"'Evil has always had great effects in its favor. And nature is evil. Let us therefore be natural.' That is the secret reasoning of those who have mastered the most spectacular effects, and they have all too often been considered great human beings.” – The Gay Science; 225
I read this 19th-Century masterpiece of literature back in December, and then felt compelled to write this review. It was the eleventh book of Friedrich Nietzsche’s that I had read. All that was left was Nietzsche Contra Wagner, which I read this summer when I had the chance. I can surely understand why The Gay Science is so many people’s favourite. Here he puts art above science, knowledge above “truth,” and, as always, the affirmation of life up against its denial and slander. But what the book is most renowned for is the announcement that “God is dead” and the notion of the eternal recurrence. The former requires much work to still be done in the realm of science and language, as the shadows of God remain, and they, too, must be – annihilated.
The meaning of "God is dead" has, for the most part, been explained as God being dead in comparison to how alive he was prior to the Enlightenment. For prior to the Enlightenment, everything (in Europe, anyway) was seen through theistic eyes, be it science, knowledge or “wisdom.” The search for truth in every sense was instinctively sought in and through God. Self- and external discovery was bound to theism at the hip. With the Enlightenment, God was removed, and reason put in his place. One might say he was flattened and crushed by it.
There is, of course, another interpretation of the statement “God is dead” which one rarely ever hears touched upon but is just as important, if not more so, and is well tied into what Nietzsche says in Thus Spoke Zarathustra about God being killed by pity. The Christian god wants more than anything that we deny ourselves this life (Stoicism being the backbone of the New Testament). Basically, it is a call for the crucifixion of all that makes us human. But, for Nietzsche, self-denial is the embrace of nothingness (a dominating theme in On the Genealogy of Morals and The Anti-Christ), and nothingness is precisely what death is. Therefore, self-denial is the embrace of death while one is still alive. For Nietzsche, the Buddhist or Christian monk who has been able to kill off all his desires and blunt himself against life, is officially dead. He walks, talks, breathes, eats, etc, but he is dead – a living sack of meat, one might say. And because the Christian god wants self-abnegation of us as an ideal, he – is dead. For Nietzsche, Christianity is the ultimate attack on and nay-saying of life – this life, that is, as there is no other.
As for the matter of pity in Zarathustra, his following book, and how it fits into all of this, it is also a Christian matter. He called Christianity "the religion of pity." As most know, as it is overt, the god of The Old Testament is a god of power, vengefulness and animosity, and the god of the New Testament, a god of love; yet, it is supposedly the same god. Except he expresses this love by pitying our so-called “sinful natures.” For Nietzsche, this is a wearying violation of conscience, as there is nothing – absolutely nothing – to be pitied here. Our instincts and natural inclinations are to be embraced, sharpened and affirmed, and because this wretched, insipid, obnoxious god wants the contrary of us, namely to kill off our desires, he has inevitably died off (at least in comparison to his tyrannical dominion over Europe in the Middle Ages), as what is unnatural and/or wearying of the human spirit cannot last forever. Furthermore, it is quite astounding to our logic that, all of a sudden, this Old Testament god of wrath, bigotry and violence is insatiably in love with the entire world (not just the Jews anymore) and shows it by having his son brutally tortured and executed. This morbid nonsense could surely not have lasted forever in the hearts of man as the absolute, glorious truth.
The truth of the matter is, there is far too much that Nietzsche packed into this marvelous book, especially with book five, which he added five years later in 1887, as well as the "Appendix of Songs," for me to even attempt to successfully and justly summarize it all in a little review. But I will explain some fundamental aspects of it, like the vitriolic attack on the search for the absolute truth of things, which is first introduced in section 4 of the Preface. Nietzsche doesn’t know what the truth could possibly be, but he does know that, because the truth of something is a statement to which nothing more can be added, we do not have the means of ever finding it, nor should we want to be able to. For him, such truth-claims are a product of laziness and an expression of death, which is why he calls truth an “old hag” and partly why, in aphorism 344, he identifies the will to truth as “a concealed will to death.” The horizons are limitless for Nietzsche. They are eternal, and there will always be more to learn, especially about human existence, which offers infinite interpretations, and he would not want it any other way, nor can he fathom why someone would want such an insipid, lifeless thing. In fact, if there were a God, Nietzsche would willingly praise him for our fate being this way and no other, which is another aspect of his philosophy that is first mentioned here and again in Ecce Homo: amor fati – the love of fate.
