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This experience got me thinking about the peculiar pride that everyday people, religious or nonreligious, take in their belief not only in God, but in any higher truth, purpose, or meaning to their lives. In most cases, such pride--the pride of my theater pals and mother--is not, I believe, a direct result of rigorous theological or philosophical deliberation. That is, I do not believe that atheists and people like Jodie's character are slighted because they are considered to be misled pagans or uneducated fools. Rather, the eyebrows of"believers" raise and sighs emit (and cheers sound in theaters) because the non-believer is considered to be someone negative, pessimistic, and without hope. The person who rejects the notion of a higher God, truth, or meaning to life is regarded as a nihilist--as a denier of life and refuter of humanity's highest values. The "believer," on the other hand, is considered (and proudly considers himself) to be someone positive, optimistic, and hopeful. The "believer" is deemed the happy affirmer of life and respecter of humanity's highest values. The following pages make a claim against this widespread opinion via the thoughts and writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche believed the opposite to be true (and would have probably raised Matt's number to "ninety-nine percent"). For Nietzsche, the above "believer" is the pessimist. The man who invests faith and conviction in a higher God, truth, or meaning is the nihilist--the denier of life. If one would be a complete affirmer, a complete lover of his life and world, then one must become, in Nietzsche's words, a ''perfect nihilist"--a condition that includes the complete rejection of any higher God, truth, or meaning to that life and world. Nietzsche's "perfection" is the focus of this exegesis. |
