Existentialism – Blogs Don't Burn

Background: This article was originally written in 2020 as part of a master’s degree. I have decided to post it here as I think many of the themes addressed are applicable to my last post (concerning the so-called ‘extinction-drive’ within Man). I also want to clear up much of the confusion surrounding Nietzsche’s famous announcement that “God is dead”; which has become one of the most famous – and most misunderstood – lines in all of philosophy. As you will see, this was no triumphant declaration of an atheist happy that the God of the Bible had finally (if you’ll excuse the phrase) met his Maker. Indeed, Nietzsche’s cryptic statement is far more complex than most realize – being simultaneously a hopeful reflection and dire warning about the slow decline of religion in the West.

This is discussed below in what I hope are clear and accessible terms. The analogy I draw between Nietzsche’s theory and the Norse creation myth is also intended to clarify rather than complicate. (It was also an excuse to talk a little about Norse mythology – for that particular interest I have only Dr Jackson Crawford to thank).

There are minor spoilers for HBO`s True Detective (season 1) in this article

What is it about human beings that makes us occasionally yearn for the end? Not in the sense of the individual who considers suicide – that is a whole other kettle of fish that I don’t want to get into here. What I’m referring to is that part of human nature which actively wishes for the Final Moment of Man; a great finale where all the deeds of the past are collated, the sinful are separated from the righteous, and the peoples of the Earth are judged. This might resemble something like an ‘end of history’ moment: the culmination of an abstract historical process in the establishment of a Utopia. Equally, it could be more like the Christian Second Coming; whereby human rule is superseded by the direct governance of a divine power. Whether secular or religious, these ideas seem to flow from the same basic impulse: the see the life we are living now – and the world which plays host to it – ultimately replaced by a more perfect alternative.

The defining characteristic of this drive rests in man’s yearning to witness his own end. To see the vagaries and sufferings of mortal life finally wiped clean – and with it all the burdensome responsibility that accompanies human freedom – to be replaced by something more permanent, fixed, and complete. Through the jettisoning of a painful present, it is hoped that a more perfect future will emerge. This has been the dearest wish of many throughout human history, and it has taken on many different guises. Indeed, the history of the 20th century showed the destructive power of such ideologies in full force, illustrated by the unholy triad of Soviet Communism, Nazism and Maoism. However, the subject of this article is not Utopianism or Millenarianism, but rather an often overlooked and misunderstood variant of this impulse.

Tag: Existentialism

Nietzsche and Norse Mythology: Illustrating the Death of God

Stray Thoughts: The ‘Extinction-Drive’