How to Affirm Life – Nietzsche’s Formula for Greatness

it's easy to be a cynical realist it's

quite another thing to have no Illusions

and still hold the inner

flame to be a philosophical pessimist is

to be acutely aware of the tragic side

of life and to believe that suffering

overshadows joy that evil can defeat

good that we are victims of fate and

chance and that death always lurks many

consider philosophical pessimism to be a

depressing and life- denying Outlook

that reflects an inability or refusal to

acknowledge the positive aspects of life

but according to the philosopher

Friedrich nche there is a variant of

philosophical pessimism that reflects

the most life affirming state that one

can achieve

n called this a pessimism of strength

and in this video we explore the nature

of this pessimism and explain its

relation to personal greatness in his

autobiography nche wrote is pessimism

necessarily a sign of decline Decay

malformation of tired and debilitated

instincts as was the case among the

Indians and appears to be the case

amongst us Modern Men and Europeans is

there a pessimism of strength is there

an intellectual predeliction for the

hard gruesome evil problematic aspect of

existence prompted by well-being by

overflowing Health by the fullness of

existence is it perhaps possible to

suffer precisely from over

fullness In this passage written in 1886

n critically revisits his first book the

birth of tragedy which he wrote 14 years

prior one of n's AIMS in the birth of

tragedy was to provide philosophical

consolation to those who possess dionan

wisdom dionis was the ancient Greek god

of suffering and tragedy and dionan

wisdom consists of an acute awareness of

the darker realities of The Human

Condition such as suffering

meaninglessness absurdity tragedy and

death or as n explains in the birth of

tragedy those who have achieved dionan

wisdom have looked truly into the

essence of things they have gained

knowledge conscious of the truth he has

once seen man now sees everywhere only

the horror or absurdity of existence now

he comes to know the wisdom of the silan

god silenus it nauseates him the God

silenus was a companion and tutor of

dionis the wisdom of silenus which often

accompanies dionan wisdom is that it

would have been better to never have

been born at all in the birth of tragedy

n conveys this idea in silenus his words

oh miserable ephemeral race children of

chance and suffering why why do you

compel me to say to you what would be

most beneficial for you not to hear what

is best of all is utterly unreachable

not to be born not to be to be nothing

but the second best for you is to die

soon dionan wisdom and the wisdom of

silenus represent a profound form of

pessimism that can be anti-life and

antithetical to well-being in gazing

into the proverbial abyss of existence

in seeing horror and absurdity one can

develop a deep distin of Life which

metastasizes into a self-hatred or even

a hatred of humanity the wisdom of

Silent can lead one to accept

anti-natalism which is the view that it

is better not to be than to be and so

bringing children into this world is

unethical this pessimistic wisdom can

also serve as a precursor to passive

nihilism or the conviction that if life

is fundamentally tragic and meaningless

there is no point in doing anything at

all or as n wrote insight into the

Terrible truth outweighs every motive

for action in the birth of tragedy n

offers a remedy for those troubled by

pessimistic wisdom this remedy involves

shielding ourselves from the terrible

truths of The Human Condition by living

as much as possible within the beautiful

Illusions provided by art or as the

philosopher Christopher janway writes

for n art is the production of beauty

that deceives and Truth is not only ugly

but so ugly that we could not live

without obliterating it by

falsifications of some kind while dionan

wisdom pierces into the depths of

existence and finds it absurd and

horrifying art transforms life into what

n called an aesthetic phenomenon art

selects and strengthens what is

beautiful it hides or corrects what is

ugly and in this way the terrible truths

of Life are in the words of n at least

veiled and withdrawn from sight or as n

put it art is a redeeming healing

enchantress

she alone can turn these nauseous

thoughts at the horror or absurdity of

existence into ideas compatible with the

life the idea that art offers us

consoling illusions that can help us

endure life LED n to state that without

music life would be a mistake or as n

wrote truth is ugly we possess art lest

we perish of the truth art in which

precisely the LIE Hallows itself in

which the world to deception has good

conscience on its side

n never entirely abandoned the idea that

art can serve as an antidote to dionan

wisdom yet later in life he grew

increasingly dissatisfied with this

remedy one of Art's limitations is that

it is impossible to remain perpetually

enveloped in Beauty as reality

continually pierces artistic Illusions