We cannot claim to know all there is to know about the causes of human motives and inspiration (our own, first and foremost), not just because all people and situations are different, but because we are the thing knowing and so are riddled with blind spots towards our inner selves. This, of course, also applies to trying to know the world around us in general. For this reason, which I have here so quickly and coarsely summed up (as there is so much more to this), he sides with Leibniz over Descartes that knowledge is to be sought and accumulated from the object, not the subject. Vice versa is futile, because in the process of knowing, our stream of consciousness continually brings about more that can and cannot be known. It is an infinite cycle that can get us nowhere in trying to learn about the world around us. And he agrees with Hume, as pretty much all the post-Enlightenment thinkers do (though without saying that is what he is doing, as he, for the most part, found Hume's philosophy to be petty and frivolous) that our reason is a slave to our passions and concealed, subterranean motives, and Nietzsche expounds that when we discover or accept a new truth over one we used to embrace, it is because we have changed, and are ready to put on a new skin, which better suits our present selves.
A very interesting and undeniably ingenious section of the book is aphorism 354, entitled "On the genius of the species.” Nietzsche takes his usual burrowing stab at the origins of human consciousness and self-consciousness. He expounds for quite a bit that the former developed out of a need for communication, particularly between those who command and those who obey. It has evolved around humanity’s “social or herd nature” as a required “social or herd utility.” The latter is a by-product of actual human interaction, communication and the need to express ourselves as clearly as possible to our fellow Homo sapiens sapiens. This made us very conscious of ourselves, and, therefore, “it was only as a social animal that man acquired self-consciousness – which he is still in the process of doing, more and more.” In constantly needing to assess ourselves and how well we are establishing what we want to communicate, self-consciousness came to be. The “genius of the species” is what has us see the world, not as it actually is (though it might by fluke sometimes), but as is best for the herd – for the species. All our thoughts are continually “governed by the character of consciousness – by the ‘genius of the species’ that commands it – and translated back into the perspective of the herd” for purposes of self-preservation.
As with his other works, the problem of morality is of prime interest. A major aspect of it is, of course, that people use morality to appear and feel superior to others. It is a weapon and tool of their inferiority and feebleness. It is a mask and masquerade. In aphorism 352, he propounds that the person who needs this moral attire the most, is not the barbaric type, but the weak “herd animal with its profound mediocrity, timidity, and boredom with itself,” who then uses morality to appear justified and “divine.” A sage and/or religious founder, like Buddha or St. Paul, must have the genius of understanding the correct morality that will best fit and attract a people in a given place and time, which will in turn inspire followers and zealous devotion (353). And, as for philosophers, be they moral fanatics like Kant or not, there is nothing more paltry and pathetic to Nietzsche, than a philosopher who cannot laugh at himself and the world around him from time to time. Walter Kaufmann, who offers incredibly insightful footnotes, as usual, remarks that most of Nietzsche’s interpreters, critics and detractors were incapable of laughing at themselves.
As for his wonderfully superb attacks and mockery of nationalism (in particularly German nationalism), antisemitism, pessimism, mysticism and all the rest on Christianity and the Christian god, I will not dare to even begin to try and summarize it all here. It’s all too brilliant and fun, and would be quite unjust of me. I only recommend this entire book be read, and everything in it be pondered on without haste by the reader, preferably with a fierce, exuberant heart, under warm, sunny skies, or majestic, starry nights.
