Finding A Way
A friend read the ‘hidden god’ quotation of yesterday. He responded by text that he wanted to think more about the quotation. We plan to talk by phone this afternoon. Nietzsche reveals in subsequent lines that he is referring to Dionysus, the god of reverie, of wine, of inadvertent discovery. The thought of such could not be more alien to we Americans who have absorbed the Protestant Christian ethos of our country. Ours is a “kick ass” god, the enforcer, no dream-weaver god, but one that “died for your sins.”
“Where are your going with this line of thought?” is a fair question which you are likely to ask. Do read on and your will see. Dionysus speaks:
“I think humans are pleasant, brave,
inventive animals
that have no equal on earth,
they find their way around any labyrinth.
I am very fond of them:
I think about how I can help them advance
and make them stronger, more evil and more profound than they are.”
– “Stronger, more evil, and more profound?”
I asked, startled. – “Yes,” he said again,
“stronger,
more evil, and more profound;
and more beautiful”
– and at that,
the tempter god smiled his halcyon smile,
as if he had just paid a charming compliment…
Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Butler, aphorism 295
Our American way of life is complex, a range, a gradation of experience depending upon circumstances of one’s race, economic situation, education opportunities, the geographical location of your home, etc., etc.. The list of factors shaping our lives would be extensive, thought provoking. Such constraints lend weight to this vision for us, for you and I, spoken by Dionysus.
You my friend, are well served to become stronger, more evil (astute, less naive), thoughtful, and more beautiful. A future for yourself, for your children, for those living in Tokyo, Beijing, Havana, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, to whom we are dynamically related by commerce, by sport, by climate, – will hinge upon the possibility of you and I achieving another level of strength, sagacity, mindfulness, and elegance.
For us American citizens the decision point will arrive on November 4, the day of balloting. The outcome will be published on November 5th.
The stakes could not be more stark, any more extreme.
Rebecca Solnit the writer said that “a vote is a chess move in the world you want to live in.”
An app called Oath helps people donate to races strategically. They rank races by competitiveness, stakes, and financial need. The app will make recommendations based on your interests, and it keeps your name off donor lists so you don’t get bombarded with endless funding appeals:
2 thoughts on “Finding A Way”
“Ours is a ‘kick ass’ god”
Interesting thought! The Bible tells us that Jesus’s life ended in violence despite his propensity to teach peaceful interaction among all people. Many of those in history, including Gandhi, Thomas More, Socrates, among so many others, who espoused logic and rational thought over emotional extremism ended up with a life cut short by those who felt threatened by words (questions and ideas)
And so I believe you are correct in that the culture in this country, for many at least, leans towards a preference of retribution, cruelty, and violence as compared to a life of acceptance, kindness, and peaceful coexistence. It makes no sense to so many of us, but the human mind seems capable of justifying any type of perspective, regardless of how much it might or might not make sense.
The form-of-life, the attitude of approach to our being-in-this-world, that we are willing to collectively approve,is what makes sense! There is no objective standard of reason. Trump/Vance deeply believe the BS which they are espousing. It’s no act! Still, I’d rather lean toward openness, toward the multi-valence of being, and of life than toward the constricted, rigid, one-size-fits all opposite end of mind and heart. Why? I am not sure. Still, why not own where one stands, to become a happy warrior?