the challenge begins with how to
pronounce his name the first bit should
sound like me
the second like Chuck Nietzsche then we
need to get past some of his
extraordinary and provocative statements
what doesn't kill me makes me stronger
God is dead and we have killed him and
his large mustache but when we do we'll
discover a thinker who is intermittently
enchanting wise and very helpful
Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 in
a quiet village in the eastern part of
Germany where his father was the priest
he did exceptionally well at school and
University and so excelled at ancient
Greek that he was made a professor at
the University of Basel when still only
in his mid-20s but his official career
didn't work out he got fed up with his
fellow academics gave up his job and
moved to Sylvia in the Swiss Alps where
he lived quietly working on his
masterpieces among them the birth of
tragedy human all too human the gay
science thus Spoke Zarathustra Beyond
Good and Evil on the genealogy of morals
he had lots of problems he didn't get on
with his family I don't like my mother
and it's painful even for me to hear my
sisters voice women kept rejecting him
his books didn't sell and when he was
only 44 he had a mental breakdown
precipitated when he saw a horse in a
churin street being beaten by its driver
and ran over to embrace him shouting I
understand you he never recovered and
died 11 sad years later but his
philosophy was full of heroism and
grandeur he was a prophet of what he
called zeb zoober vin dong or self
overcoming the process by which a great
soul person what he called an uber
mensch rises above their circumstances
and difficulties to embrace whatever
life throws at them he wanted his work
to teach us as he put it how to become
who we really are his thought centers
around four main recommendations one
owned up to envy Envy is Nietzsche
recognized a big part of life yet the
lingering effects of Christianity
generally teachers to feel ashamed of
our envious feelings they seem an
indication of evil so we hide them from
ourselves and others yet there's nothing
wrong with envy maintain Nietzsche so
long as we use it as a guide to what we
really want every person who makes us
envious should be seen as an indication
of
we could one day become the envy
inducing writer tycoon or chef is
hinting at who you are capable of one
day being it's not that Nietzsche
believed we always end up getting what
we want his own life had taught him this
well enough
he simply insisted that we must face up
to our true desires put up a heroic
fight to honor them and only then mourn
failure with solemn dignity that is what
it means to be an uber mensch - don't be
a Christian Nietzsche had some extreme
things to say about Christianity in the
entire New Testament he wrote there is
only one person worth respecting Pilate
the Roman governor it was not about
stuff but his true target was more
subtle and more interesting he resented
Christianity for protecting people from
their Envy Christianity had in
Nietzsche's account emerged in the late
Roman Empire in the minds of timid
slaves who'd lacked the stomach to get
hold of what they really wanted and so
had clung to a philosophy that made a
virtue of that cowardice he called this
Sklar van Mahal Christian's whom he
rather rudely termed D Hara the herd had
wished to enjoy the real ingredients of
fulfillment a position in the world
sects intellectual mastery creativity
but they've been too inept to get them
they therefore fashioned a hypocritical
Creed denouncing what they wanted but
were too weak to fight for while
praising what they didn't want but
happen to have so in the Christian value
system sexlessness turned into purity
weakness became goodness submission to
people one hates became obedience and in
each s phrase not being able to take
revenge turned into forgiveness
Christianity amounted to a giant machine
for bitter to Nile three never drink
alcohol
Nietzsche himself drank only water and
as a special treat milk and he thought
we should do likewise he wasn't making a
small eccentric dietary point the idea
went to the heart of his philosophy as
contained in his declaration there have
been two great narcotics in European
civilization Christianity and alcohol he
hated alcohol for the very same reasons
that he scorned Christianity because
both num pang both reassures that things
are just fine
they are sapping us of the will to
change our lives for the better a few
drinks uh sure in a transient feeling of
satisfaction that can get fatally in the
way of taking the steps necessary to
improve our lives Nietzsche was obsessed
with the awkward truth that getting
really valuable things done hurts how
little you know of human happiness you
comfortable people he wrote the secret
of a fulfilled life is lived dangerously
build your cities on the slopes of Mount
Vesuvius for God is dead
Nietzsche's dramatic assertion that God
is dead is not as it's often taken to be
some kind of a celebratory statement
despite his reservations about
Christianity Nietzsche didn't think that
the end of belief was anything to cheer
about religious beliefs were false he
knew but he observed that they were very
very beneficial in the sense of helping
us cope with the problems of life
Nietzsche felt that the gap left by
religion should ideally be filled by
culture he meant a philosophy art music
literature culture should replace
Scripture however Nietzsche was deeply
suspicious of the way his own era was
handling culture he believed the
universities were killing the humanities
turning them into dry academic exercises
rather than using them for what they
were always meant to be
dydz to life he admired the way the
Greeks had used tragic drama in a
practical therapeutic way as an occasion
for catharsis and moral education and
wished his own age to be comparably
ambitious he called for a reformation in
which people newly conscious of the
crisis brought on by the end of faith
would fill the gaps created by the
disappearance of religion with
philosophy and art every era faces
particular psychological challenges
thought Nietzsche and it's the task of
the philosopher to identify and help
solve these for Nietzsche the 19th
century was reeling under the impact of
two developments
mass democracy and atheism the first
threatened to unleash torrents of
undigested Envy the second to leave
humans without guidance or morality in
relation to both challenges
Nietzsche remains our endearing
fascinating often lovable and
mustachioed guide
you