A TOAST, then! To the death of God! How I love the smell of his rotting carcass!!
Remember: just because God is dead, it doesn't mean we have to be. :)
Fool in Despair
All that I wrote on table and wall
With a foolish heart and foolish scrawl
Was meant to add a little grace.
You say: “The hands of fools deface
Table and wall – one must erase
All he has written, all!”
I’d like to help as best I can:
I wield a sponge, as you recall,
As critic and as waterman.
But when the cleaning up is done,
Let’s see the super-sage emit
Upon the walls sagacious shit!
- From the Appendix of Songs -
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Man and His Mortality
Sometimes I think “Mother Nature” went too far when she created a creature that can comprehend its own mortality. Madness has reigned upon the earth ever since. Man. Homosapien sapien. He was put on this earth and wants to know why. Demands to know why! And this demand is inexorable. This demand is nonnegotiable. But the thought and horror of ever ending for good...well, this is simply unacceptable. “Me? Expire?” Man asks himself baffled and incredulous. “But how can that be? I’m far too important! I mean...this is I we are talking about! I’m too special and spectacular to ever simply...end! People just don’t know it. The world...go on without me? ME, for god sakes?! Pah! Such impudence!” But it wasn’t enough that man should delude himself with the idea of immortality. He had to make himself into something of remarkable importance. So he made himself a sight for the gods. But first he had to invent them.
Thereafter, supercilious irrationality and unreason swept the earth like a predestined, unthinking, unrelenting odium with only one purpose: to fulfill the masochistic need(s) of the human race. War, petty feuds, petty bitterness, petty resentment, trifles, intolerance, religion, rape-morality, scandal, lies, marriage, gossip, self-denial, self-laceration, consumerism, trivial controversy, garbage-news, and soap operas! O, how pitifully this pathetic, feeble-minded creature deals with the absurdity of its existence! Man has to show man who’s boss while getting his base entertainment fix. “All others must be brought down below me, for I alone must be deemed great!” Thus man enviously, insecurely, and moronically declares to himself. He sees himself above the rabble. Yet he runs with them, agrees with them, yearns with them – is them. He craves the same petty, mind-numbing entertainment of unneeded wants and idiotic travesty-outrages. Anything to keep him feeling alive and occupied. O, how man runs with all his might away from the vacuum known as his unconscious mind and the main awareness-of (topic) which dominates it: death. His impending doom. All his “needs” and time-wastes are him panting and sweating as he runs in the other direction; for this vacuum sucks at him hard, nonstop and effortlessly. Since his beginning. Day in and day out.
But, I wish the best for mankind. Truly. I hope that one day it rids itself of its silly, self-made, “protective” shells of stupidity. For each of our lives are so short – and this must be embraced – and it is only right that we affirm them with truth and joy. There is no need for man to constantly attack, torment, waste and ravage himself and his fellow beings. This is not what life is for. But as long as the mob’s masochism prevails, we shall never be all that we can be. Is this perhaps a process of our evolution? Could be, but I fear that we may completely destroy ourselves before “nature” opens all of our eyes. Man seems to have much more losing to do before he finally learns how to win...by facing his fears.
