Simple Lessons from Nietzsche
“God is dead” is the most infamous thing Nietzsche ever wrote.
He wasn’t the first one to say it, but his expounding on that controversial idea was one of the cornerstones of his legacy. He believed that everything built in the West upon Christianity was bound to collapse. And one could easily argue that he was right.
I’ve been reading his most famous book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and I want to share some of the ideas I’ve discovered within. I don’t want to talk about the “God is dead” idea, because that deserves at least one full blog post of its own (and I really don’t plan to write that particular post, because in a lot of ways I already have). But I do want to talk about some other simple yet meaningful ideas from the book.
The book is written as a series of parables, much like you’d find in that one other book. You know, the one I always seem to find myself talking about even though I’m not religious at all.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was one of the most punk-rock philosophers who ever lived. He made fun of pretty much everything, and he was really good at it. But he was also very mature in his intellect, and had a beautiful writing style.
As opposed to a philosopher of rationality, reason, or politics, Nietzsche was a philosopher of virtue.
Another thing to know about Nietzsche is that you don’t have to buy him wholesale. Sometimes his attempts at humor or cleverness are ineffective, and sometimes he gets too personal or even juvenile in his writing. Sometimes he’s just wrong. The key with Nietzsche, as with any other person, is to mull over his ideas; to learn from what is useful and to throw out what is not. Even the greatest philosophers had blind spots and personal excesses.
If you’re interested in reading this medium-sized book (which I’d highly recommend), make sure you get the Walter Kaufman translation. It is now regarded as the prettiest and most faithful translation of Nietzsche’s writing. And it also does the best job of capturing Nietzsche’s übermensch without sounding cheesy and ridiculous.
It’s slow reading, since it’s very metaphorical and full of dense ideas, but it’s also pretty easy to read as far as style.
Here are my interpretations of some of the most interesting ideas from Parts I and II.
Nobody really believes in anything anymore.
A more general extension of the “God is dead” idea.
We are so exposed to so many differing opinions and clashing beliefs that we get paralyzed and indecisive. We fail to find what resonates most and commit ourselves to it. And that doesn’t mean religion; it means principles, values, and ways of carrying oneself. Everybody has opinions, very few have convictions. Real, deep virtues.
The modern world and having strong beliefs and strong character are not mutually exclusive. Although, if you looked around you, you might think differently.
Where sleep is the goal, life lacks meaning.
You can live a virtually risk-free life, and not stand for anything, and maybe you’ll sleep like a baby. But if that’s the case, your life is worthless. You will die never having lived.
We walk crooked paths when we’re chasing something. But we walk straight paths when we’re simply living out our virtue.
When you are trying to tell the world what you want, and chasing what you want, life has a way of casting you about, confusing you, discouraging you, and making your existence hell. But when all you’re trying to do is live out your virtues, the path ahead is generally very straightforward.
Easy? No. Life is never easy. But simple. The less desires you harbor, the simpler life becomes.
Those who tell the world about their virtues have empty, cavernous souls.
You’re either living out your virtues or you’re not.
If you want a trophy for it, you’re not.
My own observation: part of this phenomenon is the men who strut around talking about how manly they are. Generally these men are emotionally four years old, and are not to be trusted. Because a real man doesn’t need a trophy for being manly. He does it because it’s correct. And then he shuts up.
Those who speak of equality are bitter, not compassionate.
All men are not created equal; that’s a self-evident truth of life. Anyone who says they are is on a mission of revenge, not compassion. They want to punish others for having more than they have, instead of spending that time doing the work to earn what ought to be rightfully theirs.
You love your virtue like a mother her child.
You sacrifice and want the best for your virtue. You nurture it mindfully. And you don’t expect to be paid.
Those who create think and speak for everybody. And that’s a bad thing.
People are never forced to sit with their own thoughts. The only people who actually think are the ones who choose to. If you never make time to sit and think, and develop your own beliefs, you’re simply renting other people’s opinions. And the price is your worth as a human being. The price is that you become nothing more than a salesperson of someone else’s beliefs.
My input: as a writer, you might think my mission is to teach you what to think. No. My mission is to teach you how to think. So that you can freely agree or disagree with me. Although it would make me feel warm and fuzzy if you did agree with me.
To deprecate this world for the higher glory of another is anti-human.
You are here in life with other human beings. Human beings who deserve glory and praise and encouragement and support. This life is no mirage; it is real and it is painful and it is hard.
Whatever afterworld you think you deserve, whatever new life you think you’ve been promised, your job while you’re here is to be a good, useful person. Period.
You wage war for the ideas you truly believe in.
Honesty is a game that requires life-changing sacrifice. It requires you to suffer the consequences of waging a war for the truth. Believing in ideas, truly believing in them, has social consequences. Sometimes even mortal ones.
To be a champion of your ideas, you have to speak with cavalier disregard for what anyone else thinks. It is a lot harder than whispering opinions behind closed doors.
(It’s likely that Nietzsche’s sentiment here is partially about why being a writer is such a risky job. You’re always displeasing and challenging people. And if you’re not, no one’s going to read your work anyway.)
Laziness disguises itself as virtue.
When you do not put someone in his place for trespassing against you, it's not virtue. It's abandonment of moral responsibility. It's laziness. And you're claiming that you're simply "turning the other cheek" — a piece of advice that Nietzsche passionately disavows.
A world of cheeks turned is a world that will burn; not because forgiveness is bad, but because it ensures that narcissists will thrive.
If you let weeds grow, they will grow.
Resentment is to be avoided.
I’ve said it before and I will always say it: resentment is the most destructive force on earth.
Ordinary heroics involve humor and dancing, not austerity and posture.
Nietzsche pokes fun here at two things: people who take themselves too seriously, and social actors. “To stand with relaxed muscles and unharnessed will: that is most difficult for you who are sublime.”
Nietzsche was especially sarcastic towards people who perform for the world, insisting upon having a particular reputation.
It is better to be deceived occasionally than to always watch out for deceivers.
Trust is a risky human behavior.
But the violent sea is better than a lonely island.
People are too concerned about petty evil; great things are possible only where great evil is harnessed.
This begins to approach the dark individual journey that thinkers like Nietzsche are known for: it is only possible to do good once you know what evil you are capable of.
It’s ridiculous to pretend that there is no evil in yourself, people, and the world, or to look away from it. It’s better to face it, understand it, and use it to build your morality.
A man who has never hurt anyone is not “good,” unless he recognizes that he could hurt people very easily, and once wanted to, and now chooses not to.
- - -
Friedrich Nietzsche was optimistic about the human spirit, but very pessimistic about the current state of it. He saw the human spirit under the influence of the state as something approximating rot.
But he believed in individual redemption and the individual as the real steward of virtue. He believed in dancing, singing, and self-respect. He believed that the individual is beautiful when it becomes free of the shackles of tradition and finds virtue for itself.
He believed in breaking shackles, but he also believed in intense virtue.
He was hard on people. But with ideas like his, you have to be.
Drink some water, unless you have been promised an afterlife of nothing but water. In that case, wait.
JDR
“There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.” - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche