The Markets Are Simply Not Enough
I am convinced Friedrich Nietzsche was right about the spiritual “emptiness” of a general tradesman.
Predicting the impending spiritual darkness that was to befall and now rules and runs the mentality of a typical Western / post-industrial man, in the book, “Beyond Good and Evil”, the great Friedrich Nietzsche “predicted” that the ontological view of a human as an instrument of mere capitalism or communism or even fascism would also serve to weaken rather than strengthen the human stature and spirit.
A True Future
While the Nazis and other fascists went on to read Nietzsche to mean that our kinsmen are the essence of “blood” and “existence”, I have taken their particular view to be entirely false and anachronistic.
The essence of “Aristocracy”, is to have men and women who are “beyond good and evil” in the sense that they can defeat even fascism as the “good” way to exist. True aristocracy, in this sense, is almost entirely evolutionary (i.e. positivistic?)… To be fair: aristocracy does entail a refusal to have fear. The problem with this view (as promulgated by Nietzsche) is that it lacks a true remedy for eliminating fear or oppression.
In fact, there is no true “remedy” for a “slave morality” according to Nietzsche. It is just is. Apparently. As for a “master morality”, that is even harder to attain than meets the eye… To what extent is a “master” allowed to be mad (like Nietzsche eventually did become!), sick, very old, very young/weak, ignorant, ugly, crippled, poor, weak, fearful for his life, make mistakes, or forget something important? Because Nietzsche was never clear on this important question, the Nazis and other fascists read that to mean that people that are designated “slaves” are to be consequently eliminated from society.
Rene Girard saw through Nietzsche’s inconsistencies and realised that Nietzsche was “on track” but missed one very important truth: that it is almost always the humans designated as “slaves” that are the aristocrats! Throughout human history, it is the slaves who are made the “scapegoats” of all of human suffering. Having been made “scapegoats”, they quickly become the “deified” as soon as they face pain and death (our “shared” humanity is too profound to allow a scene of another human dieing without a spiritual transfer of awe and worship).
Another (closely-related!) inconsistency that Nietzsche had was that of failing to define a “master morality” outside of “lack of fear”. It was as if he was arguing that it is only those who are in power that have the “true” morality! Besides, fear is usually a useful instrument (for survival!) regardless of where one is on the social strata. I bet that the “higher” one in society is, the more potent the fear for loss, death, pain and suffering is. Even if that’s not the case, fear is almost entirely nebulous and one does not overcome it by simply “wishing it away” (as in the case of a servant who has an abusive master).
True Presence
The Christian faith, was probably the first true religion that emphasized the idea of “presence” (via the Holy Spirit and “Immanuel”), in a way that eliminates unsettling “potentialities” of fear or hope.
But Christianity grounded that “presence” on something much deeper (and not merely philosophical, as in the case of Buddhism). Christianity grounded presence on the idea of Christ, his crucifix/death and resurrection. More than that, Christianity posits that “life” is essentially about “sacrifice” (as in the case of Christ’s life) more than “preservation” or “survival” (as Nietzsche argued).
Many Church Fathers likely misinterpreted the Epistles and Gospels to mean that life is all about “suffering” more than “peace”. The truth is more likely that the correct interpretation is one of viewing the Christian life through “sacrifice” (for a peaceful present and future).
True aristocratic beauty, at the end of the day, is necessarily “creative” and giving. Not “moralistic” or inspired by law/fear. None of this means “taking” from the weak or “ignoring” others less fortunate. It simply means “giving” is more spiritual, more god-like, more aristocratic! And it is a “giving” person that has the aristocratic instincts of fearlessness, correctness, order, soundness, goodness, kindness, joy, straightness, ruggedness, perfection, truthfulness, showmanship, and creative-insight.
I venture to state that certain humans are irrevocably irredeemable! But that’s probably due to certain decisions they made earlier in life than to “predestination”. Having said that, I also believe that no human should “use” another to “judge” what’s “good or evil”, one simply needs to ask if they are “serving”/loving/healing or taking/hating/hurting another…
Sacrifice-man-ship
With this in mind, we can assess that Nietzsche was largely correct but missed a very important truth: that living life through the lenses of “narrow” materialistic success is indeed shallow, empty and a form of “slave morality”; but that this life is ONLY possible through “sacrificial” living (cf. Girard and the Christian Gospels) and not merely through “aristocratic” living.
Even Jesus came to serve, not to be served!
The current binary “alternatives” of communism and capitalism seem to miss this very important point!
The general pursuit and raison d’etre of humans aught to be one of sacrificial anarchism, not power, money or even mere “craftsmanship”. Yes creating things, making money, and (rightly) earning power are all important, but they all fade in the face of sacrifice.
Even King Solomon, asked for wisdom, not for money and power!
To be “weak” and a “slave” then, is to be without a heart of sacrifice; which would necessarily lead to fear (of death and pain!), and dishonesty (when faced by a higher power!).
To be “strong” and a “master” then, is to be an anarchist willing to die for others; which would necessarily lead to love (which drives out fear), truth and kindness (even in the face of danger!).
May we never “tremble” when faced with darkness: towards loving our enemies and serving our fellow humans!
