A Nietzschean question for you...

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Peter Kropotkin
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 5:11 am

A Nietzschean question for you...

Post by Peter Kropotkin »

as I mentioned yesterday, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard,
are two bookends to the 19th century....both focused on
on the question of man... what is man? and both
were troubled by the question of Human beings
"soul sickness" Kierkegaard answer to being soul sick,
was to be found in Christianity... becoming Christian...
but as K. makes clear not in the crowd, not as part of
the "Masses"... but as an individual.. K. had no faith
in crowds or the masses.. but in the "one", a Christian one,
he could believe in...

Nietzsche answer to K. was the "Ubermensch"... again not
as part of the crowd or as with the masses, but as an
individual...

But how do we become an "individual" given the mass society
we live in today? How do we become who we are when
the state, the society demands that we play the part of
the consumer, the worker, the producer? The state/society
has no need for whole human beings... think of a factory worker,
are their duties as factory workers allow them to use their
entire person? In other words, does work, modern work,
engage all of us, or does it engage parts of us...
In my factory lite work, I am a cashier, or was until
I was recently promoted.. but does my job, engage in all parts
me? How can it when it focuses, fixates on profits at all cost..
I am but a pawn in the name of profits.. and I have no value
as a human being other than the creation of profits...
I am, as many bosses over the years have said, expendable..
easily replaced, not worth the air that I breath unless I am
bringing in profits...

this understanding that man, human beings only have value
if they are bringing in profits, is nihilism... the devaluation of
human beings and their values...and how do we become who we
are, which is human beings, if we are not treated like human beings
within our isms and ideologies? In our isms, we are, as human beings,
confined to being a small part of the overall larger scheme or goal
of the ism... In communism, I am simply a worker who can be
easily sacrificed to the ultimate goal of "dialectal materialism"..
the bringing about the "worker state".. in which all individuals
are equal, as workers...as in capitalism, we are just workers,
but I hold that the purpose/goal of existence isn't to be a mere
worker, but to become human... recall the journey, to go
from animal to animal/human.. us right now, to becoming
human...

and both K. and N, asked, what does it mean to be human?
and both answered differently, the path to becoming human,
for K. lies in the becoming Christian, and the path to N. lies
in becoming the "Ubermensch" but notice, in each instance,
it isn't by being part of the group, or belonging to the crowd
that drives the separate visions of K. and N.... the goal for
both lies in oneself.. the goal to becoming human lies
in our individual self, acting individually...

think about the play "Faust" by Goethe... the exact same
thing occurs... Faust is, at best, part of a man, not whole,
in the beginning of the play... and the drive for Faust is to
become whole... and in it, he seeks love...as part of
the solution to becoming whole....to becoming fully human...

but people rarely ever read the second act of the play..
in it, he is a "modern" man, he is building and constructing
and making new land out of the sea...and he is "benefiting"
mankind in this modern way....isn't that how we are redeemed
today? by becoming a "good citizen" which is to say,
by being a good worker, a consumer, a producer,
the creator of profits.. that is how we are redeemed today...
but in the end, Faust is redeemed, but not by being a good citizen,
a good worker, but by love... the "eternal feminine" as
Goethe calls it... by such values as beauty, truth, good, and love..
not values that can make a profit however.. thus the modern
neglect of Goethe and this play, Faust....

so the question for you is simple, how have you
tried to become human today? have you sought to
be a "good citizen" or have you tried to become a
human being?

to pursue profits and the other baubles of existence, is
to seek only part of being human, the lower, negative aspect
of being human.. of greed, lust, hate, anger, despair...
or have you tried to become human, fully human by
ignoring the baubles of existence, of seeking wealth, power,
fame, titles and material goods.. and seek what is the true
value of being human..

seeking the "eternal feminine" of being.. to becoming
fully human....

Kropotkin
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