Nietzsche for Everyday life
The absurdity of trying to capture Nietzsche’s philosophy in a single blog post is not lost on me and therefore I must mention that this post is neither exhaustive nor comprehensive of Nietzsche. If anything, it is but a tip of the iceberg that is the man. Nonetheless, these little nuggets of wisdom are practical and somewhat easily dispensable. Let’s dig in
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how
This is one of Nietzsche’s best ideas. It is the idea that any kind of life is bearable as long as it is sufficiently meaningful. What does that mean? One answer is that Being is characterised by endless suffering of one form or another. Even if you are the richest man in the world, whatever little (or big) problem you might have will always completely occupy your mind and cause you discomfort. This is why a materialistic approach to life is not ideal. It is also the reason why trying to be happy all the time is not a good strategy for life either because something will always upset you. It is useful however to aim for meaning. Look deep within yourself and find that thing for which you do not mind suffering. It could be a family, a partner, a career. Identify that thing that would make your life worth living and then work carefully at it daily. You may not be happy but you will be deeply satisfied and that is more than most people have. If you are lucky, happiness will ensue as an unintended by product.
You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star
I have believed for a long time that life is comprised of order and chaos as opposed to things. Order is when you know your place in the world, you know where you are going and everything is going well. Chaos is when your life is in disarray. Maybe you do not have anything meaningful to apply yourself to, perhaps you just lost a family member or you just broke up with your long-term partner. The idea here is that you can learn something from that lowly and terrible underworld because at the end of the day, chaos is comprised of things you do not understand and therefore it represents potential wisdom. Jordan Peterson properly expresses this idea but the Taoists got it right many centuries ago with the Yin and the Yang concept. Sometimes life just sucks and you have no idea what to do. The proper attitude to adopt, as Nietzsche hints, is to take the L and the lesson that goes along with it and before long; we will come out the other side feeling stronger for it.
The other side, order, is not so rosy either. Sometimes the cords of culture, tradition, and habit can become so tight that they prevent us from growing. Our highest selves can only be realised by passing through serious adversity in the same way that strong iron is forged in an all-consuming fire. It is important therefore to challenge yourself daily and continually so that the adversity will bring out your elegant cadence as you dance through life.
It is not a lack of love, but of friendship, that makes for unhappy marriages
This one is easy. Think about your partner. Can you imagine yourself engaged in conversation with her for the next 5 000 days? In the end, after the butterflies are gone, the depth of your companionship will determine the quality of your marriage. Thank you Dr Nietzsche!
Amor Fati
Amor Fati is a Latin phrase meaning, “love of fate”. In the section titled “Why I am so clever” (not a typo) of the book Ecce Homo, Nietzsche posits that, “All idealism is mendacity in the phase of what is necessary.” What that simply means is that every part of life in all in its ugliness and suffering is to be valued and even loved. Everything is necessary to some end. While you might want to live a problem free life, it is useful to recognise that pain too is beautiful and adds to the quality of your subjective experience; never mind that it is never going away. May be you do not agree with this one. Take your time. The takeaway is that this stance will help you through tough times by changing your perspective on the illusion of good and evil.
The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well, the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind
This one is undoubtedly my favourite in this line-up. I noticed that people have many little, weird, beliefs that they use to get through life. They have those so that they do not get overwhelmed and that is a good thing. The problem is that these can also get you into trouble. Are you not convinced? OK. Consider the fact that one of the main aims of therapy for dealing with depression is to get rid of some poisonous ideas that are misinforming your emotional circuitry. Beliefs like,” I can’t do that” or “My life is terrible”, are a few examples. Sound familiar? I bet. Here is the good news. Nietzsche supposes that you can pay attention to all your prejudices and iterate them mindfully as you learn more and more about the world. Take note, intellectual discipline is assumed here. Good luck.
The higher we soar, the smaller we look to those who cannot fly
Don’t mind the naysayers because by definition, greatness is breaking out of the norm or the expected. This means that if you are doing something truly extraordinary, people are bound to misunderstand you and they often try to put you down out of arrogance. Blaze your own path if you think it is worthwhile. After all, you need a little chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
