always be there in eyes f anyone who knows you in such a way. 

 Would not that make you feel that we should let all friends go their way and free them of the burden of friendship that makes them so tired and hate us. Will we be able to this without reciprocating the same hatred. Should not we love all our enemies and absolve the grudges that holds us far away and demolish the barriers eventually ridding ourselves of enemies. 

What will you be left with in the end? When you hate all your friends and have empathy with your enemy what will be the kind of people around you? 

Scherzkeks

The Joker: You’ll see, I’ll show you, that when the chips are down, these uh… civilized people, they’ll eat each other. 

Mankind, as a race, has evolved from apes yet there are still those who have not yet realized what their evolution truly means. With the same indignity we look at apes, ubermensch looks letzte mensch. The world we live has been reduced to such a small place and so very small very small people walk on it. Men are so lost, trying to simplify rules for everyone to find happiness, reasons and justifications for their action, virtues and justice that they have lost purpose of it altogether. They no longer care for what happiness means to them, what virtues are required and why. All they care about is how well they step up to fulfill someone else’s standard of what is expected. It seems like a huge mechanism, that was built by killing God, which now requires souls of humans to be manipulated and synchronized and make a dumb down, mad and unreasonable form of life- society, slow suicide of soul, where one has to lose individuality to be considered sane. Letzte mensch has lost their vision among consumerism and status, among smartphones and tablets. Letzte mensch seeks his own comfort and security, doesn't believe in taking chances to live to his full potential, swim against the stream, has lost the Will to power. This is overcome by ubermensch. Letzte mensch takes values that society thrusts upon them and overman has his own set of values.

Letzte mensch is someone who is capable of thinking only about himself and cannot create anything beyond his own existence while overman is someone who can create, invent and make something new. There is a system installed within soul of every men today. If you think the same as every one else, you do same as every one as well. There is no doubt that there will be new stuff coming along. Ubermensch, on the other hand has chaos within himself which makes him capable of creating star.

Nietzsche considers basic human trait as something that he calls will to power. Last man has lost his own will to power and clings to societal manners, hedonism. He considers will to power as something that helps realize one’s desire. The power to attain what one wills.         

Joker is someone who lives outside the realms of letzte mensch’s comprehension. He is far beyond the horizon of vision of modern man to understand that Joker is not playing the joke. It is they who are joke and he is trying to realize them the same thing. He is the one who has seen what evil man is capable of, the atrocities that he can persecute but lives behind a veil of civility. It is these who are corrupt in true  sense. When he manipulates two ships leaving Gotham into bombing each other, those who are civilized were almost ready to bomb prisoners, who are considered barbarians by them, killing each one of them. Knowing well that by this they will empower someone who is trying to make them do such horrible acts. Yet even at the cost of their will to power, they resign to someone else’s will to power. There is important and as much influential character that defines Joker as much as society does. And he is Batman. But it was not Batman that created him, it was soul dead, manipulative, malevolent collective morality and hypocrisy that lead a normal person who was aligned with society and a common man, to see what reality is and how people will behave when chips are down. Thing about joker is that his every action is seemingly a joke that goes beyond what was happening in that moment. Joker’s reality goes beyond himself and watches himself sucked into the abyss and there is only one way out now, it is too late and thre is only one person who can both redeem him and make him winner-Batman. Both of them have walked the tight rope and have gone beyond being letzte mensch and become UBERMENSCH in their own sense.

Own Yourself

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche 

I have found myself at the center of a lot of heated battles over not what I think and what my opinion is but because the basic fact I think and have an opinion in the first place. And it is exaggerated by the fact that my perspective to look at things is different, hence my opinions are bound to be different as well, which is the whole point of being individualistic. 

What bothers others is beyond me. For me it is not with a few people but with lots of them, which makes me think if I am driving on the wrong lane and the problem is with me or if we as a society have bred the thought that difference in opinion or even having one, is condescending. Being individualistic does make one lonely. Maybe, as a society we have to understand that it is not just the like minded that has to befriended but any individual who has an opinion is to be respected as well. If we would throw everyone who has a point of view which is different than ours, out what will be left is different bodies with same mind. Nothing new will be accomplished.

