The Views Of Friedrich Nietzsche On Truth And Religion
Nietzsche's goal is to live life through love of truth, humanity and the earth. To me, this argument is profoundly convincing however, I think that this goal is shared at the core of the religions he has chosen to criticise. In this essay I would like to attest the argument that in his search for the absolute truth, Nietzsche has come full circle and defined a morality very similar to the one he rejected. In the world of Nietzsche, “God is dead. ” ‘God’ representing absolute truth. To him this is a positive revelation, a breaking down of barriers in the mind, a new frontier of knowledge. “The Christian God has become unbelievable. ” He realises that, even with religious values, the world is immoral. For that reason, divine truth is not a feasible idea anymore, but finding truth is still essential.
To find truth according to Nietzsche, everything we know based on faith should be reevaluated, particularly our own morals. “Thus no one until now has examined the value of that most famous of all medicines called morality; and for that, one must begin by questioning it. ” Nietzsche claims that ‘believers’ have resigned themselves over to be governed by others, to the point where ‘free will’ as mentioned in the Bible, no longer exists. To me, God is not dead. 'God is love. ' The thought of the death of God would disturb anyone who is familiar with the values and morals most religions encourage. As observed in an article by Rudolph Bernett,”The God that dies is but an idol sprung for man’s will to power. It is a God in the image of man. Hence, there is death. True God is not dead because it cannot die. ” Members of society who have chosen to ignore the values of the religion they have adopted are worshiping a creation of their own, not God. This misrepresentation does not mean that the values presented by faith are worth any less. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ” These qualities which are to be re-evaluated, are of an undeniably high moral standard.
I agree with Nietzsche, everyone should reevaluate their morals for themselves, but if some decide that their values align with a particular group of faith, they must be allowed to partake in their own religion without judgement, and that is free will. Nietzsche feels that people of faith are weak. “The extent to which one needs faith in order to flourish - that is a measure of the degree of one’s strength. ” They turn to faith in times of suffering and take only what they need from it. “As he needed it, he would consider it ‘true. ’” Nietzsche thinks that faith is a form of self-deception and will take us further away from the truth. The only way to get to truth is through truth. If faith was the only guide to absolute truth, it should be strong enough to withstand all scrutiny. He admits that although science has its gaps, it is factual and can be proven and therefore trusted. However he himself admits that a purely scientific existence would be foolish. “But an essentially mechanistic world would be a meaningless world!” I feel that it is ignorant of Nietzsche to suggest that his mind is ‘stronger’ than those who have not seeked to define their own morals. Our mental health is challenged daily by the events of life. It is only ‘self-deception’ to think that once a mind becomes ‘strong’ it will stay ‘strong’ until its death. Every mind encounters its own cycles of strength and weakness, in the latter case all sensible minds will seek advice.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ” Faith gives strength to many people in times of hardship. It gives hope to people in otherwise irrational and hopeless circumstances, where logic is a road that will only lead to desolation. Nietzsche is right, humans do search for guidance in times of their own weakness. To have weakness is to be human, and to look for a model example to follow, whether it comes from religion or a self-help book, is to me significantly more sensible than blindly facing obstacles. Niezsche himself presents to us his own model, in the form of the Ubermensch. The religious values Nietzsche so strongly opposes, are ever present in his Ubermensch (overman). The book Jesus or Nietzsche: How Should We Live Our Lives? echoes this concern, “In its reformative aspirations, Nietzsche’s project bears similarities to Jesus’s radical moral message. ” “I teach you the overman,” says Zarathustra to his “disciples”, already presenting his own kind of prophet, “The overman shall be the meaning of the earth!” The Bible says that the Earth was created by God for mankind to rule over. “He gave him the number of his days and time, and gave him power over all things that are upon the earth. ”
“The noble human being, too, helps the unfortunate. ” The Ubermensch takes risks to help themselves and the world, this selflessness is clearly an example of kindness and goodness. “To stay cheerful when involved in a gloomy and exceedingly responsible business is no inconsiderable art: yet what could be more necessary than cheerfulness?” The Ubermensch is advised to seek joy. “But courage is the best slayer, courage that attacks; it slays even death, for it says: ‘Was that life? Well then! One More Time!’” This would mean that the Ubermensch does not live simply ‘for today’, it implies that they have a perception of the consequences of their actions in life after the present, similar to the afterlife presented in religion.
The perception that Nietzsche has of the religious God, may be a misrepresentation of the real God. Although it is in the best interest of individuals to define their own values, the principles of faith are virtuous and a righteous influence to embrace. It is inevitable for humans to seek guidance. Just as ‘believers’ have used models of faith such as the Bible and Jesus as a guide to find truth, Niezsche proposes a very similar concept. Most prominently modeled by the Ubermensch, who acts as Niezsches own kind of prophet. In the Ubermensch, qualities of selflessness, kindness, goodness, joy and an expectation of life after death are all shared with religion, especially Christianity. Thus I can conclude that in the process of trying to escape it, Nietzsche has rediscovered the fundamentals of religion.
