Posts Tagged ‘Nietzsche’
2010
08.21
Tags: Life, Meaning, Nietzsche, Philosophy
Posted in Life, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology | 1 Comment »
“Consider the cattle, grazing as they pass you by: they do not know what is meant by yesterday or today, they leap about, eat, rest, digest, leap about again, and so from morn till night and from day to day, fettered to the moment and its pleasure or displeasure, and thus neither melancholy nor bored. This is a hard sight for man to see, for, though he thinks himself better than the animals because he is human, he cannot help envying them their happiness — what they have, a life neither bored nor painful, is precisely what he wants, yet he cannot have it because he refuses to be like an animal. A human being may well ask an animal: ‘Why do you not speak to me of your happiness but only stand and gaze at me?’ The animal would like to answer, and say: ‘The reason is I always forget what I was going to say’ — but then he forgot this answer too, and stayed silent: so that the human being was left wondering.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, “Untimely Meditations” (trans. R.J. Hollingdale)
2009
08.19
Tags: Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Gender Issues, Nietzsche, Sacred Feminine, Values
Posted in Art, Books, Filipinos, Gender Issues, Life, Nietzsche, Philosophy | No Comments »
Cultural symbols have some kind of consistency. And rightly or wrongly (I mean, one could always present arguments that would show the inappropriateness of a symbol or sets of symbols), the associations have been formed and set through the millenia. One cannot simply do away with a symbol that has been passed and accepted by cultures/traditions, etc. One can, however, question and undermine the seeming “naturalness” that these symbols have come to acquire (like what Nietzsche, Derrida, among others, have done).
The association of “black” with “male” and “white” with “female” (at least, symbolically) is not consistent with, and I’d even say, goes against the grain of, tradition of symbolical associations with gender archetypes. Check it out for yourself. Research on this topic.
Even the very moral association of “black” with “evil” and “white” with “good” is consistent with the disparaging of the “feminine principle” that Brown himself presents in his novel.
Which leads me back to Nietzsche… the earth/matter, feminine, black, deceptive, as opposed to the spirit, male, white, beholden to the truth… and which does he champion?
Neither.
Rather, he asks, probably with a grin on his face, “What if truth were a woman?” (which can be read as “what if the truth were lying/deceptive?”)
So, again, rather than simply overturning the tables or reassigning the good values with the opposing pole (i.e., saying that “male” is “evil” and “female” is “good”), one gains an insight into the interconnection/interweaving/inter-reliance, complexity, and perhaps, even complicity of the bipolar signs/symbols into our understanding of this world.
The world is to a large extent, amoral, and because of this, both cruel and innocent. It is us humans/cultures who assign values, depending on our perceived needs/wants in given situations. It is when these values harden/ossify that they become dangerous to life/living.
best regards,
ian
2009
07.13
Tags: Add new tag, Buddhism, Desire, Meditation, Nietzsche, Nietzscheans, Nirvana, spirituality, Vipassana
Posted in Education, Filipinos, Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality | No Comments »
“He remembered his sadness well, but he could no longer remember what had made him so sad. It was that way with everything: even sadness passed, even pain and despair, as well as the joys. Everything passed, faded, lost its depth, its value, and finally there came a time when one could no longer remember what had pained one so. Pains, too, wilted and faded… Yes, doubtless this pain, this bitter need would also grow old and tired. It too would be forgotten. Nothing had permanence, and he regretted that, too.”
- Herman Hesse, “Narcissus and Goldmund”
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Am continuing my reflections on the possibility of a “Nietzschean Buddhism”…
Would like to sit again…
I’ve found something valuable in my practice. Hey, I may have not changed much but I detect a glimmer of hope… the possibility of overcoming deeply-ingrained bad habits of old. I’m no superman but like him, “I’m just out to find a better part of me.”
I came to Vipassana as a pantheist with Nietzschean leanings. I had strayed away from the Catholic Christian Church in the mid-1990′s. It was meeting Nietzsche (through his books, of course) that brought about my “conversion.” I found quite a number of my very deepest feelings and thoughts verbalized by this “madman.”
