The tragic artist is no pessimist: he is precisely the one who says Yes to everything questionable, even to the terrible — he is Dionysian.

— excerpt Twilight of the Idols by Friedrich Nietzsche, chapt. “Reason” in Philosophy  published 1888

Yesterday a friend and I chatted for twenty minutes about the writings of Nietzsche in Twilight of the Idols.  Our discussion took place virtually, as our county is in near lock-down due to the third surge of the cornavirus.  Nietzsche’s words are simultaneously interesting and disturbing.  He turns respected, even venerated philosophy on its head.  Nietzsche asserts that Plato’s “Being”, and the idealism that anchors moral sensibilities are both empty concepts, fundamental mistakes.  Furthermore, Nietzsche claims that such ideas, lead in the course of time to a social arrangement that is unsustainable, to decadence, to collapse.  This collapse is regarded by Nietzsche as “natural” a condition that inevitably follows.  He thinks that one need not be personally traumatized as if one could have prevented the giving way, the crumbling of a massive wave that loses energy, momentum of forward movement as it encounters the sea bottom.  Genius IQ is not required to know what has to happen when empty notions (that which has being, the unconditional, the good, the true, the perfect, etc.) encounter the unyielding sea bottom.

The collapse comes in various forms:  a president who demonstrates contempt for truth, who is dismissive of fact, and is most at home in an atmosphere of lies and the chaos that lying breeds.  And there is the pandemic.  We show “pandemic fatigue” and some mayors assert resistance to the decision of the governor to prohibit indoor gatherings at bars and restaurants.  The pandemic itself spreads exponentially, without remorse, certain to overwhelm hospitals.

I received an email early this morning from an acquaintance.  The note was brief and I wonder if it could be spam.  The language however echoes in my mind.  He asked how I and my family were surviving the scourge.  This is a scourge, no mere inconvenience, — likely the movement of Nature to resist the incursion of humanity upon the oceans, upon the atmosphere, and the life of the planet.

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Do you remember the band of musicians in the movie Titanic?  Recall that as the deck begins to list, and it is apparent that the ship is lost — they nevertheless maintain their circle of friendship, their passion for music and play on as the lifeboats are loaded.

Nietzsche bids us join that circle.