Friedrich Nietzsche, Misunderstood Dead Dude

Most people cringe when they hear Nietzsche's name in the same way they would cringe when they hear names like Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer or Osama Bin Laden. Nietzsche gets a bad rap for a little three word phrase he used four or five times in his lifetime of philosophical works. That phrase... "God is dead."

The problem is Nietzsche didn't mean he was dead in the literal sense...

(Let me preface the rest of this blog by reminding, that I don't necessarily agree with Nietzsche on all his points. I am just clarifying his perspective which I find a fascinating one, and while his argument is extremely well put together, there are a few points of contention).

The modern definition of nihilism is the belief that we have no specific purpose and that there is nothing beyond this world. While often labeled as a nihilist in the modern definition, Nietzsche actually believed nihilism was a huge crisis which faced civilization. He argued that all religions and philosophies of truth, economics or government (including Christianity, Communism, Utopianism, Hinduism, etc.) which focused on an imagined unknown place or state of being, are nihilist.

He comes to this two fold. First, these types of beliefs place little value on earthly materials or bodies and a large degree of faith in a perceived utopia, state of being or heaven. Secondly, and fitting more with our modern definition, he was concerned with people who believed in one philosophy and found evidence at some point that they were wrong or their faith was dis-proven. They then would have nothing to believe in and therefore also have no reason to believe that our earthly being had any meaning.

So if you take his perspective, it is easy to see how his argument that mankind was on a collision course with outright nihilism does hold water. This is where his infamous statement, "God is Dead," came from (which by the way he finishes this quote by saying, "and we killed him"). He was disgusted by the way Christians judged each other and lived motivated by the church and other Christians and not through God himself. He was speaking in the figurative sense that since nihilism is taking over then God can no longer sufficiently be a guide for moral code and is, in effect, dead.

He did however, believe than civilization could overcome nihilism. He reasoned that if God (read, or any other perceived but unearthly belief) is not sufficient to be a guide for moral code, then there must be something else guiding us to morality. Something innate within us which drives us to fight for ourselves. He called this internal drive the "will to power" and anyone who acted on this will was of the "master morality." A person who failed to act on this will, suppressing it to follow the beliefs of philosophies of Christianity, et al. (aka nihilism) was of the "slave morality" or someone who is motivated by something external.

Nietzsche knew that this idea would be balked at by Christians (of which comprised the majority of the people within his geographic influence) and other "nihilistic" views. However, he also thought that if outright nihilism became more evident that it would quickly be overturned as people began to shed their slave morality and move to the master morality. Therefore, another reason for his statement "God is dead," was undoubtedly an attempt to spur on the more modern definition of nihilism so that is could more quickly be defeated.

I think Nietzsche's portrayal of Christians and other belief systems with a focus on the unknown heaven/afterlife as nihilism is a bit of a stretch, however, he does make a compelling and interesting argument.

I completely agree with Nietzsche that we should be motivated by INTERNAL not EXTERNAL beliefs and that we should not be of the slave morality but of the master morality. I do believe that we have a sort of will to power and that we should act on it. I believe our will to power was given to us by God (Nietzsche never said it wasn't) and that listening to him IS internal. I think the point Nietzsche was trying to make is and extremely important one for anyone who believes in God to remember and so many claiming to be Christian forget.... There is a fine line that must be tread when listening to others about God because, while I agree it is important to learn from others, we must make sure we are not motivated by them (external/slave morality) but by God Himself(internal/master morality). If we allows the others to motivate our action then we have, in effect killed God by demeaning Him and placing a higher authority on ourselves. However, by looking within our self and acting on the will He gave us, we can find meaning in today's material world as well as look forward to a world beyond it, thereby defeating nihilism by never allowing it a breath.