Exploring Friedrich Nietzsche's views on happiness, including why he believed that it hinders our ability to achieve a sense of purpose, meaning, and greatness.
Have taken Nietzsche's Ubermensch for a sort of living Buddha. One who has conquered himself, become free, after many trials and tribulations, to be the superman.
No hint of ruler, dictator, or any sense of desiring power over others, having power over one's self, is the beginning of being free. It may not be a happy state, but it is one with no fetters or obligations beyond those to one's self and others to be treated equally.
That's great to hear! I completely agree - I've seen way too many people judge Nietzsche based off of the various, one-line quotes which currently circulate the internet. I'm super glad I've inspired someone to delve deeper into his work. Thanks for reading.
I very much enjoyed this post on Nietzsche's philosophy on happiness. Perhaps he is right, one must seek power over himself rather than happiness for to be free is much better than to be happy in the wrong conditions. After all, we are here to survive first by having power, then we can try to be happy.
Thanks for your comment. I think having power over yourself should always comes first, regardless of what your goal is. Even if you want to attain happiness, you still have to have power over yourself in order to achieve it. This may sound a bit Stoic, but I think having control over our emotions, thoughts, and actions is key to achieving anything in life, whether it's happiness, greatness, or anything else.
This was a terrific read, Meno. The ideas you bring out about pain leading to greatness is really important for people to read, and extremely helpful for me. Anyone who has accomplished great things will endlessly talk about their failures, late nights, early mornings, and constant pain through constant fights to achieve their goals. Your line saying "These ‘last men’ may be safe, comfortable, satisfied, and content, but they lack any sort of meaning within their lives and have basically destroyed their potential for greatness. They live a life of intense mediocrity." seems incredibly important to me personally. A comfortable life is fine, but ends up being a life of mediocrity, a life that I am continuously thinking about and hoping not to have for myself. I really appreciate this article and thank you for bringing it up!
Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you found today's post to be helpful. The very act of realizing that comfort leads to mediocrity, and that you don't want to live a life of mediocrity, already puts you ahead of the vast majority of people.
Thanks for reading! Comments like yours are precisely why I write this newsletter every week. All the best!
Glad that you mentioned ignoring what the internet says about him and forming your own opinion for yourself. I've only ready Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil by him, but its very obvious that his 1-liners that make the rounds do not capture his actual philosophy. It's much the same with Dostoevsky. All the quotes that float around online about him mischaracterize the sentiment or are misattributed.
This post is quite fascinating! Didn’t really know about Siegel being inspired by a Nietzsche quote, pretty cool. My comic book knowledge is a bit rusty, it’s been a while. Nietzsche’s philosophy does resonate with me.
He follows a similar pattern to buddhist tradition of looking and recognizing pain & suffering (without those happiness would not exist) as the main driver for growth, for being able to achieve success in one’s life. That’s really something I agree with, since not all people have the same advantages and when there’s no challenge…well, there’s no motivation to reach a certain goal.
Happiness is not something tangible it’s rather like a moment, an experience or even the feeling/sense of a journey that something is being done to polish a skill, get the job done or get a job (whatever that may be). Effort and resilience are words that always keeps me going. Now I really want to read Nietzsche!
Thanks for the wonderful piece of work! I look forward to the next piece of this 3 part series.
Thanks for reading! The connection you've drawn to Buddhism is interesting, I've never thought about it that way. Thanks again for the kind words and for supporting my publication.
You’re welcome! Glad to hear that. Of course, publications like yours do make the difference. Didn’t take any philosophy classes but your material is promising, keep up the great work.
Maybe that’s why he said “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
I’ve not read much Nietzsche but from the above I’d tend to agree with a lot of what he thinks about happiness. Particularly about ‘great’ people and the pain and suffering they no doubt faced in attaining such a crown.
I loved this piece, and I think a better CEO to reference would be Jenson from Nvidia, who recently told graduates he wished them suffering. If this seems callous, check out the Nvidia series on the podcast Acquired, which details how the adversity the company faced at conception is what taught the the lessons that ultimately enabled them to launch the AI revolution among many other leaps in scientific computing.
In the US for example, it would be more scientific to replace "the pursuit of happiness" as the purpose of government, with "the health of the people," which Cicero said was the Supreme Law. According to the Physics of the State (as say, in Deleuze), government is a technology to deal with human's greedy nature. People want the best for themselves and their family and deplete their resources, and plunder them from others. So when the purpose of government is some type of pursuit of money (black gold, etc, money in any form), instead of the health of the people, it is not a state, but a state of affairs. Like the collapse of the wave function, the state of the affairs is poised to Fall.
You would enjoy Batailles' "On Nietzche." It is a far more sucessful and succinct, interpretation than Hegel's lengthy one. Batailles never mentions Nietzche by name once inside the book, but sums him up well, while Hegel admits he never understands him.
In particular the section "On the Summit and the Decline" sheds light on the last quote. Bataille says that the summit is a maximum of intensity. It consumes the individual. Therefore it is more like evil than good. The decline on the other hand is the time to focus on the self. Therefore it is closer to good than to evil.
Have taken Nietzsche's Ubermensch for a sort of living Buddha. One who has conquered himself, become free, after many trials and tribulations, to be the superman.
No hint of ruler, dictator, or any sense of desiring power over others, having power over one's self, is the beginning of being free. It may not be a happy state, but it is one with no fetters or obligations beyond those to one's self and others to be treated equally.
