Nietzschean Ramblings

By Matt Pike

                Many authors and thinkers throughout the ages have attempted to categorize the exact relationships between the differing parts of the human mind or soul. For example, Freud composed his theory around the interplaying of three distinct facets of the mind, namely the id, the ego, and the superego. The id represents the base desires and impulses, the instinctual drives that the mind experiences, perhaps as a result of genetic coding. The superego is the higher capacity for morality, and doing what is "right". The ego, then, is the faculty that helps to mediate the two through reasoning out solutions between the other two facets. Nietzsche conducts a similar examination of the complex interplay of differing facets within the mind to try to arrive at an understanding of what occurs. In The Birth of Tragedy, however, Nietzsche chooses a decidedly more historic departing point for his investigation, choosing the mythological labels of ancient Greek culture for use in his identification experiment. He comes to the conclusion that human inclinations can be summarized and explained through a dual categorization of Apollonian and Dionysian ideals.

            One of the first and most obvious influences on Nietzsche's work is Heraclitus. Heraclitus perceived the world as being in a constant state of change, or additionally, that the only consistency in the world is that there is no consistency, only flux. Nietzsche adopted this fundamental point of view into his outlook on the world, placing tremendous importance on the indeterminacy of the universe. This fundamental view demands recognition of the chaos inherent in the nature of existence. The structure of the world and, for that matter the universe, is change, and therefore no higher "end" can be assigned to the nature of things.

            This change manifests itself as a unity of opposites. In the combining of opposites, there is a great deal of ambiguity, and it is this ambiguity that makes the changes that we perceive in everyday occurrences possible. This ambiguity and chaos means that there is no higher purpose by which actions can be judged, and thus Nietzsche proposes that no action can be assigned as being better than another. Along these lines, the restraining of impulses in the name of a higher truth is unsound. The one place that Nietzsche finds an appropriate recognition and indulging of these fundamental impulses is in the "Dionysian" outlook on life.

The Dionysian man recognizes the changing and indeterminate nature of all things, and lives accordingly. He indulges himself in his desires, passions, and impulses without question, choosing to live life to its fullest instead of restraining and assuming there will eventually be a pay off. In this manner, the boundaries between what is and what should be fall away for the Dionysian. This leads to an "intoxication" of the individual, perhaps also in drink and other chemical substances, but primarily, with life itself. The intoxication is best understood by the acknowledgement of the aesthetic view that every experience and moment in time is a work of art in itself, and is thus self-justifying.

Through an aesthetic appreciation of the world, the viewer finds sufficient "meaning" in everything without having to appeal to a higher cause or end result. Because of this, it is easy to see Nietzsche's view that pain in life is beautiful as well as pleasure. Instead of viewing only certain things that happen to be in alignment with the perceived higher order as good or beautiful, Nietzsche advocates that everything that comes to pass is complete, and beautiful in itself, almost like viewing photographic snapshots of every moment as an exhibit in an art museum. Art develops and exists by the virtue of the mutual existence of opposites, and thus is a continual result of the true nature of the universe. Given the Heraclitean view of the world, the Dionysian principle is much more in line with "reality", and is thus a stronger view.

            Nietzsche labels the Dionysian ideal as a strong pessimism. It is pessimistic because of its assertion that there is no higher truth, or end perfection towards which everything ought to strive, as the Platonic/Socratic tradition of Western culture would have it. It is flushed out as a strong pessimism, in contrast to the weak pessimism of Christianity, because it accepts that this world is not in accordance with an eternal, higher perfection, and does not judge this as a bad thing. It is an acceptance of the way things are, and through this, an empowerment.

            The opposite of the Dionysian principle is that of the Apollonian, which  insists on imposing order onto the actual nature of the universe. The Apollonian ideal is grounded in the fact that there is a higher order to all things, which is simply not understood at present. It believes that reason can be employed to eventually attain an understanding of the universe, and thus is inherently dissatisfied with how things are at present, seeing the present as an incomplete, "misunderstanding" of truth. Nietzsche believes that the Apollonian view is an attempt to believe that there is a purpose to life. Many people find that in order for life to be worth living, there must be an overarching purpose to existence, and thus form illusions for the sake of their comfort. By believing in a morality, God, or other higher cause, people get to live their dream that there is ultimate justification for everything. This serves to allow the imposition of an illusion so that one does not have to view the actual chaos of the universe, and serves as a representation of a reality that is incomprehensible and thus unacceptable to the mind.

