“Some men are born posthumously” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I came across his name for the first time in my 10th
class Social Studies History textbook, a lesson about the World War II and if I
remember correctly, the sentence was– ‘Hitler was inspired by the writings of
Friedrich Nietzsche’. I underlined the sentence, in the presumption that it
would come as an objective question and like always, I wanted to show my
friends how good I am in Social Studies, especially in History. I did ponder
about him for few seconds as he is one who inspired Adolf Hitler. This happened
approximately 10 years ago.
I came across his name for the second time when I was in my
final year of my Computer Engineering and read Ayn Rand’s ‘The Fountainhead’, I was remotely fascinated to know her
inspiration, I did some research and eventually discovered that she was
inspired by writings of Friedrich Nietzsche.
I was able to comprehend the intellectual humor of Woody
Allen and after watching all his films, I came across an article ‘Thus Ate Zarathustra’ written by Woody
Allen for ‘The New Yorker’ and thus I came to know about ‘Thus Spoke
Zarathustra’. The admiration for Woody Allen made me look for his books ‘Side Effects, Without Feathers and Getting
Even’ in book stores and luckily in the ‘Classics’ section of the book
store my eye reads the title of a book ‘Thus
Spake Zarathustra’, I was thrilled for an intangible reason, I was not sure
whether I need to buy it or not?, I was holding the book in my hand and decided
to turn few pages, the introduction section had a quote
“A testing and
a questioning hath been all my travelling -- and verily, one must also learn to
answer such questioning! That, however, is my taste --”,
I decided to buy the book – thus started my journey into
Nietzsche’s works.
‘God is dead’,
proclaims Nietzsche emphatically and philosophically, I often wonder whether he
is an atheist by spirit, or is an atheist by choice, or is an atheist by
compulsion due his contempt for Christianity? In ‘Beyond Good and Evil’, he
postulates his views and compels us to question on, What is Good? What is Bad?
What is Evil? Does a thing called ‘Evil’ exist? There is no synonym of the word
‘evil’ in Indian Languages.
Nietzsche is a near alliance to ‘Questioning’. I guess, he
is one of the first to rebel against the church, against its doctrine and
against its condescending views on humanity. If, ‘Freedom of Speech’ has some meaning in the present world, then the
substantial credit for it goes to Nietzsche. This 19th century
philosopher still makes enormous sense in the 21st century with his
shocking accusations, stupendous aphorisms and claircognizance for future.
The phrase ‘Original
Thought’ could not fit more appropriately any other than Nietzsche in the
modern world; he influenced writers, filmmakers, philosophers, free thinkers
and confusingly the ordinary man. I am very sure that he painfully confronts
today’s left liberals, apostles of mindless equality and definitely the
feminists. Perhaps, he is the first one who gave a positive meaning for the
word ego which is later carried by Ayn Rand.
“Egoism is the
very essence of a noble soul.”
The Superman:
As the word ‘Dharma’ is hard to translate in English, many
philosophers and translators found it difficult to translate the word ‘Übermensch’ into English – some do
refer it as ‘Superman’ and some prefer to use non-translated ‘Übermensch’ as
they feel that it isn’t the exact word. The preamble for his definition of man
can be sensed in most of his works, he despised every soul which undermines the
‘Will to Power’ in a man and his heroic imagination of what is, what man can be
and man has to be a ‘Superman’. The thought of man as a Superman has given
birth to Howard Roark, John Galt, Surya (played by Mahesh Babu) and probably
many B and C grades heroes too…
The Renaissance:
In ‘The Antichrist’,
he talks about the renaissance which took place in Europe and he shows his
anger on how the renaissance has been pushed away and how the next phase of the
century was taken away by the Church. In the last lines of ‘The Antichrist’ he says:
“This eternal accusation against Christianity
I shall write upon all walls, wherever walls are to be found--I have letters
that even the blind will be able to see. . . I call Christianity the one great
curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge,
for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough;
- I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race. . .”
Nietzsche has seen Nihilism as a necessity and not just a
statement to endorse ‘Transvaluation of
all values’ , he believed in Nihilism as a pure form of re-birth of thought
and its existence and relevance in the contemporary world. For me, Nietzsche is
‘The Renaissance’, the thoughts, the aphorisms and he didn’t mince words to
express them with alacrity.
