Several years ago, as an escape from my world, I began to look at how the mind controls the body. I discovered Qigong. The next step was to read about Zen. Then Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. I found myself deep into the world of philosophy.
Such books as “God” by A. Waugh and “A History of God” by K. Armstrong gave me a sense of history on how the idea of God evolved through time. They explain the role of philosophers in shaping our understanding of the world and our thought process.
“Sophie’s World” by J. Gaarder is the history of philosophy in a novel form. It is easy to read. It gives a review of the main philosophers since the Greek thinkers.
The bibliography of these books is a good source of new readings and new areas of investigation. It took thousands of years for us to think about the world the way we do now. Thinking has evolved.
When I go to Rome I buy several philosophy books (in Italian, of course) that are known to be controversial because they provide a different perspective on what we believe. Bertrand Russell is clearly one of them.
Now I am reading Nietzsche. The book is “The Anti-Christ”. It is written in a violent style. Nietzsche strongly disapproves how the church is giving hope to the poor by convincing them they will enter God’s Kingdom. This is a lie, according to him, because no one has ever seen this so-called kingdom. The church should give them the tools to fight reality and improve their status instead of subjugating them using the concept of sin, according to Nietzsche.
I like to talk about all these ideas with my friend SNS. He listens. He smiles. “It’s all mythology,” he concludes, sipping a cup of tea.
(This Observations appeared in the 3/10/2003 issue of The Peyer Dag Portfolio)
George Dagnino, PhD
3 comments:
You do realize that Nietzsche was diagnosed with mental illness due to syphilis, right?
It's probably not a good idea to start off a sentence with "According to Nietzache....".
who are we to judge...
We all have to judge, everyday. When I invest, I have to judge the evidence, all the evidence. If it includes what others say, I have to judge their trustworthiness, their expertise, their level of common sense, their view of the markets/world, etc.
When you read Nietzsche, ask yourself where and what is his evidence. Is there any, or is he just pandering to some popular theme? Compare that with the evidence that opposes his positions. Is it really a contest?
The bottom line is, I've read enough of Nietzsche that it's really obvious that he's just another babbling idiot. And, I would hope that everyone judges for themselves.
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