"To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities — I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not — that one endures."
Is that some cold shit or what?
I don't know if spirochettes had already begun to eat Nietzsche's brain when he said that, but even if they had, I've got to say that there's something there beyond asylum's indignities. Who are we if nothing bad ever happens to us?
I look at my kids and pray that nothing bad will ever happen to them, of course. And a lot of bad has happened to people I love--and to myself--that I most assuredly do wish that I could take away. (For myself, marriage the second is number one on that hit parade.) But then I wonder . . . who would my dad have been without cancer? That hideous disease made him a much kinder person, made him see his wife and his children much more clearly than he had in the decades of his cancerless life. I hate the fact that he suffered because of the disease, and I hate the fact that it killed him when he was only 59 years old, and I think it's hideously unfair and if not proof, at least strong evidence in the case of Human Beings vs. The Concept of a Benevolent God. But . . . . I'd be lying if I didn't say that he died a better man than he had spent most of his life living.
I can think of dozens of other examples wherein Seriously Bad Shit has led to Spiritual Advancement, Earthly Achievements, & Improvements in the Surface of Things Down Which We Slide.
These Nietzsche lines also make me think of Michael Moore's "A Prayer to Afflict the Comfortable" (which is a part of Stupid White Men, but it's just a Goog away if you can't wait for that), wherein Moore basically prayers for the High Muckety Mucks of the world to be afflicted by disasters and calamities & contretemps--in the hope (or perhaps knowledge) that that is what will make them better people, better leaders, better legislators. (E.g., the senator who has an autistic child will much more readily do things to help others in the autistic community.) The first time I read that letter I winced. It made me love Michael Moore significantly less than I had previously. But a little reflection showed me that he was absolutely right. The only way the Assholes at the Top are going to stop unleashing their fecal stream is if they understand that below them is not only sky.
So yeah, much as I hate it, much as I wish I could avoid it in my own life and in the lives of my children and friends and neighbors, etc. . . . I have to say that Crazy Fred is absolutely right here.
As the great philosopher Stephen King once wrote 1, "...life is more than just steering a course around pain."
The quote which actually led me to the Nietzsche quote above was another Nietzsche quote:
“It is my fate to have to be the first decent human being. I have a terrible fear that I shall one day be pronounced holy.”
Now is that some shit or what?
Sheesh.
But then I started thinking about it, and especially about the consequences of thinking that way. And you know . . . it could make sense.
One of the main reasons I get disgusted with the world is because I see so many other people--many of whom profess to be Christians (or whatever, but in my world it's mostly Christian Professions) who act like demented monkeys intent on picking every last bit of lint out of everyone else's asshole wire a wire brush. And after awhile I just get to thinking, What the fuck is the use of even trying?
But if you went into this schtick thinking (or "knowing") that it was all up to you, that you were The First (& Only) Decent Human Being, then there'd be no surprises, no disillusionment. You'd still get tired, for sure, and you might even whip out a whip and clear a temple or two, but it'd still be a totally different ball game.
And you'd be the only one with the balls.
So thanks for that, Fred.
Be seeing you.
Fred Said "Right!"
Quite Right.
You're Bloody Well Right.
You've Got a Bloody Right to Say....
By Photography by F. Hartmann in Basel [Public domain, Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons{{PD-US}} – published in the U.S. before 1923 and public domain in the U.S.
1 Desperation by Stephen King, 1996. 2
2 Holy shit, how can that book possibly be 21 years old? As the great philosopher Roy Harper once said, "Times don't change, they fly." 3
3 in the "Mrs. Space" section of "One of Those Days in England," which originally appeared on the album Bullinamingvase in
(1977)
I look at my kids and pray that nothing bad will ever happen to them, of course. And a lot of bad has happened to people I love--and to myself--that I most assuredly do wish that I could take away. (For myself, marriage the second is number one on that hit parade.) But then I wonder . . . who would my dad have been without cancer? That hideous disease made him a much kinder person, made him see his wife and his children much more clearly than he had in the decades of his cancerless life. I hate the fact that he suffered because of the disease, and I hate the fact that it killed him when he was only 59 years old, and I think it's hideously unfair and if not proof, at least strong evidence in the case of Human Beings vs. The Concept of a Benevolent God. But . . . . I'd be lying if I didn't say that he died a better man than he had spent most of his life living.
I can think of dozens of other examples wherein Seriously Bad Shit has led to Spiritual Advancement, Earthly Achievements, & Improvements in the Surface of Things Down Which We Slide.
These Nietzsche lines also make me think of Michael Moore's "A Prayer to Afflict the Comfortable" (which is a part of Stupid White Men, but it's just a Goog away if you can't wait for that), wherein Moore basically prayers for the High Muckety Mucks of the world to be afflicted by disasters and calamities & contretemps--in the hope (or perhaps knowledge) that that is what will make them better people, better leaders, better legislators. (E.g., the senator who has an autistic child will much more readily do things to help others in the autistic community.) The first time I read that letter I winced. It made me love Michael Moore significantly less than I had previously. But a little reflection showed me that he was absolutely right. The only way the Assholes at the Top are going to stop unleashing their fecal stream is if they understand that below them is not only sky.
So yeah, much as I hate it, much as I wish I could avoid it in my own life and in the lives of my children and friends and neighbors, etc. . . . I have to say that Crazy Fred is absolutely right here.
As the great philosopher Stephen King once wrote 1, "...life is more than just steering a course around pain."
The quote which actually led me to the Nietzsche quote above was another Nietzsche quote:
“It is my fate to have to be the first decent human being. I have a terrible fear that I shall one day be pronounced holy.”
Now is that some shit or what?
Sheesh.
But then I started thinking about it, and especially about the consequences of thinking that way. And you know . . . it could make sense.
One of the main reasons I get disgusted with the world is because I see so many other people--many of whom profess to be Christians (or whatever, but in my world it's mostly Christian Professions) who act like demented monkeys intent on picking every last bit of lint out of everyone else's asshole wire a wire brush. And after awhile I just get to thinking, What the fuck is the use of even trying?
But if you went into this schtick thinking (or "knowing") that it was all up to you, that you were The First (& Only) Decent Human Being, then there'd be no surprises, no disillusionment. You'd still get tired, for sure, and you might even whip out a whip and clear a temple or two, but it'd still be a totally different ball game.
And you'd be the only one with the balls.
So thanks for that, Fred.
Be seeing you.
Quite Right.
You're Bloody Well Right.
You've Got a Bloody Right to Say....
By Photography by F. Hartmann in Basel [Public domain, Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons{{PD-US}} – published in the U.S. before 1923 and public domain in the U.S.
1 Desperation by Stephen King, 1996. 2
2 Holy shit, how can that book possibly be 21 years old? As the great philosopher Roy Harper once said, "Times don't change, they fly." 3
3 in the "Mrs. Space" section of "One of Those Days in England," which originally appeared on the album Bullinamingvase in
(1977)
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