Sunday, February 12, 2012

Interesting Nietzsche Quotes to Ponder (Part I)

I am currently reading Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra for my Existentialism class at The Master's College. In the early chapters of the work, Zarathustra tells the people of the village that "God is dead" which they laugh at and later hate. Even though I may not agree with everything he says, Nietzsche is extremely quotable and makes you think about who you are in this world, what are the point of morals, and if you're really yourself or just going along with the herd mentality. Without further ado...

"Ten truths a day you must find; else you will still be seeking truth by night, and your soul will remain hungry." (Chapter 2 "On the Teachers of Virture")

"Ten times a day you must laugh and be cheerful; else you will be disturbe at night by your stomach, this father of gloom." (Ibid.)

"Blessed are the sleepy ones: for they shall soon drop off." (Ibid.)

"The creator wanted to look away from himself; so he created the world." ("On the Afterworldly")

"The body is a great reason, a plurality with one sense, a war and a peace, a herd and a shepherd." ("On the Despisers of the Body")

"Instruments and toys are sense and spirit; behind them still lies the spirit." (Ibid.)

"... in the end all your passions became virtues and all your devils, angels." ("On Enjoying and Suffering the Passions")

"But what matter your good people to me? Much about your good people nauseates me; and verily, it is not  their evil." ("On the Pale Criminal")

"Write with blood, and you will experience that blood is spirit." ("On Reading and Writing")

"We are all of us fair beasts of burden, male and female asses." (Ibid.)

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." (Ibid.)

"It is by invisible hands that we are bent and tortured worst." ("On the Tree on the Mountainside")

"But it is with man as it is with the tree. The more he aspires to the height and light, the more strongly do his roots strive earthward, downward, into the dark-the deep-into evil." (Ibid.)

"Nobody speaks to me; the frost of loneliness makes me shiver." (Ibid.)

"And even the liberated spirit must still purify himself." (Ibid.)

"Know that the noble man stands in everybody's way. The noble man stands in the way of the good too: and even if they call him one of the good, they thus want to do away with him" (Ibid.)

"You should love peace as a means to new wars- and the short peace more than the long... Let your peace be a victory!" ("Of War and Warriors")

"In sarcasm the prankster and weakling meet. But they misunderstand each other." (Ibid.)

"... man is something that shall be overcome" (Ibid.)

"State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters." ("On the New Idol")

"But the state tells lies in all the tongues of good and evil; and whatever it says it lies- and whatever it has it has stolen." (Ibid.)

"All-too-many are born: for the superfluous the state was invented." (Ibid.)

"They are always sick; they vomit their gall and call it a newspaper." (Ibid.)

"The earth is free even now for the great souls. There are still many empty seats for the lonesome and twosome, fanned by the fragrance of the silent seas." (Ibid.)

"Flee, my friend, into your solitude!" ("On the Flies of the Marketplace")

"Where solitude ceases the marketplace begins; and where the marketplace begins the noise of the great actors and the buzzing of the poisonous flies begins too." (Ibid.)

"In the world even the best things amount to nothing without someone to make a show of them..." (Ibid.)

"Blood is what they want from you in all innocence." (Ibid.)

"... you are the bad conscience of your neighbors: for they are unworthy of you." (Ibid.)

"It is bad to live in cities: these too many are in heat." ("Of Chastity")

"Chastity is a virtue in some, but almost a vice in many. They abstain, but the bitch, sensuality, leers enviously out of everything they do." (Ibid.)

"It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters." (Ibid.)

"Our faith in others betrays in what respect we would like to have faith in ourselves." ("On Friends")

"In a friend one should have one's best enemy. You should be closest to him with your heart when you resist him." (Ibid.)

"Compassion for the friend should conceal itself under a hard shell, and you should break a tooth on it." (Ibid.)

"As much as you give the friend, I will give even my enemy, and I shall not be any the poorer for it. There is comradeship: let there be friendship!" (Ibid.)

"Humanity still has no goal." ("On the Thousand and One Goals")

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Thoughts of a Dying Christian Part I

"Religion is the opiate of the masses."- Karl Marx. Ok, so what if all of this is just a trip or a dream? I'm Alice stumbling down a rabbit hole into a world of fantasy and wonder. Maybe all this Bible stuff is just a construct. I mean there are so many denominations, sub-denominations, and sects. Is just one of them "right"? Right and wrong seemed to be so simple once upon a time. Now, as I look out at the world, it is colored grey like a rainy morning in England. The Book of Mormon may have historical and linguistic inaccuracies, but Mormons are usually the nicest people one could meet. And why are some of the most socially conscious rappers Muslim? (Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco et al) Aren't they all terrorists? *sarcasm font*

Why do churches pass offering plates every Sunday? I thought that God didn't desire sacrifice and burnt offerings. Why are some Christians obsessed with owning guns? Aren't Christians supposed to go the extra, give away the outer garment?I wonder what these "God and Guns" people are going to do with their gats? Kill communists, I don't know.

A favorite Christian pastime is "bitching" about the government, especially President Obama. Excuse my language, but this activity annoys me that much. They tweet and post their complaints on Facebook continually but do nothing. First, the recession started in 2007 so if you want a government scapegoat, go after the former President Bush. But remember the rule of causality vs. correlation. Some of the wisest words I have heard in my lifetime were from a speech by columnist George Will at Roanoke College. He said, "The government can't save you. If you want salvation, get religion." These people who complain the government "have religion" so why can't they be happy in God and not get worked up about the government. Humans are too flawed to be messiahs.

Humans need to belong. That's why we have families, cities, and Liger Appreciation societies. We find pleasure in the the company of our fellow creatures. Individualism can feel good for a while, but we need someone to confide in. So is religion another community or club? Maybe. It brings people together who find truth and comfort in common beliefs. But if you don't believe in what I believe, does that make me right and you wrong? Every human believes in some form of objective truth, but it is subjective to that person's own personal philosophy.

"What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home."-Joan Osbourne