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2009
06.05
Tags: Body, Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, D.H. Lawrence, Filipinos, Kierkegaard, Love, Matter, Morality, Movies, Nietzsche, Philippines, Philosophy, Platonism, religion, Sex, Soteriology, spirituality
Posted in Books, Education, Filipinos, Gender Issues, Life, Love, Movies, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality | No Comments »
Some people say that Christianity has been misunderstood. It looks to me more like it is Christianity which has misunderstood! The world, perhaps even Christ!
I’m not associating Christ with Christianity. When Nietzsche wrote “Der Anti-Christ” (usually translated as “The Anti-Christ”), his polemics was directed more to Paul and Christendom/Christianity, (a note in the translation says that it is probably more fitting to translate it as “The Anti-Christian.”) The same with Kierkegaard, his beef was with Christendom (the bureaucracy of Christianity). Christianity, as we know it today, is according to biblical scholarship, largely the work of Paul the Apostle.
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2009
03.27
Tags: Buddha, Christ, Herman Hesse, Nietzsche
Posted in Art, Filipinos, Life | 1 Comment »
I’ve been trying to examine my understanding/misunderstanding of the place of eros/desire” in Buddhism and Western philosophy. Re-read Plato’s “Symposium.” (Will had “Phaedrus.” Also the “Dhamappada.”)
Yes, it’s true. I got my understanding of Buddhism mainly through Western interpreters. Jacques Maritain’s “Introduction to Philosophy,” if I remember correctly, makes a distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism that’s quite striking. He says that while 11Hinduism saw INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE as evil, Buddhism saw EXISTENCE ITSELF all Hindus meant the return to Brahman. (The world is maya/illusion.) The Buddhist Nirvana, on the other hand, is the “cessation of life,” which meant the “cessation of desire.”
In “The Birth of Tragedy,” Nietzsche tells this story about a man who confronts the laughing Silenus about the secret of life. Silenus tells the inquirer, “Do you really want to know? … Here it is: It were better for you not to have been born. And the next best thing? To die early.”
Nietzsche acknowledges the pessimist Schopenhauer as a major influence to his o thinking. Always the onfused mind, I may have mixed all these stuff in my head.
But it’s still quite true that “eros/desire” in both Christianity and Buddhism has been, so to say, problematized. The tradition of Christianity has a wealth of discourses on the dangers posed by desire and has probably more than a number within its tradition whose solution to the problem is to extinguish it, cut it off. The Buddhist notion of detachment/equanimity appears to be quite similar to Stoicism, a kind of indifference to life’s vicissitudes. And the way I see it, this detachment/indifference can only be attained through the weakening of eros/desire.
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2009
01.17
Tags: Art, Buddha, Buddhism, Hume, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Power, religion, spirituality, Writing
Posted in Art, Filipinos, Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality, Writing | No Comments »
reposting… november, 2003.
best regards,
ian
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Nietzsche, Hume and the Buddha
When I first heard of Nietzsche, it was in association with Hitler and the Nazis. I simply dismissed him as a rabid, power-hungry maniac who probably had an unhappy childhood. A classmate in college wrote a paper on this Nietzsche guy and I was silently chuckling on the thought that a comic book idea (“superman”) can be the subject of a scholarly paper.
But when I did get to read him (years later), I was simply won over by this crazy guy! He says provocative things that, when thought about, actually make sense. He’s probably among the few philosophers who doesn’t come across as an insipid intellectual. He’s got style, lots of it. He doesn’t say things just for effect (although sometimes it feels like that). He’s an artist, an artist-philosopher. He’s very passionate and his sincerity comes across. He also has a weird sense of humor. Indeed, he writes with his blood. Indeed, he’s a dynamite.
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2009
01.14
Tags: Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, spirituality
Posted in Filipinos, Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality | No Comments »
Am trying to re-post old posts August of last year which were not backed up.
best regards,
ian
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More Than Words (More Ramblings…)
One of my all-time favorite songs is “More Than Words.” It became a monster hit in 1991 or 1992, spawning a long list of other “unplugged” numbers. The song, written by Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone (of the now disbanded “Extreme,” a funky-metal band similar in style to Red Hot Chili Peppers, with lyrics that usually tackled religious and philosophical issues), had a beautiful melody, wonderful vocal harmony, with only a bare guitar and a bongo drum for its accompaniment. At a time when most songs were overweighed by layers of instrumentation with technological gadgets, synthesizers, etc., it was a breath of fresh air to hear this song that was pure and naked in its beauty, honesty, and simplicity. No gimmicks, just the bare essentials.