Reading this has inspired me to look deeper into Nietzsche’s work for sure.
He’s much more complex than the internet paints him out to be.
That's great to hear! I completely agree - I've seen way too many people judge Nietzsche based off of the various, one-line quotes which currently circulate the internet. I'm super glad I've inspired someone to delve deeper into his work. Thanks for reading.
Absolutely. Keep up the amazing work friend🙏🏾
I very much enjoyed this post on Nietzsche's philosophy on happiness. Perhaps he is right, one must seek power over himself rather than happiness for to be free is much better than to be happy in the wrong conditions. After all, we are here to survive first by having power, then we can try to be happy.
What do you think?
Thanks for your comment. I think having power over yourself should always comes first, regardless of what your goal is. Even if you want to attain happiness, you still have to have power over yourself in order to achieve it. This may sound a bit Stoic, but I think having control over our emotions, thoughts, and actions is key to achieving anything in life, whether it's happiness, greatness, or anything else.
This was a terrific read, Meno. The ideas you bring out about pain leading to greatness is really important for people to read, and extremely helpful for me. Anyone who has accomplished great things will endlessly talk about their failures, late nights, early mornings, and constant pain through constant fights to achieve their goals. Your line saying "These ‘last men’ may be safe, comfortable, satisfied, and content, but they lack any sort of meaning within their lives and have basically destroyed their potential for greatness. They live a life of intense mediocrity." seems incredibly important to me personally. A comfortable life is fine, but ends up being a life of mediocrity, a life that I am continuously thinking about and hoping not to have for myself. I really appreciate this article and thank you for bringing it up!
Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you found today's post to be helpful. The very act of realizing that comfort leads to mediocrity, and that you don't want to live a life of mediocrity, already puts you ahead of the vast majority of people.
Thanks for reading! Comments like yours are precisely why I write this newsletter every week. All the best!
and I thought he played for the Green Bay Packers. 😏 Great read
As you suggested, your post gave me new insight into Nietzche's view on happiness. Thanks for the insights!
I'm glad to hear that, thanks for reading!
Fantastic breakdown of my favorite philosopher's take on happiness.
Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed.
Glad that you mentioned ignoring what the internet says about him and forming your own opinion for yourself. I've only ready Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil by him, but its very obvious that his 1-liners that make the rounds do not capture his actual philosophy. It's much the same with Dostoevsky. All the quotes that float around online about him mischaracterize the sentiment or are misattributed.
I completely agree. The amount of fake Nietzsche quotes I've seen on the internet is crazy.
This post is quite fascinating! Didn’t really know about Siegel being inspired by a Nietzsche quote, pretty cool. My comic book knowledge is a bit rusty, it’s been a while. Nietzsche’s philosophy does resonate with me.
He follows a similar pattern to buddhist tradition of looking and recognizing pain & suffering (without those happiness would not exist) as the main driver for growth, for being able to achieve success in one’s life. That’s really something I agree with, since not all people have the same advantages and when there’s no challenge…well, there’s no motivation to reach a certain goal.
Happiness is not something tangible it’s rather like a moment, an experience or even the feeling/sense of a journey that something is being done to polish a skill, get the job done or get a job (whatever that may be). Effort and resilience are words that always keeps me going. Now I really want to read Nietzsche!
Thanks for the wonderful piece of work! I look forward to the next piece of this 3 part series.
Thanks for reading! The connection you've drawn to Buddhism is interesting, I've never thought about it that way. Thanks again for the kind words and for supporting my publication.
You’re welcome! Glad to hear that. Of course, publications like yours do make the difference. Didn’t take any philosophy classes but your material is promising, keep up the great work.
Maybe that’s why he said “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
I’ve not read much Nietzsche but from the above I’d tend to agree with a lot of what he thinks about happiness. Particularly about ‘great’ people and the pain and suffering they no doubt faced in attaining such a crown.
As someone who is excitedly diving head first into philosophy, I am thoroughly enjoying this series.
Glad to hear it!
I was happy to read this
I loved this piece, and I think a better CEO to reference would be Jenson from Nvidia, who recently told graduates he wished them suffering. If this seems callous, check out the Nvidia series on the podcast Acquired, which details how the adversity the company faced at conception is what taught the the lessons that ultimately enabled them to launch the AI revolution among many other leaps in scientific computing.
In the US for example, it would be more scientific to replace "the pursuit of happiness" as the purpose of government, with "the health of the people," which Cicero said was the Supreme Law. According to the Physics of the State (as say, in Deleuze), government is a technology to deal with human's greedy nature. People want the best for themselves and their family and deplete their resources, and plunder them from others. So when the purpose of government is some type of pursuit of money (black gold, etc, money in any form), instead of the health of the people, it is not a state, but a state of affairs. Like the collapse of the wave function, the state of the affairs is poised to Fall.
You would enjoy Batailles' "On Nietzche." It is a far more sucessful and succinct, interpretation than Hegel's lengthy one. Batailles never mentions Nietzche by name once inside the book, but sums him up well, while Hegel admits he never understands him.
In particular the section "On the Summit and the Decline" sheds light on the last quote. Bataille says that the summit is a maximum of intensity. It consumes the individual. Therefore it is more like evil than good. The decline on the other hand is the time to focus on the self. Therefore it is closer to good than to evil.
greatest good for greatest number at most economical cost.