Mu Xin said: "As a modern person, if you ignore Nietzsche, you will not be of much value." When it comes to Nietzsche, I believe most people have heard of his name. After all, this man is so important, and his thoughts have influenced almost everyone throughout the century. It can be said that Nietzsche was the first person to advocate and practice individualism. He killed God with his own hands and predicted the crisis of faith we are facing. The existence of Nietzsche just confirms the famous saying: "A thinker thinks in a corner, but the whole world trembles."
However, do you know Nietzsche? Have you ever read his work? Most people's knowledge of Nietzsche may be limited to his name, and Lu Xun's evaluation of him in middle school textbooks: "Nietzsche once called himself the sun, but he was crazy." Why? I think, in addition to the busy factor, the more important thing is that we have not found a suitable guide. To be fair, most of the works of philosophers are relatively obscure and difficult to understand. As a non-professional student, it is difficult to understand the mysteries. I remember that during the winter vacation of my junior year, I borrowed Nietzsche's most famous work "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" from the library. For the first time, I tasted the taste of reading the "Book of Heaven". I knew every word in it, but I just don’t understand the connotation.
Unwilling to give up, I planned to adopt the strategy of "saving the country through curves", so I began to look for books that introduced Nietzsche's thoughts. Somehow, I came across "Nietzsche: At the Turning Point of the Century" written by Mr. Zhou Guoping. This is a good introductory book to Nietzsche. Not only is the content easy to understand, but it also covers Nietzsche's thoughts throughout his life.
Nietzsche’s thoughts can be summarized into the following keywords: Dionysian spirit, will to power, evaluation, creation, self, irrationality, revaluation of all values, and superhuman philosophy.
Due to the influence of Schopenhauer in his early years, Nietzsche had a pessimistic attitude towards life as a whole. Schopenhauer believes: "Life is just a ball of desires. If desires are not satisfied, they are painful. If they are satisfied, they are boring. Life swings between pain and boredom." However, Nietzsche could not accept the reality that life is meaningless, so he put forward the Dionysian spirit he worshiped, that is, starting from the tragic art to explore the meaning of life. The essence of the Dionysian spirit is to affirm life. A person who laughs not only at joy, but also at failure, pain, and tragedy has the Dionysian spirit. The will to power is another name for the metaphysics of the Dionysian spirit. The prototype of Superman is the Dionysian artist. To re-evaluate all values ??is to replace the Christian ethical evaluation with the aesthetic evaluation that runs through the Dionysian spirit. The evaluation itself is a kind of creation.
The crux of modern civilization is that people are sick both spiritually and physically. The exhaustion of life instinct and the poverty of spiritual life have made human nature incomplete. Modern people are no longer complete people. Under the dual impact of commerce and entertainment, wealth itself has become the goal. For the sake of wealth, people show a blind and crazy diligence. As everyone knows, blind pursuit of wealth damages the beauty of the body. Without the beauty of the body, how can one enjoy wealth? Mindless rushing makes people always tired, they no longer pay attention to graceful demeanor and noble etiquette, and there is no longer quiet contemplation when alone. Entertainment has become the only pastime, and we will eventually entertain ourselves to death.
Lu Xun once said that Nietzsche went crazy in the end. The metaphor seemed to mean that Nietzsche's philosophical thoughts were harmful. In fact, the reason why Nietzsche went crazy had nothing to do with Superman, and it had nothing to do with his philosophy, but because his family had a genetic gene for mental illness, and he lived a solitary life for decades, which ultimately led to his disease. Case notes: This patient liked to hug and kiss anyone on the street. Loneliness drove Nietzsche crazy, but he finally got rid of loneliness in his madness.
This is an era of "self" loss. Reading Nietzsche's books is to find our long-lost self. Finally, a quote from Nietzsche ends the show: "Go into your solitude with your love and your creation! My brother, then justice will lamely follow you."
Editor’s Note:
After Nietzsche, his philosophical influence was very extensive and has now evolved into three schools. First, the Freudians who relieved the suppression of life instinct by reason and morality; second, the existentialists who promoted the transcendence of human spirit; third, the romantics Heidegger and Marcuse who held high the banner of artistic revolution.