The Full Nietzche Quote I used as inspiration for this post is attached at the bottom.
I find many of Nietzche’s thoughts hard to relate to due my unfamiliarity with the time period he is writing in, but I found this paragraph rich with enduring ideas.
Nietzsche’s basic argument here is that men are fearful and lazy. They hide behind tradition to disguise their lack of individuality. They look to blend in it to hide their laziness for in a sea of laziness they can’t be picked out. Men know they only have this one life to live, yet they are scared to make the most of it. They are afraid of taking an honest look at themselves for fear of what they might discover. The philosopher despises man for opting for this life of convention rather than a life of individuality. Only the artist seeks to reveal man as he truly is. It is not hard for man to break this cycle. All he must do is find dissatisfaction in conformity and dare to be different, dare to be himself.
The scary thing is that this rings almost as true as when Nietzsche wrote these words over a century ago. There are signs we may be on the verge of a creative awakening. But currently a very small population attacks life with a fervent passion, seeking self-discovery, self-improvement and a life of creative contribution.
What fear could be so strong that it represses our individuality?
This fear must cut deep to deprive us of the only thing we’ll ever have. Everyone knows we have only this one life, yet most choose to live as if this wasn’t the case Nietzsche is confounded that so many are persuaded by a little discomfort to abandon the pursuit of individuality. Failing to individuate is failing to live. You’d be living a life that has already been lived. We are all given our own unique genetics and our own experiences. We all have the capability to dare to be different and carve out our own unique identity in the world. Why do so few make the most of this truly once in a lifetime opportunity?
Our paralysis comes from our fear of rejection. Many of our biological instincts evolved when the sole goal of life was to survive. In tribal culture, where humanity existed for so long, the best way to ensure survival was to stick with the tribe. If you were ostracized your chance of surviving went down drastically. Naturally, we evolved an aversion to putting ourselves in situations where others might reject us and kick us out of the tribe. But times have changed. Few would argue today the sole purpose of life is reproduction. Organized human society affords us something new. A life that transcends basic survival. A life where meaning is created by what we do with our minds. A mind with boundless potential if only given the chance to explore. And this what causes Nietzsche to have so much disdain for man. Everyone is given this gift, redeemable only once, yet so few embark on this journey.
Short Term Pain For Long Term Gain
It is a journey not without hardship and not without sacrifice. Nobody is claiming finding the resolve to grow is easy, but it is the only choice we have. Almost anything worthwhile is worth fighting for. The alternative is a life of boredom and regret. When you look at life as a journey of improvement and exploration, struggle isn’t something to fear it is something to embrace. Failing after we’ve given our all is when we learn the most because we are given timely feedback about what we did wrong. If you learn from failure it really isn’t failure at all. What is perceived as risky really isn’t that risky. If this journey is accepted and risks are taken, success and failure are both wins. It is with this knowledge that you realize the ultimate risk is to do nothing at all.
It is not just fear that arrests our individuality but universal forces that resist halfhearted momentary courage. The good news is that if you break the inertial forces that compel stillness, it becomes easier and easier to keep going. Nature is full of examples that support this. The energy required to lift a spaceship out of the atmosphere is greater than in the thousands of miles it travels to the moon their after. Static friction is greater than kinetic friction. Newton’s first law of motion says an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. These forces form the protective shield that keeps the sphere of the extraordinary smaller than the ordinary. But these forces are far from insurmountable and all Nietzsche is asking for is a little determination and little perseverance to pursue a life of uniqueness.
Perhaps this is a good thing that nature restricts the extraordinary. A meritocracy is built right in. But my frustration with humanity is that the circle of the extraordinary doesn’t need to be so small. The barrier to entry is far from insurmountable and the reward is more than worth the pain of admission. The first step is recognition that the only way to truly live is to board the train of self-discovery. The only way to fail is to do nothing. If you accept this, the willpower to take the first step is just around the bend.