"Oh this insane, pathetic beast - man! What ideas he has, what unnaturalness, what paroxysms of nonsense, what bestiality of thought erupts as soon as he is prevented just a little from being a beast in deed! [...] Here is sickness, beyond any doubt, the most terrible sickness that has ever raged in man; and whoever can still bear to hear (but today one no longer has ears for this!) how in this night of torment and absurdity there has resounded the cry of love, the cry of the most nostalgic rapture, of redemption through love, will turn away, seized by invincible horror. - There is so much in man that is hideous! - Too long, the earth has been a madhouse! -" - Friedrich Nietzsche; On the Genealogy of Morals
January 2, 2007
Thereafter, supercilious irrationality and unreason swept the earth like a predestined, unthinking, unrelenting odium with only one purpose: to fulfill the masochistic need(s) of the human race. War, petty feuds, petty bitterness, petty resentment, trifles, intolerance, religion, rape-morality, scandal, lies, marriage, gossip, self-denial, self-laceration, consumerism, trivial controversy, garbage-news, and soap operas! O, how pitifully this pathetic, feeble-minded creature deals with the absurdity of its existence! Man has to show man who’s boss while getting his base entertainment fix. “All others must be brought down below me, for I alone must be deemed great!” Thus man enviously, insecurely, and moronically declares to himself. He sees himself above the rabble. Yet he runs with them, agrees with them, yearns with them – is them. He craves the same petty, mind-numbing entertainment of unneeded wants and idiotic travesty-outrages. Anything to keep him feeling alive and occupied. O, how man runs with all his might away from the vacuum known as his unconscious mind and the main awareness-of (topic) which dominates it: death. His impending doom. All his “needs” and time-wastes are him panting and sweating as he runs in the other direction; for this vacuum sucks at him hard, nonstop and effortlessly. Since his beginning. Day in and day out.
But, I wish the best for mankind. Truly. I hope that one day it rids itself of its silly, self-made, “protective” shells of stupidity. For each of our lives are so short – and this must be embraced – and it is only right that we affirm them with truth and joy. There is no need for man to constantly attack, torment, waste and ravage himself and his fellow beings. This is not what life is for. But as long as the mob’s masochism prevails, we shall never be all that we can be. Is this perhaps a process of our evolution? Could be, but I fear that we may completely destroy ourselves before “nature” opens all of our eyes. Man seems to have much more losing to do before he finally learns how to win...by facing his fears.
"Oh this insane, pathetic beast - man! What ideas he has, what unnaturalness, what paroxysms of nonsense, what bestiality of thought erupts as soon as he is prevented just a little from being a beast in deed! [...] Here is sickness, beyond any doubt, the most terrible sickness that has ever raged in man; and whoever can still bear to hear (but today one no longer has ears for this!) how in this night of torment and absurdity there has resounded the cry of love, the cry of the most nostalgic rapture, of redemption through love, will turn away, seized by invincible horror. - There is so much in man that is hideous! - Too long, the earth has been a madhouse! -" - Friedrich Nietzsche; On the Genealogy of Morals
January 2, 2007
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Crows at Dawn
They caw at dawn,
Alarming me horribly from my much-needed slumber,
Two crows impatiently taking turns screaming,
Crying at the seeds of day and nothingness.
What is it they demand?
And what makes them think I care so much?
Why do they want me to care?
Why do they demand it, and only now in my fragile state of paralysis?
Crows at dawn . . .
Why must it be?
What for the existence of these obnoxious, impertinent, relentless, horrid cries?
And at the worst time to hear them.
And so demanding!
They demand to be heard these old woman’s demons,
Harbingers and revelers of gloom and decay,
Squawking madly at this ungodly hour.
But why at dawn?
And so fervently?!
Why the greyer, wetter and gloomier it is, do they insist to add or cheer on?
Is this their natural joy?
Or do they only despise me so?
For I know . . . that if I were deaf, they would not crow.
So these two bastard-crows at dawn,
They wish so anxiously to be the ones to welcome me before my time into the day,
And for this, I cannot forgive them,
And for this, they are my sworn enemies,
Who so morbidly and viciously taunt me so.
They even compete with each other in this task!
But why?
Why must they so vigorously and ardently epitomize all that is awful, pale and dark in life—in existence,
All that is exasperatingly wretched and draining?
O how I loathe them so!
My nausea! My bane!
And if they do not wish to destroy me in my anti-wakeful hour, perhaps they in fact wish to be me!
To take all there is of me so they no longer have to be themselves,
These lovers of not-life,
These embracers of all that is death.
And here, in case I am too conceited, I will, as open-hearted as I am, generously accept the possibility that it is their enthusiasm and sheer glee in the face of a pallid, dead, damp morning which has them benevolently and naively demand that I experience it as they do.
