Gandhi

"To the English voters their newspaper is their Bible. They take their cue from their newspapers which are often dishonest. The same fact is differently interpreted by different newspapers, according to the party in whose interests they are edited. One newspaper would consider a great Englishman to be a paragon of honesty, another would consider him dishonest" (15).

This point reminded me of my government class last year in high school. We spent a long time talking about news and media and the different biases they often have. Shows like The Colbert Report and the O'Reilly Factor are most obviously biased and should not even be considered real news. Certain newspapers, such as the New York Times, are known to favor leftist or rightest ideas. It is hard to find unbiased news and to approach a news story objectively.

"For man is more sick...than any othe ranimal...he is the sick animal...he is the great experimenter with himself, discontented and isatiable, wrestling with animals nature, and gods for ultimate dominion...The No he says to life brings to light, as if by magic, an abundance of tender Yeses; even when he wounds himself, this master of destruction, of self-destruction-the very wound itself afterward compels him to live" (Nietzsche 121).

We talked about this passage in class. Man wants to feel alive by facing death instead of running away from it. Sometimes feeling pain is better than feeling nothing at all. This reminds me of something we talked about in my AP psych class last year. There is actually a condition in which people have over-active frontal lobes in their brains. This causes a thrill-seeking mentality that isn't easy fulfilled. If it isn't bad enough that man seeks danger as a form of entertainment, there are certain people with this condition that never find this thrill and seek it to the point of death. Feeling like your life is in jeopardy somehow makes life seem so real. I get that thrill at the top of a roller coaster, some people get it from sky diving, others just have a physiological condition that is never satisfied.

Today in class we discussed Nietzsche's approach towards nothingness. I think I interpreted his beliefs incorrectly. At the end of his discussion, Nietzsche says, "This man of the future, who will redeem us not only from the hitherto reigning ideal but also from that which was bound to grow out of it, the great nausea, the will to nothingness, nihilism...this Antichrist and antinihilist; this victor over God and nothingness-he must come one day" (96).

Nietzsche isn't advocating nothingness or emptiness. He is advocating a third something. I have no inclination what this third something may be, nor am I positive Nietzsche has a clue as to what it might be either. We are trapped. Man of the future will be able to break free. He will not be filled with conventional faith or with a body of emptiness. Maybe the emptiness will be filled with his own ideas and faith in something new. Emptying oneself may be a start in attaining the attributes of this man of the future. The question is, what is the man of the future filling himself back up with?

"Forgetting...is...an active...positive faculty of repression, that is responsible for the fact that what we experience and absorb enters our consciousness as little while we are digest it...as does the thousandfold process...To close the doors and windows of consciousness for a time; to remain undisturbed by the noise and struggle of our underworld of utility organs working with and against one another; a little quietness...to make room for new things...for regulation, foresight, premeditation..." (Nietzsche 57).

After reading this passage I couldn't help but think right back to the time I tried to empty myself according to Tao's teachings. Nietzsche is expressing the importance of emptiness here. Through emptiness, possibility emerges. A window for opportunity opens. It is hard to let yourself become detached from the world around you. It is also relaxing and cleansing. I think the ten minutes I spent trying to empty myself were the most relaxing ten minutes I have had since I have been to school.

Nietzsche says, "They felt unable to cope with the simplest undertakings; in this new world they no longer possessed their former guides, their regulatin, unconscious and infallible drives: they were reduced to thinking, inferring, reckoning, co-ordinating cause and effect...they were reduced to their 'consciousness,' their weakest and most fallible organ!...All instincts that do not discharge themselves outwardly turn inward...thus it was that man first developed what was later called his 'soul'" (84).

I interpreted this passage as a negative outlook on the human conscious and soul. Nietzsche sees these human qualitites as hinderences to the human existance. They make man unsure and unconfident. I found this ironic seeing as Socrates placed all emphasis on the importance of the soul. Plato discusses the soul in great length. Socrates believed the body is just an obstacle in the way of attaining truth and knowledge. Nietzsche and Socrates are philosphers with completely different views. Socrates sees the afterlife as the reason for existence. Nietzsche finds fault with faith, and encourages atheism and focus shifted away from the soul. Could both be right in different ways?

"The strong man is free to be weak and the bird of prey to be a lamb-for thus they gain the right to make the bird of prey accountable for being a bird of prey" (45).

Nietzsche's bird of prey/lamb analogy has really got me thinking. Our discussion in class was about how this passage relates to choice. How much choice do we have given our natures? I remember the day I realized that my life was the product of my choices. It was the first day of junior high. Up until that day I felt like my life had no room for regret. My parents and teachers had written my life story for me. They had dictated every activity and every schedule of my everyday. I remember being horrified of the new school building and the new part of my life I was about to begin. I sat in the auditorium and thought, "Well, this is it. You are going to be responsible for you now. You have choices to make, mistakes to make, and you will probably not always make the right decisions." I was right. I'm sure I made many "wrong choices" in the following years, but I feel I am a better person now because of learning from some of my mistakes. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I still felt I wasn't responsible for myself. I wonder how it would feel to have my parents, teachers, and advisers make all of my decisions for me and plan my schedule for each day. It might be a good life, a safe life, but it wouldn't be my life. My teacher last year used to end every Friday class with this statement: "Have a good weekend. Be smart. Be safe. The choices you make today can and will affect the rest of your life." Choices are a privilege. I feel like that scared child again in a new place. I am starting a new chapter of my life. The choices I make now might dictate what career will have, who my life-long friends will be, and what kind of morals and values I will uphold as an independent adult. I think Nietzsche has a point when he places emphasis on choices. They are crucial in the development of all human beings, and their products define who we are.

"To be incapable of taking one's enemies, one's accidents, even one's misdeeds seriously for very long-that is the sign of strong, full natures in whom there is an excess of the power to form...here alone genuine 'love of one's enemies' is possible-supposing it to be possible at all on earth. How much reverence has a noble man for his enemies!-and such reverence is a bridge to love" (39).

This passage and message reminds me a lot of Tao's teachings. Tao says, "The most fruitful outcome does not depend on force, but succeeds without arrogance, without hostility, without pride, without resistance, without violence" (30).

Nietzsche and Tao both place importance in not having enemies. Nietzsche believes being above petty arguments and wrongdoings makes a person stronger. Tao believes that having enemies yields nothing, yet nonviolence and love cures all. The message is clear: life has no room for enemies. Without enemies Nietzsche assures power, and Tao promises happiness.