Jesus & Nietzsche

Nietzsche vs Jesus - Dallas Willard

Philosophers are supposed to go down deeper, stay down longer, and come up drier than anyone else.

Thoughts on truth and freedom.

Nietzsche
It was not a driving force in his culture, nor is he a driving force in culture today rather he was symbolic of something much deeper.

It was more a reaction of art and intellect against what was loosely Christian culture.

It came to a head in England with the 39 articles of the Anglican Church. Nietzsche looked at the irrelevance of what was being said and taught versus what was actually being lived. He revolted against a system of hypocrisy.

In this period, knowledge was divorced more and more from theology and God.

That was a bit shocking, because theology was often called the queen of the sciences.

Descartes said you can't know anything until until you know God.

"Constructionism" The world as we know it is a construction of the mind, language.

We classify and structure things in order to understand our purpose which Nietzsche saw as oppressive.

If we lose the capacity to understand reality then what is to determine it?

From the genealogy of morals – essay 3
"In every animal, Including the philosophical beast, strives instinctively for the optimum condition for which it might release its power. Every animal instinctively, and with a subtle flare, leaves reason far behind, abhors all interference that might conceivably Block its path to this optimum. (The path I am speaking up does not lead to happiness, but to power)"

This is what Nietzsche referred to as the "will to power". In other words, it was a way to construct power, A world suited to use our power for ourselves. Self aggrandizement

Commercials sell self worth. Focus is almost exclusively on the self.

The Will turns back on itself. In Curvatis En Se

The burden for human life is to find an adequate basis for human action in knowledge.

We are in a culture where it's important to know the right answers but not necessary to believe them.

The heart of the issue between Jesus and Nietzsche is truth and it's relation to human well-being and fulfillment.
"Thou shall not steal" - what does that have to do with human freedom?

We desire to desire. We want freedom "from"...

The core of democracy is choice and not the thing chosen.

The first step in freedom is submitting oneself to reality. And to do that you need the truth - truth guides us into reality. Reality is what you run into when you're wrong.

You need more than truth for freedom- you need community. We need to bond.
A child needs to,step into life that is already "going". Truth is needed to help trust.

Has anyone ever been happy living as Nietzsche posited? The will, fulfilling their own will?

Objectivity is the path to freedom, not subjectivity. Nobody makes a belief true by believing it.

If you love God you will be happy, but you can't love God by loving happiness.
Hedonic paradox: if you want to be miserable, try to happy. Fulfillment and happiness is a byproduct.

The will directed at self will die because it does not nourish itself on what is beyond it.

The test is ALWAYS putting it into practice. It's hard to see Christianity lived out in our culture. I'm not going to stop eating breakfast because Buddhists eat it.

What would our culture look like if we submitted ourselves to God?

The kingdom of God is not about food and drink. When it becomes about that- legalism- we must say "stop!" Ultimate freedom isn't selfish but it is exercised within the context of community. God communes with man, heaven will be communal.

We won't be sitting in our room writing poetry and thinking deep thoughts. We will be enjoying the kingdom aspect of community, first with God, and then with his people.