God is Dead?
My grasp of Nietzsche's statement "God is dead" fluctuates between an almost enlightened comprehension of what he means to a virtual stupor of confusion. However, during my more lucid moments of understanding(which I like to believe outweigh the moments of stuporhood), I see his point on a variety of levels. Nietzsche's writings on the subject are loaded with meaning; he purposely leaves his words wide open to interpretation. Just how we absorb Nietzsche's ideas on the subject of God's death, however, are directly contingent on who or what we think God really is. Nietzsche seems to approach God as a concept rather than a man. This results in a somewhat paradoxical slur, because concepts generally don't "live" in a tangible enough sense for them to also "die." Personally, I see Nietzsche's God as a personification of a concept. This concept is not easily definable itself; it can be either a somewhat broad religious conception of divinity, or; God can represent religious values and fundamentals themselves. Nietzsche's defense of his claim that God is dead operates on many planes. It is this that compels me to describe not one, but several of the reasons I extracted as to why, exactly, God is dead.
I perceived Nietzsche's sentiments about the death of God as wholly life-affirming and completely optimistic. Even for me, as an unenthusiastic atheist(if anything definable), the notion of God being dead resonates in my mind as being rather morbid, and disturbingly pessimistic. To the contrary, however, Nietzsche's overman concept serves as a very uplifting and empowering idea. It seems unfair of me to put ultimate trust and devotion into something which I don't really know exists. "A new pride my ego taught me," speaks Zarathustra, "and this I teach men : no longer to bury your head in the sands of heavenly things, but to bear it freely, an earthly head, which creates meaning for the earth." Why should I concern myself trying to interact with something I cannot say I have experienced first-hand, and strive towards an admittedly unattainable set of "heavenly" standards and virtues (represented by God)? Rather, why not assert my tangible, realistic power over the world in which I exist(and which I know for certain exists), and attempt to empower myself to the limit of my own, human capabilities. Nietzsche's overman is within all of us. The spirit of God has never manifested itself as anything recognizable to me. Why should I not trust myself enough to say in all honesty that I have not experienced God close enough to affirm any actual belief in his/her/it's existence? I guess in some sense, God is dead, for all I know; if he were alive, I'd imagine that I'd know for sure. For a religious thinker, however, God is the conception of divinity. This fact in itself is not necessarily the root of what Nietzsche is critical of; according to Nietzsche, the divine(whatever it may be) should innately represent and promote the will to power, to create freely. However, religion propagates nihilism: religious adherents surrender their creative freedom to the rigid confines of God's curriculum. Nietzsche's contention is this: If the "spirit", or the "essence", or the geist of divinity does not promote creativity and Power as a virtue, than this spirit,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Nietzsche Behold, Christian God, Whereas Godly, Thou Shalt, God Dead, Religion Nietzsche, Nietzsche's God, God Nietzsche, god dead, power freely, nietzsche's overman, conception divinity, god conception, god conception divinity, christian god, conception god, power power, divine spirit, spirit essence,
Approximate Word count = 1388
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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