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Thanks, Nietzsche!

Discussion in 'Self Improvement' started by Such Small Hands, Jul 30, 2018.

  1. Such Small Hands

    Such Small Hands Fapstronaut

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    Growing up, I always thought of Friedrich Nietzsche as the philosopher with the crazy mustache. He also talked about staring into an abyss and might have helped the Nazis but I never delved deeper, so concerned was I with reading Young Adult junk (not that all YA stuff is bad...) and simplistic pageturners.

    Over the last year or so, and due to a general expanding of my tastes in art/knowledge, engaging with the man's ideas/prose has opened up new vistas of self-improvement - because that's who he is, the ultimate promoter of the self and its capabilities/profundities/mysteries (I'm exaggerating/distorting, here, due to my enthusiasm) - I'm sure a more astute reader of Nietzsche will frown at my words, but look, I'll just paraphrase (REALLY paraphrase) his Idea of Eternal Recurrence, from his book The Gay Science:

    Imagine that a demon comes to you in your most extreme loneliness and tells you: "Your life, as you have lived and will continue to live it, will be repeated on and on, unto eternity. Every pain and sorrow and joy and heartbreak and laughter and moment will be experienced forever, in their exact succession." Will you gnash your teeth at the demon's words, and feel the heaviest weight bear down on your shoulders, or will you praise this demon as a god who has given you this most overwhelming divine gift, that you should experience your life in an eternal recurrence?

    (I'm not sure about the rules of posting the actual words on the site - you'll just have to get the book yourself for confirmation :))​

    This is more of a hypothetical, a thought experiment, rather than a claim about material reality. It's essentially asking, are you going to live your life in such a way that if the decision you were to make in the next second would be repeated for eternity, you would be ultimately be pleased - overjoyed, even - with that decision? Will your decisions act as a weight on your life (in some supposed eternity) or as the source of one's freedom?

    To tie things back to NoFap: whenever I sit on the edge of lust, or trick myself into relapsing, I try to (I don't always, admittedly) think of Eternal Recurrence, and what decision I'm going to make that I'll ultimately be pleased with unto infinity. I don't want to live the kind of life in which I relapse and fail, again and again! I want to live the kind of life where I make the decision to NOT MASTURBATE OR WATCH PORN, and feel that small triumph over my base desires again and again and again - or even find myself victorious (however much one can be over this darkness) and healthy, in an eternal return! Cool, huh?

    There's so much more to Nietzsche than this (and some problematic stuff, too) and I hope that my words will lead you to his, or simply inspire you to fight on and think more deeply. I know I've benefited from it, on this difficult journey.
     
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  2. If people are scared to read Nietzsche, they don´t deserve him.
     
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  3. Headspace

    Headspace Fapstronaut

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    Sorry, couldn't help it. Not meaning to make fun about his philosophy, only about his mustache, which might have been considered uber-manly back then, but looks anachronisitc today :p Future generations will laugh about our style the same way.
     
    Such Small Hands likes this.
  4. LMFAO! :p
     
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  5. fargotten

    fargotten New Fapstronaut

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    Nietzsche should be a mandatory read for anyone struggling with his/her's willpower. The Antichrist with addition of some inspiring biographies really helped me through last time I've been lost and procrastinating to find the solution.

    Great post, definitely makes me want to devour more of his works. ;)
     
    Such Small Hands and A41:14A like this.

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