The first exposure I had to the philosophy of Frederich Nietzsche was in college, he was the last in a series of four or five philosophers we studied. We ended up spending more time than we were supposed reading Hobbes' Leviathan (believe me, a few chapters is plenty, it's an interesting idea but 1/2 a semester for an intro to philosophy course?) so we only had a few weeks on Nietzsche. We read parts of his book Beyond Good and Evil. It's not a novel or an argument so much as it's a series of what i think are called aphorisms or something, not sure exactly what that means. Basically, it is a series of short ideas about almost everything. When I read it, I made a comment to someone (I think my mom actually) that he didn't seem to believe in anything but he certainly knew what he didn't believe it. I'll call that a philosophy of negation, a series of ideas about what should not be. For example, we should not allow women to be raped, children should not be soldiers, we should not cage humans in Cuba, etc (my examples, not his). Although you can identify a positive idea by taking the opposite of these ideas, it is not presented as such. I might have made up the term philosophy of negation, so if this has some other meaning to you I apologize. I think a lot of my ideas are too negative so I am working to be more positive, rather not complaining but coming up with ideas to improve things. I have been aware of this side of me for some time, but after a guy at worked called me the most negative person he had ever met, I decided to focus more strongly on it. He also said I was always smiling, which didn't make any sense to him, and that when he had a question I might bitch for 20 minutes first but I would always try to help. Welcome to my world buddy! Bear with me, this is going somewhere.
Anyway, later on in my life, I decided to try to push myself through what i have read is Nietzsche's best book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. This is a book where he lays more clear an actual philosophy of life. And by clear what i really mean is murky and dense, and I should re-read it but I haven't chosen to devote myself to that yet. Anyway, I'll call this a philosophy of creation because the opposite of negativity is creation. Is that true? I don't know, but I like it and for me, for this example, it works. In Zarathustra, as much as i understood it, Nietzsche argues that man is a beast but that we can overcome our nature and become something more. He calls this the uberman or overman or superman, depending on the translation (I don't read German after all). He pities people who are bound to problems of this world because they don't realize that man can be more. Obviously, his argument is more in depth and more powerful than my crappy synopsis, but you can and should research that if you are interested. Actually, I believe it is this philosophy that sometimes lumps him in with the Third Reich and Hitler, this basic concept that man can overcome and become something else. It can be read into Hitler's idea of the perfect man, for him a type of German. I don't know that Nietzsche was an anti-semite and I think he would find that type of hatred a weakness that should be overcome. His narrator overcomes by leaving man and living in nature, in a cave, with animals, for a time. Isn't that always how philosophers do it?
Where am I going with this? For many years, I have been living a life of negation. I have been unhappy about what I cannot change, about who I am compared to who I think I should be, about things outside my control. Or things I perceived to be outside my control. However, my sphere of influence is larger than I believe, and my ability to change my own life is incredible. I need to transform myself into my own overman, transform my life into a life of creation, into a life where i create and surround myself with people who help me create a positive life for me and those around me. I often return to Nietzsche when I am confused because I am out of step somehow with friends or family and what they think I should be doing. Am I doing things because I want to (creation) or because I don't want to do something else (negation)? How am I pursuing my own life?
A few short examples of what i am talking about. I have a few friends who believe the point of man is to procreate, to pass on our seeds. They argue this is nature. I argue this was nature and that man has largely passed beyond that state. We aren't in any way near a singularity for humanity, a point where we cease to exist. All the wars and all the nuclear weapons won't wipe out our species. We don't exist in any sort of natural state so I can thankfully devote myself to other things if I so choose. I also read a book recently called Notes from an Economic Hitman about all the bad economic shit america does to keep other countries in control. It made me feel powerless. I'll talk more about that book later. I also had the wonderful opportunity to see my sister this weekend and hang out with an 18 month year old toddler. I forget what it's like to be around children, I forget how wonderful that experience is. His parents live a life very different from mine, but they obviously love the child and are doing all they can for him. Does that mean he is going to turn out well? No, but it's best hope any of us have. It's the greatest gift I received from my parents.
I am a little off track again. Basically, I have been thinking again about my life and how I view my life. I need to focus on myself, on my beliefs, on what i want. It's not selfish because I'm honest with people about what i can offer them. I need, or I want to, create beauty in my life, not identify ugliness. I have a chance that few people have because I have intentionally left my life fairly free of chains that others have (positive and negative) so I can become what i want to become. I just need to do it. I need to step outside even though it's cold and do it. I'm not even sure what it is and, because of that and only because of that, I'm not exactly how to find it. It might be the mountain or the city of the country or the word, but I'll find it. It's the journey towards that that will make me happy, for me I think it's that constant journey. No more negativity.
I think I sort of lost the thread at the end and couldn't really explain myself, but hopefully it makes enough sense. Actually, this wasn't even supposed to be about me. I was going to speak about America. We talk about the dream of America and how positive America has been for the world as an idea. Yet, when you look at our history, have we actually lived up to our potential as a nation? We define success by money, and by other countries having more money. What about more happiness? Our history since the second world war is sketchy at best. The dictators we have supported (including Saddam as you may recall) reads like a whose who list of terror. We speak now in golden words about freedom and such, but do we promote and fight for freedom around the world? Or do we fight for ourselves? As I need to remake my life, we need to remake America into a world leader. Obama might not be electable, he might not even have good ideas, but he at least speaks words that make me want to believe. He speaks like a creationist. Is he? I don't know. It's funny, but for all the obscene excesses of the academy awards, I love the "little" awards they announce before I went to bed at 9. Those people, some of them give speeches that make me believe in the power of film because they love it. Scorcese too, actually. They do it because they love it, and film like other mediums can make a difference.
America could and should be a strong positive leader throughout the world for so many things. People like to think we were before Bush because they hate him so much. I hate him too, I seriously think I could build a case for treason against the idea of america. However, that's glorifying the past. You want to think we used to be great? We weren't. We may have been better, but that's a question of degrees we all have to decide. How many genocides did we stop (compared to how many there were), how many people did we help compared to how many we could have helped? What is the ratio of hummers on the road to the number of people starving at any one time? What is the ratio of your effort to help to the amount of help needed? More importantly, what is that ratio for me? Do I want to look back in my life and say i offered up 2,000 lives I could have helped over 20 years so I could retire at 55? Could I ever be truly happy like that? Negation vs. creation. It's my life and my time to live. For me, what I want, it might not be what you want. It might not align to your goals. Fine. You don't criticize me when I disappear and I won't criticize you for staying. That is our new state of nature. That is what being a person means now. That is all we have to live for.
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