Aristotle, Plato and
Socrates: Criticism of Philosophers
Every eminent philosopher has been inspired by the early
Greek philosophers and so did Nietzsche but
unlike many philosophers and thinkers, Nietzsche just didn’t interpret the
texts of the Greek Philosophy but he actually questioned them, was
hypercritical and challenged them with his perceptions. He had his own unique
perspective on ‘The Greek Tragedy’.
Nietzsche had his proximity and disagreement with Aristotle,
his views of man, the greatness of soul, the brotherhood of man etc… he loathed
Plato, I guess the real questions on Plato’s views and Nietzsche’s validation
has made the term ‘Platonism’ romantic. In ‘Twilight of the Idols’ he says…
"Plato is
boring. In reality my distrust of Plato is fundamental. I find him so very much
astray from all the deepest instincts of the Hellenes, so steeped in moral
prejudices, so pre-existently Christian - the concept 'good' is already the
highest value with him, - that rather than use any other _expression I would
prefer to designate the whole phenomenon Plato with the hard word, 'superior
bunkum,' or, if you would like it better, 'idealism.'”
His hatred for Socrates is quite fascinating, he chooses the
words cleverly and scenarios perfectly. He drags Plato to bash Socrates and
vice-versa.
“I realized
that Socrates and Plato were symptoms of degeneration, tools of the Greek
dissolution, pseudo-Greek, and anti-Greek.”
“Was Socrates a
typical criminal? At least that would be consistent with the famous judgment of
the physiognomist that so offended the friends of Socrates.”
“Socrates was
the buffoon who got himself taken seriously, what really happened there?”
"How could
the most beautiful growth of antiquity, Plato, contract such a disease? Did the
wicked Socrates corrupt him after all? Could Socrates have been the corrupter
of the youth after all? And did he deserve his hemlock?"
Comprehension of
Nietzsche:
No wonder, the works of Nietzsche are misunderstood by many
and some even tried to portray the misconception of Nietzsche in films and
books. Alfred Hitchcock’s bold and experimental film ‘Rope’ handles it and the
abstract and the artistic take by Bela Tarr in ‘The Turin Horse’. The
Nazis took their own interpretation of Nietzsche and fascists misread
Nietzsche.
Even the communists had their own inclination for his works.
Of course, one needs to know what Nietzsche thought about Communism/Socialism and
Hugo Chavez said "Zarathustra struck
me once again in Havana" when he was coping with Cancer.
Nationalist:
Nietzsche was a nationalist but was not a nationalist with
socialist leanings, he a nationalist because of the culture which Germany once
possessed; the German spirit etc… his praise for Germany can hardly be seen in
his writings because it’s disguised in the hatred. He hated Germany for its
growing bad influence, its education system, religion, politics, quality of
liberals and its ability to produce bad intellectuals. He points out every
possible thing which has gone wrong for Germany which indirectly points towards
his concern.
"Are there
any German philosophers? Are there German poets? Are there good German
books?" they ask me abroad. I blush; but with the courage which I maintain
even in desperate situations I reply: "Well, Bismarck." Would it be
permissible for me to confess what books are read today? Accursed instinct of
mediocrity!
Western Civilization:
Nietzsche questioned the Western Civilization, its validity
and perspective towards society. The conventional western thought process was
in danger, at least academically. The dogma set up by the western civilization
was critically exposed by Nietzsche. Nietzsche is one of the most earliest and
important figures who challenged the western civilization, who predicted the
future of society under western civilization, how Europe might sulk and
importantly as I comprehend – he predicted the desperate need for a new
civilization which departs from the dogma of western civilization and which
recognizes the spirit of a man.
Relevance:
Nietzsche is more relevant today than any other period in
the history. When Liberalism has prostituted itself to the left, when Marxism
is being shown as an alternative to the current failures of nations, when the
western code of belief takes higher moral ground and when righteousness gets
escaped without any questioning. It’s the Nietzschean thought which confronts
the above theologies which has the ability smother the individual with morality
and dogmatic values.
“I Am Not a Man, I Am Dynamite!”
he said in his last work ‘Ecce Homo’.
Yes, Nietzsche is dynamite, the dynamite which can destroy the values laid by
phonies, the dynamite which forces us to ask questions, which in turn demands
answers, the dynamite – whose aim is to destroy the sanctity of invalidated
ideas, to create a foe when ideologies shamelessly celebrate for having no
enemies. The self righteousness of this dynamite is the hope for future.
It’s an irony that I would use the excuse of Nietzsche’s
birthday to have extra pegs of Scotch or Vodka, as he didn’t like the idea of
alcohol consumption but as Zarathustra said “Now I bid you
lose me and find your way”.
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