Friedrich Nietzsche criticized the mentality of the religious masses and offered a different approach to living life without God. His philosophy of Nihilism shows us how to live a meaningless life.
Nietzche valued the will to power over grace and mercy
Friedrich Nietzsche is known as the father of modern-day Nihilism and adherent of atheistic existentialism. He was concerned with the decadence of 19th Century Europe, which he attributed to the affect the Christian church was having over the people.
Nietzsche thought that the Christian virtues of mercy, grace, and pity we’re robbing people of the one thing that made human beings unique—the will to power.
He viewed the ideal person as the one who would dominate others. Rather than idealizing Apollo, who represented the Ancient Greek version of the ideal, he idealized just the opposite. He held the god, Dionysus-the god of the grapes-in, the highest esteem. People who worshipped this god would drink so much wine that they would lose all normal inhibitions and engage in orgies to the point where they felt they were communing with this god.
Nietsche believed that life itself is meaningless
As an atheist, he viewed life as being meaningless. Anything less than living out one’s essential humanity would break the human spirit. So, he talked about the ideal human, the “Superman”, who would be courageous enough to live his life by sailing in uncharted seas, or build his house on the slopes of Vesuvius (a volcano), since nothing else really mattered.
In Nietzsche’s mind, life amounts to nothing. There are no real values; there is no right or wrong. History just goes around an around, with no end purpose in view. This viewpoint is the logical conclusion for anyone who believes we are here by chance. If there’s no purpose in our beginning and no purpose in our ending, what purpose could there ever be in between?
Nietsche spent the end of his life in an insane asylum
Ironically, Nietzsche lived the last eleven years of his life in an insane asylum, believing he was the reincarnation of Christ. His sister profited from his condition by selling tickets for people to see him there.
If the creator God doesn’t exist what basis do we have in the end for civilization to survive? We’ve seen the carnage that happens when powerful dictators take over. That’s what happens when “might makes right”.
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But, if you’re now ready to know what your relationship is before God, Ask yourself two very important questions. First, are you sure that you’ll go to heaven when you die? Secondly, are you certain why God should let you into heaven? If you don’t know for sure, you can settle that matter today. Visit my post, How to Begin Your Life Over Again and you’ll know where and how you’ll spend eternity.
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