Perhaps they demand me to try with all my might with their passion,
Or perhaps they think I and all are like them already.
And so they shriek:
“Wake up! Wake up! Please, please wake up! Do not miss this splendid deathly sight of our glory! The glory of a day like this! The beauty! The smells! O how precious and sweet it all is! Hurry, hurry before the morbid sun comes up, and the horrid, bright blue sky. Before there is reason for the others to . . . dare we say it . . . sing! O how sickening, how grotesque, how monstrous, how awful it all will be! So hurry and rise now before it is too late! Come now, and join us, our unknowing, sleepy brother! For we cannot bear you missing all this! Our conscience would grieve us so, can’t you see that? You ignorant, sleepy, morbid fool. Wake up! Get up NOW! We ORDER you to get up!”
Thus they frantically and incorrigibly scream at such a daybreak,
And thus I cannot reach them.
For who could ever reach them, or even dare to try?
Who could ever save them, or us from their wicked cries?
The crows at dawn.
08/02/08
Thunder, My Dear
Thunder, my dear, roar with me tonight;
Roar with me every night.
Wherever you are, I wish to be,
For you enhance the warmth within me.
My heart is aching for so much which I am ready to give,
So full am I and you,
Let us roar together, devour together, conquer together.
At this moment you are everything to me as you mercilessly devour all other sounds;
Your rumbling and quaking are my core and demands!
Never have I been so willing to embrace you, O harbinger of the rain.
As blood drips from my eyes, teeth and heart I want so abundantly to be where you are and within warmth,
And if you are not there awaiting me, I know there cannot be warmth!
I picture myself streaming to you with open arms towards long lost water under a precious night sky, as you beckon me, and tears of joy rush down my face,
For I know we are one life and longing, and that you could never reject me, for our kind cannot exist without each other.
It is within nights like these that my future is most obviously affirmed and undeniable.
I encourage the frivolous goblins embedded within the night grass to make their sounds, for they are necessary and true,
And may you, my dear, with your shouts and declarations only empower and invigorate them as you do I!
Yes, tremble and shriek, my darling!
Let nothing stand in our way!
For you echo my calling and strength, my might and my will.
Yes, shake this fragile earth and be my harbinger forever.
There are no secrets between us,
And show my pride in having no ounce for secrecy,
For all I have must bloom and bloom loudly,
Which is why you are music to my ears,
And can only adore you, and thank you for my life.
So roar, Thunder, my dear, my companion and mockery in the face of loneliness,
As nothing can hold us back.
As the green life demand and declare their existence and future,
So do I have a right to . . . so do we.
06/13/08
Roar with me every night.
Wherever you are, I wish to be,
For you enhance the warmth within me.
My heart is aching for so much which I am ready to give,
So full am I and you,
Let us roar together, devour together, conquer together.
At this moment you are everything to me as you mercilessly devour all other sounds;
Your rumbling and quaking are my core and demands!
Never have I been so willing to embrace you, O harbinger of the rain.
As blood drips from my eyes, teeth and heart I want so abundantly to be where you are and within warmth,
And if you are not there awaiting me, I know there cannot be warmth!
I picture myself streaming to you with open arms towards long lost water under a precious night sky, as you beckon me, and tears of joy rush down my face,
For I know we are one life and longing, and that you could never reject me, for our kind cannot exist without each other.
It is within nights like these that my future is most obviously affirmed and undeniable.
I encourage the frivolous goblins embedded within the night grass to make their sounds, for they are necessary and true,
And may you, my dear, with your shouts and declarations only empower and invigorate them as you do I!
Yes, tremble and shriek, my darling!
Let nothing stand in our way!
For you echo my calling and strength, my might and my will.
Yes, shake this fragile earth and be my harbinger forever.
There are no secrets between us,
And show my pride in having no ounce for secrecy,
For all I have must bloom and bloom loudly,
Which is why you are music to my ears,
And can only adore you, and thank you for my life.