            Tragedy operates in a manner similar to an analogical figure, in that it serves as an analogy for life, providing a limited backdrop in which to isolate certain facets of a larger, inexpressible life and convert them into an expressible, symbolic form that can be communicated. Thus Greek tragedy serves as an illusory mask to be placed over the Dionysian themes to make them more expressible and understandable in a logically ordered fashion. In this manner, tragedy takes the Dionysian principle and combines it with an Apollonian expression of order to make it more "digestible". It also serves to additionally "flush out" the Dionysian aspects because of the combination of opposites, which helps to define something if it is shown what that something is not.

            Tragedy serves to allow us an objective outlook on what occurs in life, because when one views actors on a stage, one perceives their actions in an aesthetic manner, without being affected by the personal involvement in the situation. For example, in the stories of Prometheus and Oedipus, one can view them trying to enact control over the universe and thus being destroyed, without being "bogged down" by the danger involved. One can thus view the entire lesson from an illusory distance which allows for the mind to correctly perceive the experiences as artistically valuable.

            Even the most extreme pain has artistic value, and this is easier to be seen from afar, when viewing the pain aesthetically instead of in the direct experiencing of the pain. Nietzsche repeatedly advocates viewing the self from various differences, along the same lines as a piece of artwork takes on new and different meanings from various perspectives. Tragedy is the artistic medium that allows for viewing life from these varying distances and is thus the art form that justifies the world. When enacted in tragedy, life exhibits no ulterior "best" by which to be judged as good or bad, and thus simply "is" what is happening on the stage. This is the same view Nietzsche has on life in general, claiming that one should just accept life for what it is and enjoy its subtle nuances and changes in their entirety, without getting distracted by searching for a higher purpose to which everything must conform.

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            Nietzsche, in typical fashion, has problems with a wide range of views and philosophies found throughout the world. Two of his most criticized are Christianity, and what he terms the Platonic/Socratic rationalism found throughout Western tradition. He contrasts both of these with his philosophy, which he calls a "strong pessimism". In contrast, he sees Christianity as a weak form of pessimism, while Platonism is an optimistic way of seeing the world.

            Optimism, as Nietzsche is addressing it, is the belief that there is a higher order to the universe that is attainable through sufficient processes. This asserts an inherent ontological claim that the world is rational, and thus is in its very nature, orderly. This view assigns the nature of the universe as being a super complex algorithm, or mathematical formula, by which everything is governed. If a mind reached the point of grasping this formula, all things in the universe could then be understood and unfailingly predicted. Plato started this philosophical tradition with his philosophy that there are such things as "ultimate forms" or higher states that all things in this world try to be like. Owing to this, something can then be measured in terms of its "goodness" by how close it comes to the form itself. Something that is better is thus closer to the ultimate or best thing than is something that is worse. This results in a manner by which the value of something can be judged.

            The rationalist Platonic view believes that there are similar "forms" of truth, purpose, and goodness that all things strive for. Because of this, all people, actions, and experiences can likewise be judged negatively in terms of how far they are from the ultimate forms of the good. The Platonist believes that reason can be employed to improve someone's "goodness", asserting that if someone thinks hard enough and long enough, with enough discipline, he will eventually come to understand the form of the good and will then manifest it continuously. Platonism believes that the "wrongness" in humanity, specifically what Nietzsche calls the Dionysian, can be overcome. This is accomplished through restraining and denying many of the various impulses, drives and desires that mankind experiences.

            "Weak pessimism", which is typical of the Christian tradition, is characterized by a belief that the world is evil, because, like the Platonic view, it does not live up to higher expectations for purpose and truth. Christianity judges the world as not living up to the perfection that is embodied in the concept of Heaven. This concept of Heaven is synonymous with an eternal world of perfection. First of all, Nietzsche believes that the very concept of eternity is flawed (except in his doctrine of the Eternal Return) because the fundamental nature of the universe is constant change and flux. For anything to be eternal it must exist in a fixed, static manner that is completely free of change. Second, by comparing this world to a perfect world, an assumption is made that there is such as thing as perfection, which inherently implies only one correct way of being for the world. Anything that is not perfect is so because it is flawed, or is missing some aspect that would be found in the perfect world. From this, Christianity also infers that this life is not perfect and thus flawed. This results in a hatred for life, and living it such a way that it is killing time until death and "salvation". For this reason, Nietzsche terms it a weak pessimism as opposed to his strong pessimism where he advocates an embracing of life for everything that it is.

            Christianity, being a religion, has a firm belief in God, and thus transfers the power of life to God. The Christian believes that things are the way they are because God willed it so, and that things will occur because God wills them to happen, instead of believing that they as individuals have the power to interact with and shape their reality. This results in a belief that nothing can be done to fix the problems in this world to make it perfect.

