Re: Joy of this, Joy of that

On Mon, 9 Dec 2024 10:43:00 +0100, D wrote:

Are you a buddhist or do you subscribe to some form of personal
spirituality? Or is it just an intellectual interest? You seem very
knowledgeable!

I have had a lifelong interest in Buddhism, as my bookshelf reflects. I'll
admit it stemmed from being a 10 year old beatnik wannabe. I could also
blame Kipling's 'Kim' for an interest in eastern religion. I would say
it's mostly an intellectual interest though I find much of Buddhist though
parallels my understanding of the world.

However I have the same problem as I have with Christianity. If you don't
think the world is 'dukkha', which I find similar to the concept of
original sin, salvation isn't a goal. It is the same as Schopenhauer
contra Nietzsche.

I agree completely! I do like Schopenhauers short philosophical texts
about everyday life (Parerga und paralipomena). Some of them make
perfect sense and are quite approachable.

I've got Hollingdale's 'Essays and Aphorisms' that is a selection. I don't
know how complete it is. I have read that during his service in WWI Hitler
carried a copy of Schopenhauer's writings in his knapsack. I assume it was
Parerga and not the two volumes of The World.

But his magnum opus I don't agree with at all.

For me that's back to his pessimism. I think the real person of the 'obit
anus, abit onus' quote would have been more interesting than the
intellectual. He probably had a few good rants on Hegel too.

Nietzsche on the other hand, is much better at writing, and although I
do not think that it is just a bunch of random aphorisms, I do believe
there is a theme, they are quite a puzzle to fit together.
 
Add to that, that his views changed. My favourite is the middle period
Nietzsche who does see the promise in science and rationality.

That is more interesting than Schopenhauer. He may have done a little
polishing but he was a one trick pony, unlike Nietzsche. I'm currently re-
reading the unfinished 'Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks' that's
quite linear. Prior to that I'd reread the late works, Twilight,
Antichrist, and Ecce Homo. Next I'll redo the middle. It's been some time
since I've read 'Untimely Meditations', the others I've hit more recently.
TBH Zarathustra is my least favorite of the while corpus.

 

But another thing I like about Nietzsche, at least for me, is that his
short aphorisms serve as a spring board for me for my own reflections
and philosophy. I find it very inspirational. The anti-christ I also
like with its critique of institutionalized christianity and how
damaging it has been to society.

'The Will to Power' is one my bathroom book pile. I read random selections
like some people do with the bible. I don't trust the llama as an editor
but I'm glad she undertook the project.

Antichrist reminds me of the Jefferson Bible and some of the newer
projects. Pauline Christianity has nothing to do with Jesus. I think by
then Nietzsche felt bad about sniping at poor old Strauss.