To Become What One Is - Dynamite!

I think Friedrich Nietzsche is the most life-affirming, positive philosopher in history. Seriously. He is attacked for being a nihilist and takes on the title "immoralist" but when understood in context Nietzsche provides a view of life that is so positive it almost puts Christianity to shame, or at least some versions of Christianity. What's his deal? Just a few thoughts on "immoralism" and "amor fati".

When you hear "immoralist" the first thing that comes into mind is probably Ivan Karamazov's idea of "everything is permissable", right? I think this is how the majority of people think of Nietzsche, someone who said "God is dead" so we can do anything we like. But this is exactly the opposite of what Nietzsche believes. He is an "immoralist" only in the sense of his hatred of external imposed virtues, particularly the "Christian" virtues he saw around him. Nietzsche through his works is trying to free man from external oppression not so might can make right, but so that real virtues can flourish. He is heavily influenced by the Greek virtues and Stoic philosophy, which I will come to later. Importantly though is that life is not something that needs external rules to get along for a while, but something that demands virtues because of the power of life itself. Let me explain.

Nietzsche is combative against Christianity because he thinks it is hindering people from becoming "who they are" in that it is denying reality and existence in the flesh. He eschews the idea that things are all screwed up here and we just need to follow some external rules alien to our nature until God ends the game and takes us to some spirit place. Nietzsche sees an inherent "goodness" in life as it is, he doesn't think people need to look outside of life to get their moral bearings and ideals. So he is an immoralist in the sense that he doesn't subscribe to some eternal moral system, but this doesn't mean he doesn't have a moral system. He was actually an incredible moral and upright man and encourages the virtues as the most important aspect of life. Nietzsche is the ultimate "Yes-man" in that he wants to affirm people in their lives without appealing to some outside standard.

Whom do you call bad? - He who always wants to put people to shame.

What is most human to you? - To spare someone shame.

What is the seal of having become free? - No longer to be ashamed before oneself.

Most importantly to my mind is that it is Nietzsche who wants to say Yes to another person, not some abstract standard. It is he who wants to be affirming, not the "norm" or "rule." For in "standard morality" it is the rule which is affirming, and we are affirmed in so much as we live up to it. Take feeding the poor for example. If Jones spends a day working at a soup kitchen and is commended by Fred for it, Fred's commendation is really secondary in that Jones is primarily commended for "doing good" or lining up with standard morality, which Fred agrees with. Fred is really saying "You did a good thing because..." but Nietzsche thinks this is impersonal and un-affirming. Nietzsche wants to affirm from himself, not forced by some external morality. No because. This view of personal affirmation is quite powerful to me, although I have some questions to be addressed later.

The second theme in Nietzsche is his life motto: "To become what one is" How is this done? Through the amor fati - the love of fate.

My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be other than it is, not in the future, not in the past, not in all eternity. Not merely to endure that which happens of necessity, still less to dissemble it - all idealism is untruthfulness in the face of necessity - but to love it!

I don't think you can get more positive about life than this view. To love everything that befalls us, not just accept it or be resigned to it, but to love it! To see it all as an important part of shaping who we are and loving who that is and everything that entails - you can't get much more positive than that! No more sad faces, for everything is to be seen as "good", everything is of value. Everything is loved, incredibly powerful language. Nietzsche goes beyond Stoicism here in not only accepting, but loving! How wonderful would life be if everything that we encountered could be loved in this world.

So paradoxically Nietzsche's two most important goals in life are to affirm and love it. This is where I find his view so positive, as marked difference from his mentor Schopenhauer, probably one of the most depressing philosophers of all time. I would really like to take his incredibly positive view of humanity and life on board, but I have a few questions:

1. Nietzsche's view of man is incredibly high. So high that although he doesn't believe in God he would say we are as close as it gets in the Ubermensch. If only we were freed from external compulsion true virtue would shine forth and man would become godlike. But this view of man iis radically different and almost incompatible with the Scriptural/Calvinist (I tend to think the slash is pretty small, you may disagree...) view of man as fallen creature in a corrupt and fallen world. We aren't that good and that is why God revealed himself to us through the Law and then through Christ. Left to our own devices I am not sure we could live up to this Nietzschian ideal, so this seems unreconcilable with Christian teaching. There might be a slight case with common grace and sensus divinitatis but that is really stretching it in order to live up to the Ubermensch.

2. I am not convinced that without some "external morality" you can affirm or justify anything like this. The idea of external morality is not too appealing and I would want to use language of Holy Spirit and indwelling to make it more incarnational, but there is certainly a "coming down" from heaven in the revelation to some extent. So I am not sure that Nietzsche can ground his Greek virtues in life itself. But the Greeks didn't really believe in transcendent gods, so it might be possible. I guess this brings up the question of the Fall again and how deep that is.

So as positive as Nietzsche is towards life and humanity, I am not sure we can follow him, no matter how much we may want to. Too bad really, I guess if Christianity weren't true Nietzsche would be the way to go.

Side note: If anyone says "Isn't amor fati just Calvinism?" I have only one thing to say: "It's time to start slapping people."