furthermore there are moments in life

when the weight of evil suffering or

absurdity are so heavy that the

illusions of art offer little to no

consolation the beauty of Art to

therefore can only help us endure life

or as n put it as an aesthetic

phenomenon existence is still bearable

to us many of us however want to do more

than just bear life we want to embrace

affirm and love it but it is impossible

to truly love life if we need to be

shielded from its darker aspects to

develop a truly life affirming attitude

we need the capacity to love not only

that which is beautiful and good but the

terrible and ugly

this capacity forms the essence of what

n called a pessimism of strength or as

he wrote in the will to power let us

dwell a moment on this symptom of

highest culture I call it the pessimism

of strength man no longer needs a

justification of ills justification is

precisely what he abor he enjoys ills he

finds senseless ills the most

interesting if he formerly had need of a

God he now takes Delight in a World

Disorder without God a world of chance

to whose Essence belong the terrible the

ambiguous the seductive this pessimism

of strength ends in an absolute

affirmation of the world few possess the

capacity for a pessimism of strength

most people are cowards in the face of

the darker realities of life and if they

focus on these realities for too long

they succumb to despair a myriad of

defense mechanisms therefore Shield most

people from unawareness Ness of

suffering evil and death only those who

are strong resilient and overflowing

with Vitality have the power to face the

horror or absurdity of existence and

affirm it into all abysses I carry the

blessings of my saying yes wrote n e

homo to understand how to cultivate a

character capable of a pessimism of

strength we must explore nich's insights

on how to cultivate

greatness my formula for greatness in a

human being is that one wants nothing to

be different not merely bear what is

necessary still less conceal it but love

it for the human being is not a unified

singular self but a complex amalgamation

of competing drives drives are

fundamental forces that guide our

Behavior desires and thought patterns on

one level drives our primitive instincts

such as the drive to survive and the

sexual drive drives also manifest as

deeper psychological and existential

motivations the will the power for

example is a drive toward growth Mastery

and influence over oneself and other

people the drive for curiosity propels

us to seek knowledge and explore the

unknown while the artistic Drive

inspires creativity in the pursuit of

beauty we also possess drives to engage

in particular activities such as a drive

to exercise to philosophize to socialize

or to spend time in solitude for n what

determines the greatness of a human

being is the number and strength of the

drives that constitute his being the

more powerful and numerous ones drives

the greater the self while an individual

who possesses feeble drives or only one

or two strong drives does not satisfy

n's criteria for greatness or as

Christopher janow explains considering

individual drives on the access weak

strong n regards the presence of strong

drives as characteristic of the greatest

or healthiest type of human individual

the more numerous the drives that can be

sustained in one individual the greater

that individual will be this helps to

rule out some examples that it would be

rather ridiculous to consider paradigms

of human greatness for instance someone

who has a strong even domineering drive

towards collecting stamps together with

a few more mundane drives say to sleep

and to eat is an oversimplified

individual who does not approach nitian

greatness however fervent and dominant

his chief Drive may be and even someone

whose only strong Drive was to

philosophize or to compose music would

not satisfy this model of

plenitude to satisfy n's conditions for

greatness we must increase the number

and strength of our drives one of the

most effective ways to do this is to

practice an unrestrained self-acceptance

that involves embracing all of our

drives even those that clash with

contemporary moral standards for example

in our age the drive for power is

demonized this is partly because modern

morality has been deeply shaped by weak

individuals who lack power in the belief

they can attain it additionally many

fail to understand that power which is

the capacity to influence oneself the

environment and other people is a

fundamental human need the drive to

dominate is another drive that Society

demonizes but in its healthy

manifestations this drive is simply the

desire to Excel and surpass others and

is critical in the pursuit of EX

be it in sport business or creative

Endeavors accepting and strengthening

drives that clash with modern standards

is not an endorsement of Cruelty or

oppression but a recognition that such

drives form an important part of the

economy of drives that constitute a

strong and powerful character

terribleness is a part of greatness let