It also expressed for me an important lesson that I learned from Karl Marx and the existentialists. Karl Marx says that “Life determines consciousness; not consciousness, life.” Thus, the emphasis on praxis (practice, not as “rehearsal,” but as “actualization”), over and above theory. Of course, the existentialists harp on the call for authenticity.
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2008
08.02
Tags: Evil, Filipino Komiks, Nietzsche, Women
Posted in Art, Books, Filipinos, Gender Issues, Life, Nietzsche, Philosophy | No Comments »
Felix (d) Culpa (Cat)!
O Felix culpa! (“O Happy Fault!”) – St. Augustine
1. I love filipino komiks! I used to read Wakasan, Aliwan, Tagalog Klasiks, Superstar, Pilipino, and others whose names I forget at the moment. Of course, there was also Liwayway… =)
2. Myth is greater than fact. Fact is just, well, a fact. Boring.
3. That women are considered evil by men is just the fear/fascination they have for mystery/strangeness/otherness. What is strange/other is conveniently reduced to “evil.” But these are the “little men,” the “last men.”
4. As for me, I love women. Ergo, I love evil! Mwahahaha! Nietzsche: “What if truth were a woman?” Then the metaphysicians of old would grow weak and discouraged, their monolithic dick-truth going flabby and limping, sad… But not only is truth a woman (read: truth is a lie), life itself is woman!
felicitous and culpable,
ian
2008
07.31
Tags: Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality
Posted in Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality | No Comments »
I read a book on “Soto Zen,” and I encountered the names of Huineng and Shen-hsiu in its presentation of the historical origins of Zen. They were both students of the so-called Fifth Ancestor (Zen Patriarch). Huineng became the successor, the 6th ancestor.
“Shen-hsiu believed that all beings possessed the Buddha nature. However, he regarded delusions (Skt. klesa) as something real, teaching that they must be removed gradually through strenuous efforts. His school of Zen is therefore termed ‘gradual enlightenment through real practice.’ The Zen of Hui-neng, on the other hand, holds that the Buddha Heart, which all beings naturally possess, is an indivisible union of the wisdom of enlightenment and meditation found in religious observances. Illusion and affliction are originally non-existent. Therefore, religious observances cannot be regarded as merely a means to rid oneself of illusion, but must be thought of as a practice of enlightenment, or enlightenment in practice. In Zen we call this ‘sudden enlightenment – wonderful practice’ (J. tongomyoshu).”
Anyway, to continue with my rambling:
My research into the meaning of love, of course, led me to the Greek (eros/philia), Christian (eros/agape), and romantic (chivalric/troubadourian) ideas on love. At its core, love (whatever its form/manifestation) involves affirmation or approval or the simple recognition of value/beauty/good. (There is this play “Metamorphoses” that is a collection of Greek myths – based on Ovid’s work of the same title – that we read at Phil. Playhouse. I loved it. It’s very poetic, and I’d say, if executed well, could be a very moving meditation on love, in its various forms. I’d even say that the whole play is a prayer of sorts.)
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2008
07.31
Tags: Buddhism, Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality
Posted in Life, Love, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, spirituality | No Comments »
From an autografitti post… November 6, 2008.
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Hi peeps!
Hope you’re all doing fine!
In lieu of writing a clear presentation of what has been preoccupying my mind these days, I will be starting a series of rambling thoughts on certain topics (love, egoism, nietzsche, buddhism, christianity, power, passion, compassion, etc.) that have held me captive for sometime.
The stimulus, of course, is Buddhism and the Vipassana meditation course I just took.
My interest in Eastern religions and mysticism probably arose when, as a college seminarian, I took this course in Indian philosophy. I was simply fascinated by the stories, the immensity of it all, and the apparent contradictions contained within a philosophical system. I practically remembered almost without effort most of what we were taught in that particular subject. (Mostly basic concepts like “atman,” “brahman,” “maya,” etc.)
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