Out With The Old In With The New
The resolve to be different does not get us out of the woods yet. There is one other very important condition for sustainable growth. Painting your unique picture requires more than blithe commitment. Self-discovery entails the bravery to take an honest look at ourselves; and this usually not without considerable pain. Men are afraid of becoming completely honest with themselves because a look in the mirror might reveal a ghastly sight. This will be true for everybody. Self-improvement never ends but if you’ve never started then invariably there will be resistance to admitting change is necessary. But getting stronger almost always involves some short-term pain. The athlete slightly tears his muscles everyday and comes back stronger the next. But why are there so many more athletes than self-discoverers? Both involve in short term pain for long term gain. Perhaps it is because there is a greater risk in engaging in battle with your core identity than with your body, but there is also greater reward.
In order to grow, we must uncover the things we buried long ago in order to avoid dealing with them. Admitting our flaws is unquestionably uncomfortable. And will undoubtedly be avoided unless it is recognized that our only option is to board the train of self-discovery. If there is not this burning desire to change and a palpable sense that improvement is possible then our recognition of our flaws would merely cause us to wallow in self-pity. Absent of this desire to change we cover up and rationalize our troubles, letting them fester, eroding our effectiveness and happiness.
The Journey Forward
Resolving to change is unbelievably gratifying and opens up new dimensions of life over the long term. Nietzsche finds contemptible the man who prefers comfort in rationalizations to the man who finds the resolve to endure short-term pain for a chance at creative contribution and perhaps enlightenment.
Nietzsche says only the artist seeks to expose man as he really is. Artists have a penchant for creations that are able to identify our pain, inadequacies, and frustrations in concise visceral way that reeks of truth. But I find contemptible the artist who illuminates flaws with no move towards resolution. What Nietzsche does not say is that true artist is the man who accepts this pain and takes action to change. For these actions are the brushstrokes of a life that is a true work of art.
In conclusion, personal growth invariably involves a temporary but necessary pain. This should not cripple but inspire change. What irks Nietzsche and so many other philosophers is that so many are deterred by a small dose of pain from pursuing a lifelong journey of understanding of self, of pursuit of knowledge, of self improvement, and maybe some day enlightenment.
The most sustainable way to grow seems to be first have a solid grasp of ideas intellectually. Ideas are cheap. And then focus a majority of your efforts on making these ideas a reality. This is blog is my quest to understand ideas intellectually. But the implementation is a much more turbulent journey.
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A traveller who had seen many countries and peoples and several continents was asked what human traits he had found everywhere; and he answered: men are inclined to laziness. Some will feel that he might have said with greater justice: they are all timorous. They hide behind customs and opinions. At bottom, every human being knows very well that he is in this world just once, as something unique, and that no accident, however strange, will throw together a second time into a unity such a curious and diffuse plurality: he knows it, but hides it like a bad conscience why? From fear of his neighbour who insists on convention and veils himself with it. But what is it that compels the individual human being to fear his neighbour, to think and act herd-fashion, and not to be glad of himself? A sense of shame, perhaps, in a few rare cases. In the vast majority it is the desire for comfort, inertia – in short, that inclination to laziness of which the traveller spoke. He is right: men are even lazier than they are timorous, and what they fear most is the troubles with which any unconditional honesty and nudity would burden them. Only artists hate this slovenly life in borrowed manners and loosely fitting opinions and unveil the secret, everybody’s bad conscience, the principle that every human being is a unique wonder; they dare to show us the human being as he is, down to the last muscle, himself and himself alone even more, that in this rigorous consistency of his uniqueness he is beautiful and worth contemplating, as novel and incredible as every work of nature, and by no means dull. When a great thinker despises men, it is their laziness that he despises: for it is un account of this that they have the appearance of factory products and seem indifferent and unworthy of companionship or instruction. The human being who does not wish to belong to the mass must merely cease being comfortable with himself; let him follow his conscience which shouts at him: “Be yourself! What you are at present doing, opining, and desiring, that is not really you.”…