So roar, Thunder, my dear, my companion and mockery in the face of loneliness,
As nothing can hold us back.
As the green life demand and declare their existence and future,
So do I have a right to . . . so do we.
06/13/08
Childhood's Flying Wishes
As a child I used to yearn to fly, and it would actually grieve me that I could not;
As if by actually gaining such power, I’d find all my arcane heart sought.
For if I could soar and touch the clouds, what difference would it make?
I’d just come back through my bedroom window, and sleep for fatigue’s sake.
Where would I go to if I could do it? Would I just fly around?
I think it would pain me more than life itself, for I’d be alone without a sound.
At first there’d be joy, freedom, grace and peace, but then there’d be the counter-opposite.
For there is no pain greater than reaching the highest heights, and having no one to share or express it.
O, how naïve and frivolous we are as children, imagining life soaring to the moon our delight makes such a fuss!
But now we lay and stare at the moon, and that void stares back at us.
05/19/08
As if by actually gaining such power, I’d find all my arcane heart sought.
For if I could soar and touch the clouds, what difference would it make?
I’d just come back through my bedroom window, and sleep for fatigue’s sake.
Where would I go to if I could do it? Would I just fly around?
I think it would pain me more than life itself, for I’d be alone without a sound.
At first there’d be joy, freedom, grace and peace, but then there’d be the counter-opposite.
For there is no pain greater than reaching the highest heights, and having no one to share or express it.
O, how naïve and frivolous we are as children, imagining life soaring to the moon our delight makes such a fuss!
But now we lay and stare at the moon, and that void stares back at us.
05/19/08
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Victory Grimoire
The dead stagger back to their graves, their work is now complete,
As the vampires rush to their tombs, in gloom and in defeat.
The agony has been lifted into the soothing, black sky as the owls hoot the paean,
The echoes reverberate off the chill, the harbinger has now been seen.
The once shining princess stares out with awe and pallor, shaking with every breath,
Life has died, peace has fallen, and now glory is known as death.
The rightly converted lycanthropes gaze afar from the branches of the willows, knowing they’ll never be alone,
As the just saints of Hades, canonized by Lucifer, in proud vehement take their thrown.
The passionate doom of the delusional, godly martyrs is much appreciated and in vain,
The inevitable, carnal roar of earth’s victory is felt across the poles, the retrocedent holiness slain.
The black unicorns raise their heads in honour of the darkness through its victory,
As the lagoon of ghouls and lusting spirits celebrate their ministry.
08/20/06
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Why I Am Not a Taoist
Reflection Assignment for my Modern Chinese Philosophy Professor
July 2008
When you announced to us at the start of the first lecture that you would be teaching the entire course on Taoism, a big smile came across my face, and I felt a strong feeling of joy; for it is something I had been wanting to learn about for quite some time. The original curriculum of the course as described at the university website was the philosophy of Mao, which would have become much too dry, I think. So already I had something to thank you for, and something to look forward to. I had only known two things about Taoism: 1. That it was gaining considerable momentum in the Western World, and, from my own induction, based on what I had heard about its philosophy, that 2. it is thoroughly atheistic. That greatly appealed to me. To then learn that it is a system based on nature made me all the more delighted. After all – I am a nature boy. Always have been.
The very first lecture was my favourite. Not just for the humour and the outrageous idea of the talking snake in the book of Genesis actually being a giant phallus in disguise, but also for finally finding out the real origins of marriage. I was always suspicious of this ridiculous thing called “holy matrimony.” Of course, at this stage of my life I know that nothing deemed holy has any truth to it, as “holy” is merely a word and mask. The fact that the Tao Teh Ching is not considered a holy book already makes it clear that Taoism is not a religion. This pleases me, as faith is not required, and petty metaphysical debates of nonsense are not encouraged within the Taoist community and, hence, virtually nonexistent. Very noble. It shocks me how many people still have faith in deities, dogma and the absurd institution of marriage. You’re right: most people are stupid. Back in first semester, I took Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality and my thesis statement for my final essay was: “marriage is an impractical and failed by-product of religion.” Now I know, thanks to you, sir, that it is a by-product of the rise of agriculture, and merely sanctified by religion, in particular the patriarchy of the Abrahamic religions. It is appalling, and one more piece of evidence that a holy truth is nothing but a sanctioned lie: the hardest kind to uproot – and eradicate.
