Nietzsche's Idea of Happiness
This video presents very briefly Nietzsche's idea of happiness in pouring himself
In pouring himself into writing Zarathustra
Nietzche not only gave his own life meaning in the face of suffering
but he also began to see that suffering itself was the key to unlocking the elusive secret
of happiness
So what do you think is happiness for Nietzche?
We traditionally see happiness in opposition to pain, exertion, suffering, etc
For him, that is not the case
its striving towards something
It's suffering through that great task you've set yourself
So, just flying up onto the summit of a high mountain in a helicopter will not give you
the kind of feeling of happiness that you
experience when you have spent 15 days walking
towards the summit
It's overcoming obstacles that resist you achieving that goal that is
part of the experience of happiness
So it's not just pleasure but pain that can be happiness
It's almost an enabling condition for happiness
Nietzsche never found love again
but he'd
succeeded in transforming his despair
into a work whose vision would go on to resonate
with generations of artists and thinkers
He'd become a living testament to his idea of the
eternal return
And he now turned his attention away from the loss of meaning created by the
murder of God
to the crisis of values left
in its wake
Thanks for watching!
