Understanding 'Beyond good and evil' Friedrich Nietzsche

The English translation was difficult to follow but this embodies the very essence of what Nietzsche is all about. It's not meant to be easy. Challenging the norm is not easy and his style is reflective of such.

TLDR:

- Innovation is more important than explanation

- Question EVERYTHING, detach from EVERYTHING

- Meaning over knowledge. (What is meaning???)

- The more mediocre a society becomes, the greater the individual

Whatever a person says, even their sincere 'facts' are biased. There is no universal truth, one size fits all. Life has far too many limitations to ever be structured or categorised. This is not to dismiss structure, organisation and planning as it helps us understand things on an entry level. But in the depth, there is no one answer. Nietzsche talks about being a free spirit, on a mission to find all things false; an absolute truth seeker. Finding what is false is easier than finding what is true. Start with the false to lead to the truth. As my high school English tutor told me, Rory Waldron-Glyde, we must question preconceived notions. Nothing is what it seems. Intentions, behaviour and outcomes are the noise of today. Nietzsche would say that is still the shallow surface. We need to dig deeper beyond the subconscious, beyond what we know.

Nietzsche talks about 'mediocrity'. While there are obvious benefits to a strong community, like all things there is a tradeoff. It is within this tradeoff lies the catalyst for progression and innovation. Conflict and dissonance fuel innovation. The dissonance between death and birth, the dissonance between one person and another, the dissonance between energy... and what eventually comes out of that is innovation. Constant change is crucial! Nietzsche talks about hierarchy. The powerful superiors and the lower people amongst society, one thinks they are great and the other wants to be seen as worthy and meaningful. It is within this friction that lies opportunities for progress. In today's society this conventional structure has changed dramatically, although there is still a hierarchy. The shifts in the hierarchy is much faster, more complex and more volatile. Those with the strongest core, the nucleus but more importantly, always questioning, always adapting and always persevering will come out on top. Does being on top matter? That's up to you.

The new mediocrity is science. We need to understand how something works. We have lost a large element of faith. Nietzsche identifies trends of nihilism. Once we KNOW every thing and feel as if we can know everything, where is the enjoyment in life? The irony is, we don't ever know anything or everything. But do we want to brave both the beauty and ugliness of journeying? The organic process? Not many do. Society is different but the same, our essence is the same. We have different answers but the questions we ask are very much the same. Will we ever have answers? No, and that's okay. One of the most controversially spoken topics about Nietzsche's theories is 'eternal recurrence'. If life is all just series of moments with pure objectivity, where is the fun? The answer would lie IN the moments. In the present, the now.

'Will and power'. Willpower? What determines TRUTH will be the winner of the dissonance. The drivers are will and power, which I can somewhat summarise as 'willpower'. The largest battle is the battle within ourselves BECAUSE of the amount of dissonance we have. We chop and change beliefs all the time within ourselves. We think we have structure but we don't. Coming to truth is no easy process at all. As a martial artist, I can say that even if you train 15-20 hours a week, grinding your best consistently, you still cannot guarantee win. Similarly, you cannot guarantee truth even if you seek it for a lifetime. And today, we are too used to quick wins, hollow victories which condition us to devalue/not recognise the process.

We think we are being true to ourselves all the time, when actually we are betraying ourselves. I have to blame myself. You have to blame yourself. If you're not strong enough, fair enough, I understand. We have healing to do before we can grow. Some can heal while growing, others may need to focus more on one or the other.

Mediocrity bleeds in complacency. We are BLESSED, truly BLESSED to live in a peaceful country such as Australia. Nietzsche critiques democratic society as it enables 'safety', 'comfort' and 'equality' too much. Those who challenge the law, the rules, 'morality', responsibility are looked down upon. We become conditioned to laziness, mundanity, shortcuts, conformity and comparison. Of course, we need a balance otherwise there will be absolute anarchy! The current trend of explanation and understanding fundamentally keeps us in the past. To understand something is effectively to make sense of something that has already existed. Nietzsche argues the need for innovation. Meaning over knowledge. He critiques the English to understand without creation. Again, with balance, in my opinion. The process of INNOVATION is an infinite process. What seemed perfect, let's call it X is not perfect. For those that don't understand X, they may study it and eventually understand it but to CREATE MEANING, they need to RECREATE it, add their own touch and contribution. Meaning is derived not just from understanding but through innovation with their own hands. As an English tutor, I can appreciate this very much. Understanding and meaning must be self-actualised through an internal process, unique to that person. That can be said about any craft.

Nietzsche's identification of our writing style, or today's sense, typing style has significantly changed. We focus far more on communication via digital than ever before. I can often even hear people saying "L-O-L" in person. Our tempo and rhythm is more shortened, more conformed and nonsensical. We need to practice the art of speaking vocally, aloud as well as writing and typing. It's a fine balance. Our identity hinges on our ability to communicate in all forms. Younger generations may be dismissive of the older generation's communication because they can't type or understand today's style of communication. That is just a lack of desire to understand their style. Be fluid. Be curious. Be daring!

Nietzsche's writing on different cultures is interesting as it incites my own thoughts about different cultures. As much as we want the world to be more cosmopolitan, to be more racially educated, there needs to be ignorance. Again, the balance. In the spirit of innovation and meaning, we need to be more purpose driven. We are always students for life.