            Platonism views the world as orderly, while Christianity recognizes the indeterminacy in the universe. These are differences in the ontological structure of the universe, ultimately, Platonism believes in complexity, while Christianity believes in chaos. Differences become further evident in their beliefs about the correct-ability of the world. Platonism believes that this world can be fixed, while Christianity resigns itself to the fact that this world is not perfect and will never be so. Much of Platonic and scientific tradition has been interested in the method that is best applied towards the end goal of achieving complete knowledge of the order of things. Christianity would perceive this as a waste of time, because the world is as it is because God wanted it to be so, and therefore must have had a reason for making it the way it is. In this manner, correcting the world, even if it were possible, would be a violation of God's intent and would therefore be wrong.

            The central similarity between Platonism and Christianity is that neither one embraces life as a thing of beauty as it is. Both believe something is misunderstood, incomplete, or wrong in this reality that we call the world and therefore view things in a negative light. Socrates says on his deathbed that he owes the gods a sacrifice for curing him of life. One has to ask what good this kind of a view is to whoever holds it. Obviously, everyone who is alive has to endure life up until the time that death occurs, so given its inevitability, one has a choice to either hate and resent every moment of it, or one can chose to embrace all it is and all it is not as equally beautiful.

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            The most fundamental tendency in the universe is that of entropy, as specified under the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Life has always been something of a mystery because it seems to somehow oppose entropy (at least until death occurs). Nietzsche may have accidentally arrived at an explanation for this with his concept of will to power. He makes the statement that "all existence is will to power".

            Will to power can best be described as a desire or drive towards something. It is important to note that it is an inherent property of desire that no desire can ever be actualized because even if what is desired is attained, the individual no longer desires the object at the moment it is obtained. Desire can only be directed towards something that is somewhat distant to the person who desires. The moment that the object of the desire is attained, it is fully possessed and is thus no longer desired for the purpose of possessing.

            Additionally, once a desire or impulse is actualized or realized and thus satisfied, the desire instantly shifts to the desiring of something else. It is fundamental in the nature of will to power that it can never be fully satisfied and thus automatically redirects itself towards a new goal. In this manner, human consciousness never runs out of will and thus is able to continue to exist. Nietzsche proposes that a strong individual will find himself adapting many "brief habits". These habits are the realizations of certain various impulses and inclinations, but by brevity, never get locked in and thus "stale". By their constantly changing in accord with constant redirection of the will to power, the individual is much more in line with the chaotic, indeterminate nature of the universe. These habits also allow for a unique blending of facets for each individual, and thus the world is in some ways "custom built" for each person, which would make sense since each individual has a unique perspective and thus unique experience of the world.

            "Will to power" can also be defined as a physiological demand for the furtherance of a specific form of life. The form of life which demands furtherance is a constant self-transformative "self" in accord with the constant flux of the universe. Nietzsche repeatedly refers to things such as "self-conquest" and being one's own master. These important concepts refer to his belief that as living organisms, we must and do forcibly drive ourselves towards things or ways of being that we desire. Thus our will is constantly transforming our situation and our identity, and all towards the furtherance of our power as an individual actor in a larger, chaotic world.

            Nietzsche hypothesizes that all reality can be explained by will to power because every action can be traced back to it. Individuals desire, in general, to continue existing because this allows them to increase their power in regards to the general world. Thus man desires food and nourishment for the sake of self-preservation, and seeks to procreate to further their genetic self. Between nourishment and procreation, the majority of all occurrences in the human world can be explained. These two drives are responsible for a huge variety of actions, and most of life is spent in the constant pursuit of them. By encompassing these two factors on the concept of "will to power", Nietzsche makes a very strong argument for its existence. Nietzsche proclaims "all organic functions can be traced back to the will to power" (Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 36). Every act towards acquiring wealth or material ends can be viewed as an effort to increase one's power, as these are generally the means by which one's life is sustained.  Conversely, the sustaining of life is, generally, equivalent to the increasing of power.

            Nietzsche did not even realize the full extent to which this assertion can be applied. The modern theories of quantum mechanics identify electrons as exhibiting behavior similar to that humans exhibit in accords with Nietzsche's concept of will to power. Electrons are constantly "desiring" a lower energy state, and thus every chemical interaction that occurs is a result of this "will". Entropy could then almost be labeled as the fundamental "will" of the quantum physical world. 

            The will to power as Nietzsche describes it is the one thing which unites all people, actions, and perhaps all substance, in the universe. It is the fundamental momentum that makes things happen and change, and is closely intertwined with the constant indeterminate flux of the universe. Nietzsche asks us to consider why, then, we struggle against it and to impose limitation and restraint upon what routes our will can take. All moralities are a denial of will to power, and impose restraints on what is most fundamental in us. In this manner, morality is in opposition to what it is to be human, and, for that matter, to exist.

