Nietzsche blamed humanity in general and Western culture in particular for the death of God. His philosophy was one of punishment and sacrifice – he celebrated suffering and thereby killed it (suffering requires the hatred of suffering).
Nietzsche said he was living for the people of the future and not the present, and in that he was correct. His solution was to destroy the people of his present and transform them into the people of his future.
Examine the 20th century. There has never been a more irresponsible and insane time. The 20th century featured tremendous physical damage but little true suffering, because the present was so pathetic as to be deemed irrelevant. Monty Python understood this through their “tis a flesh wound” sketch.
Westerner after westerner post-Nietzsche speaks of suffering as “character-building” and “artistically creative”, to such an extent that they sought to suffer. But this perverted suffering, because true suffering always requires an opposition toward suffering. Nietzsche *falsified* suffering.
For all his claims, what Nietzsche lacked most was a deep understanding of human nature. Nietzsche assumed he could control everything. Control suffering, control human progress, control the future. The truth is very close to the exact opposite.
This desire for control in Nietzsche results from his terror – he is the most terrified philosopher in history. Unable to face his own fears, he invented “will to power”, supermen, his own persona as a sacrificial Jesus-clone, his persona as an explorer and mountain-climber, to console himself. This perverted his mind and rendered his philosophy valueless. Which, unfortunately, didn’t stop it’s influence.
One of the key concepts Nietzsche lacked that might have saved him was that human reality does not emerge out of the human soul but out of human structures. Exxon Mobil, for example, is a human structure with a set of outcomes. Nietzsche’s lack of political analysis made him use a religious treatment whereby humanity is unified with one soul with all outcomes emerging from that.
Nietzsche and others demonized their own present and the results were horrifying, so terrible that the world will never recover.
Nietzsche may well be the Great Destroyer. But… why do so? Build again? After devastating the means of doing so?
Milton – “It’s better to reign in hell than serve in heaven”
Long Live Emperor Nietzsche!
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