Few comments on Friedrich Nietzsche – Rising Kashmir
Nietzsche can be easily counted among the very few thinkers who have attained a pop culture star figure status. He has largely been abused through misquotations of him in various Hollywood movies. To some he becomes a status symbol for positing one’s ‘uniqueness’ or coming across as ‘cool’ whilst largely being clueless of what Nietzsche actually represents. In this piece we will try to outline some of the points that we may learn from Nietzsche and the points where we need to put out certain reservations against him.
What we can learn from Nietzsche
One of the best things that we may learn from Nietzsche is to guard ourselves against hypocritical moralism. It is beyond the scope of this article to trace out Nietzsche’s critique of English psychologists, his philology studies and consequently his work on Genealogy where he presents his critique of Christian morality but in sum we may say that for Nietzsche life is about self-disclosure/self-expression/assertion and different people pursue this ideal in different ways. A ‘master’ expresses this will in clearest of terms without any hypocrisy but ‘slaves’ who cannot master their ‘masters’ physically, invent subversive subtle psychological devices to triumph them. They do it by telling themselves that effluence and success is “evil” and thus their masters are worthless where as docility and (supposed) humility is highest “good” and thus they are better than their masters. Nietzsche tells us that the slaves too pursue self-assertion but in a hypocritical way which halts their actual progress and expression. Whenever we get jealous of people who are assertive, effluent, highlighted and successful at whatever they are doing, whilst we distance ourselves from “action”, and yet we want to subdue them in one way or the other or (unconsciously) attempt to show that we are better, we do it by passing “moral” judgments against them, by saying oh! Effluence/action is evil, passivity/humility is good and thus “using”/abusing morality for our own sake; this hypocrisy Nietzsche wishes to expose.
Probably the second most important thing we may learn from Nietzsche is the critique of shallow rationalism. In the first chapter of his book Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche beautifully points out as to how surface “rationalism” is heavily situated, grounded, loaded and controlled by deeper sub-structures of “unconscious”. Therefore, highest knowledge becomes self-introspection rather than inductive rational voyages. Man is not merely a “thinking” being but rather a “living” being. His brain, psyche, body is situated within specific biological, evolutionary, historical underpinnings which need to be accounted for before positing the impossibly “free” pure rationality.
One of the most common misconceptions regarding Nietzsche prevalent in popular culture is that “Nietzsche killed God” owing to his infamous utterance “God is dead”. Due to this misconception, Nietzsche is usually perceived as a full blown Nihilist. This, however, is not actually correct. If we read the passages from his book The Gay Science, where Nietzsche talks about “death of God”, it becomes clear upon us that what Nietzsche is in fact saying is that it is modern Europe as a total collective civilization in its post Darwinian science and in its movement away from Christian theology and metaphysics (and thus consequent loss of objective reference point) that has led to the “death” of God. He says to his western audience, “We have killed God, you and I”. It becomes gradually clear from the passage that “God is dead” is not a triumphant claim at all; Nietzsche, first of all, did not do it and second of all he is not happy about it.
This event, for Nietzsche, is actually a catastrophic event. “How did we do it”, asks Nietzsche in shock. Why is this a serious thing? That is because, without God- without an objective metaphysical reference point- we lose all grounding for all values. Not only does this take the foundation away from Christian theology but rather it problematizes the whole western socio-political ideological apparatus not sparing even modern science. Socio-political ideologies (say) liberalism, for example, which rest on foundational axiom of ‘human beings being created equal’ actually stems from Christian theological notion of ‘human being created in the image of God’ and that is what dignifies them and grants them foundational equality as we see Locke invoking it for his politics. Nietzsche says to the west that in absence of God and subsequent naturalistic evolutionary account of human beings- such ideas become obsolete. Similarly, the moment metaphysical notion of Truth goes out of the window, the whole enterprise of science becomes meaningless simply because there is no transcendent truth to discover as everything is Hegelian, Darwinian, evolutionist, historical “becoming” & thus perspectivism reigns supreme. But Nietzsche does not simply stop at recognizing these crises in the west but rather attempts to re-create new values in his whole project for ubermensch and thus cannot be categorized as a total nihilist or absurdist. His whole project is for meaning creation post-crises.
Another crucial point that we can learn from Nietzsche is his idealistic individualism. “Self” in its essence is sacred and its discovery highest science; in fact as Coomaraswamy says ‘theology is autology’. This reflects in Nietzsche’s passionate sincere authenticity in his respect for self. Nietzsche, in fact, in his book Genealogy, equates ‘good’ with ‘authentic mode of being’ i.e. being one inside out- free from all hypocrisies. This is exactly what Iqbal means by “khudi”. “Khudi” for Iqbal is nothing but a strong integrated unified direction of ego, free from hypocrisies. The shock of death is first test for ego’s integration for Iqbal. “Dil soz se khaali hai, nigeh paak nahi hai fir is mai ajab kya ki tu be-baak nahi hai”; the assertive self expression (be-baaki) cannot come if self is torn apart by inauthenticity, insincerity, hypocrisies. This is what our self proclaimed carbon copies of Nietzsche, saturating social media need to attend to. Nietzsche’s whole endeavor is to find a sincere authentic expression of deeper self.