As for the actual philosophy of Taoism, there is much I agree with, and much I do not. Much of the philosophy greatly coincides with a great deal of the conclusions and ideas I have already come to on my own through experience, reasoning and the acceptance of both human nature and nature itself. I have always been a very intuitive person and have used this instinctively (at times reflexively) to help me in my life. And whenever I have gone against my instincts and gut-feelings, I have suffered greatly for it. “Hence, the sage is guided by what he feels, and not what he sees. He prefers what is within to what is without” (Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching, Part 12). For me, those words ring loud and clear. To me, life is absolutely beautiful and wondrous. Every day is a new adventure. And so I strongly agree with Lao Tzu, at the very core of me, that if you don’t value life, nothing will matter.
However, I am also a very ambitious person – inexorably so – with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Plus, I do take pride in myself, and have earned that right. In Taoism there is a clear attack on these things, just as there is in Christianity – my archenemy. I reject this Taoist and Christian will and call for complacency and stagnation. I do believe in progress, and I do most certainly believe in self-preservation, for it is key. That is why I cringe at the very idea of loving my enemies. Like Christopher Hitchens, it is one of the reasons I think Christianity is immoral, and strongly disagree with you that this command of Christ’s is a “breakthrough.” It is not. It is a vile, degenerate corruption of our much-needed animal instincts. For is it even remotely natural for us to love our enemies? Certainly not. This defies nature at full force. It epitomizes the most ruthless moving against its grain. I agree with Thomas Paine in his conclusion to The Age of Reason that no one can voluntarily love another, and to even attempt to do this, inevitably leads to hypocrisy, for it is a hypocritical command and can breed nothing else but its kind.
Are the Iraqi people supposed to love George W. Bush? Is it fair in the least to put such a Pharisaic burden on them or anyone else? I think not. As for me, I simply love and care about myself too much to do such a creepy and crippling thing. And I believe that if someone smites you on one cheek you should smash them on the other. Eye for an eye is not enough. They must be rendered too useless and terrified to ever even dare to hurt you again. I wish to be a haunting image in the minds of all my enemies. After all, I know there is no God to protect me. I have to do it myself, and, indeed, I do take pleasure in it. Unless, of course, “love” in Taoism is only meant in the action sense of the word, and not in the emotional – which cannot be forced. If this is the case, I can only accept it very rarely, when doing good for my enemies in a “loving” action or manner is actually beneficial to me, but only then.
So in taking this fascinating and enjoyable course of yours, Professor, and earnestly following along as you led us through The Way of Virtue, I must ardently thank you from the bottom of my heart for speaking so much truth, for not being afraid to offend a few sanctimonious fools and dead-heads, for making us laugh, think and for only expecting us to listen and open our minds. But most of all I sincerely thank you for having me now know with full certainty that a Taoist – I could never be.
July 2008
When you announced to us at the start of the first lecture that you would be teaching the entire course on Taoism, a big smile came across my face, and I felt a strong feeling of joy; for it is something I had been wanting to learn about for quite some time. The original curriculum of the course as described at the university website was the philosophy of Mao, which would have become much too dry, I think. So already I had something to thank you for, and something to look forward to. I had only known two things about Taoism: 1. That it was gaining considerable momentum in the Western World, and, from my own induction, based on what I had heard about its philosophy, that 2. it is thoroughly atheistic. That greatly appealed to me. To then learn that it is a system based on nature made me all the more delighted. After all – I am a nature boy. Always have been.
