A thread on what Nietzsche actually meant (and why it matters):
1/ In The Gay Science (1882), Nietzsche announces God's death as a tragedy...NOT a celebration
For Nietzsche, God wasn't a useless burden, a liability, or an irrational filter that distorted our view of reality. The metaphors Nietzsche uses for God are reverential
Let's see...
2/ Nietzsche compares God to Sun
Sun holds planets in their orbit; similarly God oriented us. Unchained from our sun, "are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions?" Our center of gravity is gone - we're hurtling through "an infinite nothing"
3/ God as horizon. Nietzsche asks: "Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon?" The horizon keeps sailors on track when at sea. The horizon provides direction and holds the promise of ports to dock at. With the horizon wiped off, where do we look to in stormy seas?
4/ God as light. The madman who announces God's death in The Gay Science is carrying a lit lantern in broad daylight. He's mocked by the normies around him but they miss the point: Without God, we must now carry our own fragile flames. Illumination is no longer a given
5/ Who killed God? WE did. This task was "too great for us." Nietzsche asks: "What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent?" Notice the somber tone...there's no hint of a juvenile adolescent celebration
6/ Our cosmic father is dead, and we are now orphans in a hostile universe. Nietzsche wonders if we must now "become gods" simply to justify what we did...
7/ There are profound implications to God's death; these will unfold over centuries. Faith in God's existence underpinned a lot of what we take for granted. Doesnt the idea of human rights/equality come from the notion of each created in God's image?
Everything will be rethought
8/ Faith in God was the invisible foundation for much of civilization; it's all now on shaky ground. We will need new justifications, new fixed horizons, new sources of illumination, and new reliable centers of gravity. WHO is creative enough to build all of this from scratch?
9/ Bottomline. Nietzsche: "God is dead. God remains dead." Now who/what will do God's job? The tasks done by even the concept of God are too numerous for a simple conceptual replacement. God's death has left a void; to even begin to fill it requires great daring and creativity...
10/ MUST READ: Nietzsche's full passage announcing the death of God
It reveals the central spiritual crisis of modern man...
Here it is:
Found this thread valuable?
You can support my work by buying a copy of my book, Hit Reverse: New Ideas From Old Books
244 pages. 75+ old books covered. Hundreds of insights into human nature from Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Spengler, and more
One professor writes a best-selling parenting guide...
THEN 3 of his own kids commit suicide
Meet John Watson: the father of Behaviorism
A story of scientific arrogance, the meaning of love, and one "expert" with blood on his hands👇🏻
1/ Dr. John Watson was a man of bold claims
He believed he could turn a random infant into “any type of specialist” from doctor to artist to a thief - “regardless of his talents, tendencies, abilities”
How?
With psychological conditioning and other behaviorist tools
2/ John Watson shared these tools with the world in a book co-written with his wife: Psychological Care Of Infant and Child
"Society" comes up 8 times
"Environment” comes up 10 times
"Soul" comes up 0 times
Among other things, the book says a mother’s love is "dangerous"
1/ Love precedes lovability: "Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her."
1/ Love precedes lovability because a "primary devotion" to a place, thing, or person is the source of the creative energy that transforms it. Begin with love, not scorn. Commitment beautifies
2/ Modern streets are "noisy with taxicabs and motorcars," but that's the noise of "laziness and fatigue," not activity. If everyone walked, streets would be quieter but more alive. Modern thought is like a modern street - noisiness, long words, loud ideas...hiding laziness
The most canceled woman in the world: Camille Paglia
In Sexual Personae, she attacks liberalism, feminism, and Nature-worship like no other writer before or since
On her 77th birthday today, discover her insights on why science is cope, how civilization is masculine, and more👇🏻
1/ Liberalism's great paradox
Paglia: "Liberalism defines government as tyrant father but demands it behave as nurturant mother"
Feminism wants the tyrant father to solve all grievances (mean words on twitter) while being an all-permissive mother otherwise
A big contradiction
2/ For Paglia, art, religion, and civilization are man's half-solutions to the eternally chaotic nature: "Religion, ritual, and art began as one." Man chants a hymn, sketches a painting, & erects a city wall for the same reason: to buffer against, AND impose his vision, on nature
"Household chores" chores are easier yet birthrates fall
"Poverty" people are richer yet birthrates fall!
ACTUAL explanation is the disappearance of patriarchy which used to align young women (and men) with the future
The welfare-obsessed, happiness-centered, "live in the present" crowd CAN NOT create the future. Future is made via long-term thinking, understanding second order consequences, and sacrifices. But a gynocratic world only cares about optimizing present safety with present pleasure
The past and the future are actually better friends with each other than with the present. The present moment is one giant hole of nothing, ever slipping away. But the past and the future are real. To have kids is to participate in eternity. "Live Eat Pray" crowd can't understand