Its not about being right or wrong, having an opinion means one is able to articulate his thoughts and interpret it in terms of expressions. This is the primary stage of development of an individual. Having the right direction and approach towards this process comes afterwards with life experiences and education. If we are to weed out all the motivation and joy out of being able to think, that will mark the beginning of our own decline.

Our Thoughts Are Always Simpler

There is nothing except anger and hurt and desperate efforts to redeem oneself from the haunting nightmares and the darkness within each one's heart. We are embodiment of our thoughts, our fate. There are sometimes dark corners within our mind where we do not want to stop and look at, else we see who we really are, where nothing except mirrors are kept. 

Words float there. Words that you will not repeat to yourself. Things dwell in those corners that you do not want anyone to know. People get away from you because you cannot speak with them about these dark corners and being conditional that they are, they will want to be a part of your life only if you talk about these mirrors. Though you cannot look at mirrors, the scars are visible and they want to know what happened? How can you? No one other than you has seen the world with silver sun. Times that there was sun in sky but it was as dead as moon and had no light of its own. When you tell them, they will not understand your words, yet pretend to have sympathy for you. You do not want that. You do not want anyone to talk about it, just like you do. Walk past the corners; ignoring them as you would always do.

It can be your failure, maybe an act of cowardice. Maybe it still darker. Maybe you regret an acts of kindness. Even this notion is so vulgar and impure, and you know it, that one can regret any act of kindness that you cannot tell it to yourself, let alone someone else. These thoughts are absolutely there, no doubt about it. But an ubermensch will still act in kind next time he is warranted for it. That is power of overcoming oneself. Regret will then be obliterated and content will be placed in its stead. That day too, one will be alone as is on the day you do not stop and look in mirror because:-

                    "Our thoughts are always simpler and darker"-Nietzsche

 Being alone would not be as bad after all.

Everything or Nothing

We are taught that something is better than nothing throughout our life. But we are never told how is it going to feel if we do not get what we want, what it feels like having something that you did not wish for and being content in the same worthless piece of nothingness in your hand and pretend you are privileged to have gotten something out of life for your efforts. But it is not what you wanted. It will never have the value that you were after. You are never going to like it.

The feeling of that gap inside is unbearable. It seems as if the whole world is inconsequential and that existence is mere perfunctory. You are here just because you are. There is no reason, no purpose. It is just that you are here. All else happens around you is incoherent and irrelevant for you, and rather more importantly you are to the events. It is not a matter of philosophy( as many stupid people relate sad thoughts to philosophy) or negativity, it is the truth that one must face, a truth that will make you sad, but still, accepting it makes it easier to go through the tirade of everyday. 

There must be a way to be happy as well. And that is to have everything you want. You have to fight and beat and survive through everything that life is and take all you want from it with both hands and head held high. And show that there is power inside you. That you are the one who is going to dictate terms for life and living it. Take everything. If that is not possible, I will have nothing.

Everything or Nothing. I am not going to let life decide what I get and what not. I will get what I want and if thats not going to happen than I will have nothing. No one is going to tell me what I am to get.

How else are you going to show that you have power? And it is only power that is going to make you happy, makes you good. Never let anyone, person or life dictate what you want and you will be happy.

What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power in man, the will to power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome. 

                                                                                                                                      -Nietzsche

A Good Reader

A good reader should not be like a plundering troop that salvages what he likes from the spoils of war and leaves other things to rot in the mire of blood and mud. A reader should take everything from the book that he reads. In being like a savage troop, that reader does not just disrespects the author who has written the whole book but the very book itself that loses its entirety, which defiles it.

A good reader should not be in hurry to finish the book for the sake of finishing it but he should give time to the thoughts of writer to sink in him and understand him. Nietzsche compares this hastiness to that of taking a bath in cold water. A person gets in the bath and quickly comes out without any concern of his cleanliness and hygiene but cares for getting out of the cold water as soon as possible. We should take time so that we can have time to contemplate what we have read and develop our own thoughts and opinions. This is what Nietzsche wants to do- to provoke people into thinking.