This Tyrannical Drive
But this is an old, eternal story:
what happened back then with the Stoics
still happens today,
just as soon as a philosophy begins believing in itself.
It always creates the world in its own image,
it cannot do otherwise;
philosophy is this tyrannical drive itself,
the most spiritual will to power,
to the “creation of the world,”
to the causa prima.
Beyond Good and Evil, by Nietzsche, trans. Judith Norman, aphorism 9
I was reminded of the importance of Stoicism by a friend. I had another look at the critique offered by Nietzsche of this tradition which comes to us from classical Greece, and the Roman Stoics: Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. Nietzsche’s insightful evaluation notwithstanding, Stoicism is proving once again to be a valuable psychological life jacket for an increasingly roiled 21st century.
The world is going to be recreated in someone’s image. There is no world, apart from the mediation of our minds. Ergo, let’s create together!
Since homo sapiens is a species which thrives as a consequence of philosophizing, why not aspire to create a world that features a wide scope of interest, an interest encompassing cultural variety and transformation, a world more kind and considerate? Make no mistake though, a world without violence would be absurd, a fool’s errand.
Birth as well as death are violent.