To read Nietzsche properly, we need to distinguish between morality and virtue; this distinction can be found in all traditional mystical philosophers. In Islamic tradition, there is a notion of “niyyat” and “riya”; i.e. merely following a moral code is not enough to qualify for virtue (virtue that transforms being). One may be doing a morally good act but if marred by inner hypocrisies/contradictions then it is useless. Superman/maha-purush/jiva/bodhisattva/insaan-al-kaamil does what he does as a free organic expression of life without any hypocrisy; super-man is one inside out and that is virtue. “Some do what they read in the law; for others the law is the very nature of things, The pious call good what the Most High loves, The Wise call good what derives from the very Being (World Wheel). This is why Nietzsche should be read very carefully by the un-initiated. He intersects with themes which allude to old traditional mystical themes that need proper preparation (both intellectual and spiritual) to properly appreciate. He is not a systematic rationalistic philosopher like Kant, churning out rational formulas like categorical imperative, rather he is deeply passionate thinker who has intersected with being/wajood itself over and above mere mental activity. His most profound idea of ‘eternal recurrence’ came to him as an intuitive flash of insight in a mystical experience which took hold of him for the next ten days.
Here we may also understand his deeper point of ‘beyond good and evil’. Nietzsche in his famous metamorphosis describes “child” as highest human station owing to child’s expression of free creative energy without any contradictions from within. This point leaves no doubt in establishing the intersection of Nietzsche with the mystical given that traditional mystics consider child (who is ibn-ul-waqt i.e. the child of the moment) as the best mode of life i.e. the one who is not burning in the hell of past or future (which amounts to living in mental abstractions) but rather lives in the moment (i.e. attaining khushoo and khuzoo) and this timelessness of the instantaneous moment is what is referred to as tasting eternity within time as even Wittgenstein would say. To understand Nietzsche’s mystical tendencies, please read Coomaraswamy’s essay “Cosmopolitan view of Nietzsche”.
Another point to understand is that Nietzsche’s condemnation of ‘other-worldly’ flights and focus on earthly becoming i.e. full acceptance of self and its expression in life is the mystical commitment of total unity of life/being, its interdependence & interpenetration such that the binaries between sacred and profane evaporate. This is why Nietzsche hates Kantian distinctions of ‘noumena’ and ‘phenomena’. This is exactly what we find in Iqbal. This is what Nagarjuna means by ‘samsara becomes nirvana’. This is what we find in Muslim sufis like Ibn Arabi where the binaries of majaazi and haqeeqi start to break off as everything becomes one transparent epiphany of God- the Sacred mystery.
Similarly, Nietzsche’s ‘will to power’ which has often been misunderstood is actually ‘mastery over self’ rather than slavery to pleasures of ego. Nietzsche asks us to first realize the integrity and oneness of self and then let it express freely rather than following whims of a weak selfish ego. “Ah! That ye understood my word, do ever what ye will-but first be such as can will [i.e. first attain station of selfhood rather than being collection of sub-personalities/whims/desires as Iqbal would advise ‘apna maqaam paida kar’”.
Another point to learn from Nietzsche is his take on suffering. His principle of amor fati (total acceptance of fate) is mystical appropriation of life par excellence. It is an innocent openness and transparency to being; it is child’s attitude of beyond good and evil. It is total acceptance of life as it is; not seeing life through ego sentimentalism but attaining God’s perspective of looking at world holistically/totally. Life is one holistic reality with both Apollonian and Dionysian elements. Who can afford to miss Nietzsche’s aesthetic/artistic appropriation of reality in totality; far from being a nihilist he asks us to embrace/accept/affirm life fully with its Apollonian and Dionysian elements. Participating in life/reality as an artist helps us transcend excruciating dualities, binaries and all the imperfections that are associated with the finite/contingent. Nietzsche goes beyond Christian pity and sentimentalism and says ‘yes’ to life in its entirety including all pains and pleasures. Please see our article “Traditionalist response to problem of evil and suffering, Rising Kashmir, July 2, 2022; also see Joseph Campbell’s book The Power of Myth, pp. 80-83, Anchor Books, 1988.
What Nietzsche misses
The first thing to note is that Nietzsche could have benefited from a proper understanding of what ‘transcendent’/God actually means; it does not amount to positing any abstract notion (that he cannot prove) but rather represents the very mystery element of life/reality which transcends language and thought; this is what Wittgenstein or any other mystical philosopher would say. We may point out to Nietzsche that no amount of “becoming” strips away even an inch of mystery of being. I may live and participate in life and its “becoming” how so much ever I want but the mystery of wajood remains ever elusive and unmastered. God is never exhausted. His creativity has no end. “Kulla yawmin huwa fi shaan”. Iqbal, though subscribing to metaphysics of “becoming” like Nietzsche realized this and said to God “tere ishq ki intiha chahta hoon, meri saadgi dekh kya chahta hoon”. Mystery/sacred/eternal/permanent/elusive/al-baatin has to be properly respected the way we find in all wisdom traditions.
Second point to note which Jung points out, & that is, whenever a thinker enters into the process of individuation i.e. deeper introspection of self and its realization, one has to be very careful that one’s ego doesn’t get sucked into deeper figures in the ‘unconscious’ like the ‘wise old man’ motif, the source of inspiration within which Nietzsche confronts in Thus spoke Zarathustra. If ego starts identifying itself with these larger than life figures in the ‘collective unconscious’, it leads to what Jung calls “ego-inflation” which blasts ego out of existence and this may lead to life-threatening psychosis. Ego and self are highly inflammable entities, so to speak, and thus need to be handled very carefully. This actually marks the essential difference between traditional initiated philosophers/sages/mystics going with proper understanding/techniques, guided by a master and grounded within a tradition and modern un-orthodox thinkers dabbling with ego energy and flirting with self without proper tools/understanding.
(Author is Pursuing Masters in Philosophy from JNU Delhi and writes regularly for RK. Email: mugees.kaisar@gmail.com)