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            The conception of God has taken many forms over the history of mankind. Nietzsche tries to formulate a view that explains all of them, and then shows its fault. Many of the worlds various wars have been fought over differences in religious views, but Nietzsche points out that all religions actually have a tremendous amount in common, and seeks to do away with implications of all of them. Owing to the concepts inherent complexity, Nietzsche uses two primary metaphors as means to attempt to get at the meaning of the term "God". In Aphorism 125 in The Gay Science he references God as the Horizon, implying God's role as a fixed standard of judgment. If one surveys the land from a vantage point, it becomes apparent that everything that is seen is in the foreground, and is constantly contrasted against the horizon behind. This is similar to the role God plays in the religious persons life because they attribute certain characteristics to God and then use this deity as a point against which to contrast people, actions, and thoughts. If these are in accordance with God, then they are judged to be good, and if not, they obviously must be bad.

            God is traditionally seen as unchangeable owing to the self-causing nature and necessary eternity of God. Because of this, God is a static essence that can then be used as a backdrop against which anything can appear. The metaphor of the horizon brings this point out because the horizon is the most distant thing that can be seen from any standpoint. No matter how hard one looks, the horizon is always there, and nothing can be seen beyond it. This fits well with the traditional notion of God as ever-present, and overarching. God has always been believed to be the highest power, and it is therefore remarkable when Nietzsche says that we "wiped away the entire horizon". This implies that once the conception and the resulting limitations of a belief in God have been removed, an entirely new "distance" becomes possible. Nietzsche proposes that with the removal of the horizon, the things in the foreground can be seen just as what they are, without external interference, and at the same time, that new lengths are possible in our vision and travel.

            The second metaphor that Nietzsche uses is that of the sun. He states that we have "unchained the Earth from the sun", which implies that he is using the sun as an anchoring point from which the solar system derives its order. This is clearly a reference to the teleological or mechanistic views most often associated with God, as many beliefs portray God as a "watchmaker" who designs the universe in a structured and orderly manner and then maintains that order by anchoring the laws of physics in place.

            Nietzsche believes that the concept of God was one that originated out of a mystic intuition of primal man. The ideas of God resulted in many associated beliefs such as a system of morals, and a manner in which to judge things. In some ways, this conception of a higher power was beneficial, in particular because of its furtherance of the preservation of the species, but Nietzsche also says that these concepts helped to develop the creative tension that now exists in Western society and could be used/applied to great advances some day. Overall, however, Nietzsche viewed these religious conceptions as troublesome and fit only for the weak.

            The shadows of God that Nietzsche references are the continued manifestations of the consequences of a belief in God. For example, owing to the conception of God as a "watchmaker" people still view the world as a mechanical object that can be researched by scientific methods in its entirety. Even though many scientists have abandoned their direct belief in God, or acknowledged His death, as Nietzsche would put it, they still live their lives in pursuit of the same truths that they assigned God as representing. The fact that people still live locked into a morality is another example of God's shadow at work. There are many people who do not believe in a Christian God yet still follow a morality that would best be described as Christian. These shadows of God operate because they have been so ingrained in people's minds. Tradition took thousands of years to be built, and similarly takes a long time to be eradicated. As Nietzsche says in Aphorism 108 at the beginning of Book III of The Gay Science, "God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown." 

            Nietzsche's statement that "God is dead" is intended to imply that there is a more accurate manner of existing now than following traditional doctrine dogmatically simply because it is tradition. Nietzsche believes that the time has passed when mankind "needed" the conception of God and the accompanying moralities, and that a new existence is coming into being. This new way of life is in accords with what he terms the "overman", who has no need of a god, and lives life fully, strongly, and without appealing to outside notions. With God's death, Nietzsche proposes that we must become gods ourselves in order to be worthy. This serves to demand a transformation of the self to be a more powerful, more aware, and more active participant in life. Nietzsche says that with the death of God, a new sea of possibility has opened before us. This rests on the observation that there have always been many options that man would not let himself consider or experience, and with the removal of the conception of God, these options are now possible. Additionally, each of these options begets new experiences and new growth, and thus new possibilities. Given the complex and chaotic nature of the universe, a very small change in what is possible at one stage in a system will have exponential effects farther along in the system. Nietzsche heralds the death of God as the most profound event that has ever occurred, and once we fully actualize the ramifications of this "highest" of events, a massive exponential growth of possibility and experience will become mans playground in the universe.