Tuesday, February 17, 2009

In Nietzsche’s Book 5 of The Gay Science he explains what the beholder of metaphorical deicide is left to do. His clarification of “God is Dead” in the 343 of the 5th book is “that the belief in the Christian god has become unbelievable,” meaning we can longer reasonably and authentically use religion as a foundation of morality and source of a teleos. Throughout the book he opens the readers’ eyes to the self delusional acceptance of a blinding logic, which heretofore has convinced many to sacrifice the substance this life for the mythical after-life. Thus he tears away our Judeo-Christian, and later Eastern, teleos of a purpose in life and leaves us with a cold and naked feeling of insecurity and hopelessness. That is until he replaces this emptiness with a re-envisioned life, a new interpretation of our motivation for this life--the will to power.

Thus, the step after our liberation from antiquated moralities from killing god is to rejoice in the act and affirm the independent life. This newly discovered existential freedom cannot be filled with an objective will to truth, because as he points out in 344 that is to presume its worthy of faith, unfounded belief, which he just previously attacked. Truth, morality, divinity, immortal salvation are all preconceived values. But what does not have a preconceived value? I think he answers: the power over the self, power is the source of value. Conventionally Jesus and the Buddha were simply able to convince people that the way they were living was the good life and thus bring them together and bind them with power over convention. The admirable form of power is not conventionally binding others but the prequel to this, the freedom of the will, the ability to independently place a value on things. Though, this is limited in 354 by our need to communicate our personal desires to others through a socialized language, which ironically diminishes the personal into the social. Perhaps the frustration from this fact, that to get what we want we must distort our perceptions of our desires and turn them into a form a social utility, is the reason he thinks we must use our power over others instead.

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