Eternalised

Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits was published by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1878 and represents a “monument of a crisis” for Nietzsche, a critical turning point in his life and thought.

The book marks the beginning of a second period in Nietzsche’s philosophy, his period as an independent philosopher.

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The will to power is one of the most fundamental concepts in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. It is also one of his most complex concepts as it was never systematically defined in his works, leaving its interpretation open to debate.   

The central point revolves around gaining power over oneself, not others. It is the expression of self-overcoming, becoming who you truly are.  

This episode intends to shed light on this concept, tracing all the way back from his psychological insights of the "desire for power'" to the conception of "will to power", as well as its relationship with the "will to existence", "will to live" and "will to truth".  

We will be focusing on what Nietzsche actually wrote and published himself during his active years, as well as making some references to his posthumously published notes (The Will to Power) where it is appropriate.

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📚 Recommended Reading

▶ The Birth of Tragedy (1872)

https://amzn.to/3uohsRi

▶ Human, All Too Human (1878)

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▶ The Dawn of Day (1881)

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▶ Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883)

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▶ Beyond Good and Evil (1886)

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▶ On the Genealogy of Morals (1887)

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▶ Ecce Homo (1888)

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⌛ Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

2:07 Desire for Power: A Psychological Insight

5:37 The Origin of the “Will to Power”

7:18 Will to Power and Self-overcoming

8:57 Will to Power and Sublimation

10:24 Will to Power as Dualistic

11:10 Will to Power vs Will to Existence (Nietzsche contra Darwin)

13:55 Will to Power vs Will to Live (Nietzsche contra Schopenhauer)

15:49 Will to Power vs Will to Truth (Nietzsche contra Philosophers)

16:56 Will to Power and Metaphysics

20:44 Conclusion

Either/Or: A Fragment of Life was published by Søren Kierkegaard in 1843, making it his first major work. It was written under the pseudonym Victor Eremita “Victorious Hermit”.   

The book expresses the viewpoints of two distinct figures with radically different beliefs – the unknown aesthetic young man of Part One, called simply “A”, and the ethical judge of Part II, which he calls “B”.  The first part "Diapsalmata" contains some of Kierkegaard's most popular lines, such as the "unmovable chess piece", "the tragic clown", and "do it or don't do it, you'll regret it".  

Kierkegaard was far more interested in making us think than in giving us answers. We are thus encouraged to decide for ourselves the merits of the various viewpoints presented.

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Memories, Dreams, Reflections is the autobiography of Carl Jung written in collaboration with his close associate Aniela Jaffé. It was published a year after his death in 1962.  At his advanced age he would not undertake anything of the sort unless he felt it was a “task” imposed on him from within.

At his advanced age he would not undertake anything of the sort unless he felt it was a “task” imposed on him from within.   

Jung had spoken with many great men of his time but only a few of these occasions remained in his memory. On the other hand, his recollection of inner experiences had grown all the more vivid.  

This book is the only place in his extensive writings in which Jung speaks of God and his personal experience of God. In his scientific works he uses the term “the God-image in the human psyche” based on the objective language of scientific inquiry, while in this case it is subjective, based on inner experience.

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Waiting for Godot is a 1953 play by Samuel Beckett that has become one of the most important and enigmatic plays of the 20th century. The story revolves around two men waiting for someone – or something – named Godot. His play remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time. 

Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature and commended for having “transformed the destitution of man into his exaltation”.  Waiting for Godot belongs to "The Theatre of the Absurd”, focusing on absurdist fiction. It shares the existentialist condition that there is no God or superior knowledge we can depend on. 

However, a major difference from existentialism that it does not share that we can create our own meaning.   It is better described as an absurdist play. This stems from the absurdist philosophy of Albert Camus, who describes the Absurd in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”, as the human incapacity of finding meaning in a meaningless world. The characters are doomed to be faced with the Absurd, and all they can do is try to pass the time.

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The Dream of a Ridiculous Man is a short story published in 1877 by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is practically a complete encyclopedia of Dostoevsky’s most important themes.  

Most of Dostoevsky’s major characters always have “something ridiculous” about them, but they are simultaneously highly self-conscious and capable of deep insight into themselves and the world.   

The story opens with the narrator contemplating the ridiculousness of his own life, and his recent realisation that there is nothing of any value in the world, everything to him appears as indifferent.  

Dostoevsky's The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, explores the dangers of nihilism and rational egoism, as well as the importance of suffering.   

"The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of happiness is higher than happiness – that is what we have to fight against!”

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Man and His Symbols is the last work undertaken by Carl Jung before his death in 1961. The principle aim of “Man and His Symbols” is an introduction to Jung’s work and ideas.  It is an examination of man’s relation to his own unconscious, emphasising the importance of dreams in the life of the individual.  

The book was first published in 1964 and is divided into five parts, four of which were written by Jung’s closest associates in the world of analytical psychology. 

One of the most important part of the whole book is his idea of individuation, the process by which consciousness and the unconscious have learned to live at peace and to complement one another. This addresses the essence of Jung’s philosophy of life: Man becomes whole when (and only when) the process of individuation is complete.

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Man’s Search for Meaning was published by Viktor Frankl in 1946. Frankl is the founder of logotherapy. The most important force in a man’s life is his desire to find meaning.   While Freud speaks of a “will to pleasure” and Adler speaks of a “will to power,” Frankl focuses on a “will to meaning”, as the primary motivational force in man.  

The book sold over 10 million copies at the time of Frankl’s death in 1997, and continues to this day to inspire many to find significance in the very act of living. The success of the book may be a symptom of the "mass neurosis of modern times" since the title promised to deal with the question of life's meaningfulness.

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No Exit (Huis Clos) is one of Jean Paul Sartre’s most interesting existentialist short stories. The book is the source of one of Sartre’s most celebrated phrases: “Hell is other people”.  

Sartre brilliantly emphasises that hell is not so much a specific place, but a state of mind. It is connected with his idea of the Look, which explores the experience of being seen, as we are always under the eyes of others.   

The conflict of being a subject (an agent of one’s life) and being an object that other people are observing, alienates us and locks us in a particular kind of being, which in turn deprives us of our freedom, because we are unable to escape the “devouring” gaze of the other.   

Sartre illustrates the difficult coexistence of people, as the entire social realm is based on adversarial aspects.

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The Plague was published in 1947 and is widely considered as Albert Camus’s most successful novel. It tells the story of a plague epidemic in the Algerian coastal town of Oran, where thousands of rats are found dead all over the city.  

Camus’ absurdist philosophy is at the background of the novel. He stresses the powerlessness of the individual to affect his destiny in an indifferent world.   

Illness, exile, and separation are themes that were present in Camus’ life and his reflections upon them form a vital counterpoint to the allegory. This makes his description of the plague and the pain of loneliness exceptionally vivid and heartfelt.

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