The very first lecture was my favourite. Not just for the humour and the outrageous idea of the talking snake in the book of Genesis actually being a giant phallus in disguise, but also for finally finding out the real origins of marriage. I was always suspicious of this ridiculous thing called “holy matrimony.” Of course, at this stage of my life I know that nothing deemed holy has any truth to it, as “holy” is merely a word and mask. The fact that the Tao Teh Ching is not considered a holy book already makes it clear that Taoism is not a religion. This pleases me, as faith is not required, and petty metaphysical debates of nonsense are not encouraged within the Taoist community and, hence, virtually nonexistent. Very noble. It shocks me how many people still have faith in deities, dogma and the absurd institution of marriage. You’re right: most people are stupid. Back in first semester, I took Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality and my thesis statement for my final essay was: “marriage is an impractical and failed by-product of religion.” Now I know, thanks to you, sir, that it is a by-product of the rise of agriculture, and merely sanctified by religion, in particular the patriarchy of the Abrahamic religions. It is appalling, and one more piece of evidence that a holy truth is nothing but a sanctioned lie: the hardest kind to uproot – and eradicate.
As for the actual philosophy of Taoism, there is much I agree with, and much I do not. Much of the philosophy greatly coincides with a great deal of the conclusions and ideas I have already come to on my own through experience, reasoning and the acceptance of both human nature and nature itself. I have always been a very intuitive person and have used this instinctively (at times reflexively) to help me in my life. And whenever I have gone against my instincts and gut-feelings, I have suffered greatly for it. “Hence, the sage is guided by what he feels, and not what he sees. He prefers what is within to what is without” (Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching, Part 12). For me, those words ring loud and clear. To me, life is absolutely beautiful and wondrous. Every day is a new adventure. And so I strongly agree with Lao Tzu, at the very core of me, that if you don’t value life, nothing will matter.
However, I am also a very ambitious person – inexorably so – with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Plus, I do take pride in myself, and have earned that right. In Taoism there is a clear attack on these things, just as there is in Christianity – my archenemy. I reject this Taoist and Christian will and call for complacency and stagnation. I do believe in progress, and I do most certainly believe in self-preservation, for it is key. That is why I cringe at the very idea of loving my enemies. Like Christopher Hitchens, it is one of the reasons I think Christianity is immoral, and strongly disagree with you that this command of Christ’s is a “breakthrough.” It is not. It is a vile, degenerate corruption of our much-needed animal instincts. For is it even remotely natural for us to love our enemies? Certainly not. This defies nature at full force. It epitomizes the most ruthless moving against its grain. I agree with Thomas Paine in his conclusion to The Age of Reason that no one can voluntarily love another, and to even attempt to do this, inevitably leads to hypocrisy, for it is a hypocritical command and can breed nothing else but its kind.
Are the Iraqi people supposed to love George W. Bush? Is it fair in the least to put such a Pharisaic burden on them or anyone else? I think not. As for me, I simply love and care about myself too much to do such a creepy and crippling thing. And I believe that if someone smites you on one cheek you should smash them on the other. Eye for an eye is not enough. They must be rendered too useless and terrified to ever even dare to hurt you again. I wish to be a haunting image in the minds of all my enemies. After all, I know there is no God to protect me. I have to do it myself, and, indeed, I do take pleasure in it. Unless, of course, “love” in Taoism is only meant in the action sense of the word, and not in the emotional – which cannot be forced. If this is the case, I can only accept it very rarely, when doing good for my enemies in a “loving” action or manner is actually beneficial to me, but only then.
So in taking this fascinating and enjoyable course of yours, Professor, and earnestly following along as you led us through The Way of Virtue, I must ardently thank you from the bottom of my heart for speaking so much truth, for not being afraid to offend a few sanctimonious fools and dead-heads, for making us laugh, think and for only expecting us to listen and open our minds. But most of all I sincerely thank you for having me now know with full certainty that a Taoist – I could never be.
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