us not deceive ourselves explained

n along with strengthening drives that

are morally questionable the cultivation

of greatness also requires we cultivate

drives that oppose and conflict with one

another along with the drive for power

and the drive to dominate we should

strengthen our drives for goodwi

cooperation and Justice if we have a

strong drive for Solitude we should

strengthen our drive to socialize we

should oppose a strong sexual drive with

a strong drive for self-control for the

great individual according to n is

composed of strong conflicting drives an

idea which was shared by the Great

American writer John Steinbeck for as

Steinbeck wrote regarding one of his

characters in East of Eden Tom's

cowardice was as huge as his courage as

it must be in great men his violence

balanced his tenderness and himself was

a pitted battlefield of his own

forces the struggle between powerful

conflicting forces generates an inner

tension or friction in the soul that

produces an overwhelming F of energy

this energy naturally seeks to discharge

itself through extraordinary Deeds

ambitious Ventures and creative

achievements it is the pull of opposite

PS that stretches souls and only

stretched Souls make music wrote Eric

Hoffer or as n explained in the will to

power it is my conviction that the

presence of internal conflicts and the

feelings they engender gives rise to the

bow with a great tension the great man

the highest human being would have the

greatest multiplicity of drives and also

in the relatively greatest strength that

can still be endured

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members the final step in the

cultivation of greatness is to bring all

the drives of our being into a higher

order Unity as this Unity consists of a

harmonious integration of conflicting

drives it is a Unity of opposites which

the ancient Greek philosopher heraclitus

wrote about in his fragments what is in

opposition is in agreement and the most

beautiful Harmony comes out of things in

conflict and all happens according to

Strife stated heraclitus or as n wrote

in Beyond Good and Evil only this should

be called greatness the ability to be

just as multiple as whole just as wide

as full to harmonize our conflicting

drives we must impose upon ourselves a

compelling overarching goal which n

called an organizing idea that gives our

life purpose and Direction when this

goal is deeply rooted within us it acts

like a guiding star whose strong

gravitational force pulls all our drives

into its orbit or as n put it the coming

together of many drives in one nature is

found in human beings in whom everything

knowledge desire loving hating strives

centri

toward a root force and where a

harmonious system of drives is formed by

the compelling domination of an

organizing idea which functions as the

Living Center of the self n referred to

those who embody these conditions of

greatness as the rare cases of

powerfulness in Soul and body The

Strokes of luck among humans with strong

opposing drives unified by a powerful

purpose these individuals radiate

vitality and strength they are brimming

with energy teeming with projects and

Ambitions to channel their energy and so

well disposed to themselves and to

existence that they are capable of a

pessimism of strength according to n

these individuals can say yes to life in

its strangest and hardest problems or as

he continues he that is richest in the

fullness of Life cannot only afford the

sight of the terrible and questionable

but even the terrible deed and any

luxury of Destruction decomposition and

negation in his case what is evil absurd

and ugly seems as it were permissible

owing to an excess of procreating

fertilizing energies that can still turn

any Desert into Lush Farmland along with

being the prerogative of great

individuals a pessimism of strength

reflects a realistic way to view

existence as it takes into account both

the light and the dark sides of the

Human Condition optimism in contrast is

often driven by a need to distort

reality many optimists are heavily

dependent on defense mechanisms to keep

the terrible truths of life outside of

awareness and they mistake their denial

for positivity but when tragedy evil or

deep suffering strikes their fragile

optimism crumbles and gives way to a

life denying pessimism that always

lurked beneath the surface a pessimism

of strength therefore represents a more

affirmative state of being than optimism

as the pessimist of strength is able to

Face Reality without Illusions and say

yes to it all I want to learn more and

more to see as beautiful what is

necessary in things then I shall be one

of those who make things beautiful wrote

Ana or as John Steinbeck echoed there's

more Beauty in the truth even if it is a

dreadful Beauty the storytellers at The

City Gate twist life so that it looks

sweet to the lazy and the stupid and the

weak and this only strengthens their

infirmities and teaches nothing cures

nothing nor does it let the heart