NIETZSCHE

A look at Nietzsches diatribe against mans beliefs in his own impotence,
and the nature of the superman and the will-to-power,- Nietzsches concept
that was used by Adolf Hitler. -
Nietzsche was not insane in this last phase of his life, it was the
inevitable conclusion of his negative approach. An intellect can only be
negative; it can argue and criticize and be sarcastic, but it cannot give you
any nourishment. From no negative standpoint can you get any
nourishment. So he lost his God, and he lost his consolation. He became free
just to be mad.

And it is not only Friedrich Nietzsche, so it cannot be said that it was just
an accident. Many intellectual giants find themselves in mad asylums or
commit suicide, because nobody can live in a negative darkness. One needs
light and a positive, affirmative experience of truth. Nietzsche demolished
the light and created a vacuum in himself and in others who followed him.

If you feel deep down a vacuum, utter emptiness with no meaning, it is
because of Friedrich Nietzsche. A whole philosophy has grown in the West:
Nietzsche is the founder of this very negative approach to life.

Soren Kierkegaard, and Jean-Paul Sartre, and Marcel, and Jaspers, and
Martin Heidegger -- all the great giants of the first half of this century --
were talking only about meaninglessness, anguish, suffering, anxiety, dread,
fear, angst. And this philosophy has been called in the West existentialism.
It is not. It is simply non-existentialism. It destroys everything that has
consoled you.

Nietzsches statement is bound to be only one side of the coin.
Nietzsche has forgotten one thing, which
was bound to happen because his statement is based on rationality, logic
and intellect. It is not based on meditation.

Man is free, but free for what? If there is no God and man is free, that will
simply mean man is now capable of doing anything, good or bad; there is
nobody to judge him, nobody to forgive him. This freedom will be simply
licentiousness.Then there is no question of sin or virtue, no question of
sinners and saints.Nothing is good and nothing is bad.

There comes the other side. You remove God and you leave man utterly
empty. Of course, you declare his freedom, but to what purpose? How is he
going to use his freedom creatively, responsibly? How is he going to avoid
freedom being reduced to licentiousness?

Friedrich Nietzsche was not aware of any meditations -- that is the other
side of the coin. Man is free, but his freedom can only be a joy and a
blessing to him if he is rooted in meditation.

Friedrich Nietzsche in his last phase of life became almost insane. He was
hospitalized, kept in a mad asylum. Such a great giant, what happened to
him? He had concluded: "God is dead," but it is a negative conclusion. He
became empty, but his freedom was meaningless. There was no joy in it
because it was only freedom from God, but for what? Freedom has two
sides: from and for. The other side was missing. That drove him insane.

Emptiness always drives people insane. You need some grounding, you need
some centering, you need some relationship with existence. God being dead,
all your relationship with existence was finished. God being dead, you were
left alone without roots. A tree cannot live without roots, nor can you,
you are leaving man in an utter vacuum. Out of
that vacuum existentialism is born, thats why it talks only about
meaninglessness: "Life has no meaning." It talks about no significance: "You
are just an accident. Whether you are here or not does not matter at all to
existence."

You are not needed; just by accident, on the margin, somehow you have
popped up, and these philosophers from
Nietzsche to Jean-Paul Sartre are making you accidental.

There is a tremendous need in mans being to be related to existence.
He needs roots in existence, because only when the roots go deep into
existence will he blossom into a Buddha, will he blossom into millions of
flowers, will his life not be meaningless. Then his life will be tremendously
overflowing with meaning, significance, blissfulness; his life will be simply a
celebration.

But the conclusion of the so-called existentialists is that you are
unnecessary, that your life has no meaning, no significance. Existence is not
in need of you at all!

Without God certainly you are free, but for what?
You are left with empty hands. You were with empty hands before also,
because the hands that looked full were full of lies. Now you are absolutely
aware that the hands are empty and there is nowhere to go.

I have heard about one very famous atheist. He died, and his wife brought
his best clothes, best shoes, before he was put in the coffin -- the best tie,
the costliest possible. She wanted to give him a good farewell, a good
send-off. He was dressed as he had never dressed in his whole life.

And then friends came, and neighbors came. And one woman said: "Wow!
Hes all dressed up and nowhere to go." He was an atheist, so he did not
believe in God, he did not believe in heaven, he did not believe in hell --
nowhere to go, and so well-dressed!

But this is the situation any negative philosophy is going to leave for the
whole of mankind: well-dressed, ready to go, but nowhere to go! This
situation creates insanity.