Lesson 16 - Master of Spirituality class

I very much enjoyed your lesson Nietzsche.  I was fortunate to go through my "mid-life crisis" some time in my 30's.  At that time, I decided that everything I'd ever been taught about God and man was just silly and I stopped believing.  It was a struggle, but I was determined to turn my back on everything and everyone who'd influenced my religious and philosophical views of life, so I wrestled with it until one day, I could firmly, confidently say that there was, indeed, no God and that I had no spiritual nature of any kind. 

 

On that fateful day, at that astounding moment (which I remember vividly), it was like someone pushed me into a soundproof box and shut the door.  There was no inner diaglog to guide me, no intuition that I depended upon to get me safely through my day.  There was the loudest silence I'd ever heard and it was unlike anything I could've imagined.  Even if I'd been shut into such a room, I would still have heard my heartbeat or my breath rushing in my ears.  There was nothing.  I thought for a moment that I'd gone suddenly deaf until someone nearby spoke and I heard them distinctly; probably, more distinctly than I would have a moment before my declaration as there was no background noise of my thoughts. 

 

I stayed like this for a few days, maybe a week or two, I don't really remember.  I just recall that it felt like I was having to remember things that should be famliar; simple, daily task types of things that I did by rout with the direction of my intuition and subconscious thoughts.  I had to make a very conscious effort to brush my teeth, pour my coffee, eat my breakfast, drive my car.  I was on a kind of autopilot only in that I was aware that I knew how to do these things and was doing them as normally as possible.  Imagine that you've always had a director quietly telling you every move and then all of a sudden, they were gone.  You know what to do, but you're so accustomed to following instead of leading, it truly throws you. 

 

Then, one day, as I sat in the silence of my no-thoughts, it struck me that I'd been given a very great gift.  It was the gift of knowing, of gnosis, of understanding what those who have no faith in anything beyond themselves experience every day.  I can understand why Nietzsche went mad, or as a boyfriend once called, "Full Tilt Bozo Crazy," because if I had not come to my senses, it would not have been long before I would hear the clang of the bells and the buzzer would sound.  Very slowly, very gradually, my thoughts started to be heard again and my intuition returned stronger than ever.  It was like stepping out into the beautiful world of sights and sounds after a long illness, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

 

I have since run across people who said they believe that death is the end of their existence.  I think of my own experience into my mini-Nietzscheworld and I wonder how long they will believe it, and if for long, how will their mind stay intact.  I also don't stick around to find out.  Dem peoples crazy!

 

You're right when you say that poor ol' Nietzsche didn't take into account the inherent evil nature of humans, but he also missed the inherent good in us as well.  We cannot deny our spiritual nature, which embodies those loving qualities that we simply must exhibit in order to have balance in our lives.  It's true, too, that what we put out into the world comes back to us and if you are putting nothing out at all, as apparently Nietzsche did not, then it won't be long before you are living in an emotional vacuum.  That is a very dark, lonely path to walk. 

 

Thank you for the intriguing lessons and for this class.  I've always been interested in philosophy, but have never had the patience to study it indepth.  Your lessons give just the right amount of information to explain these great thinkers' ideas well.  I truly appreciate it!

 

Best to you -

Penny

 

 

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
God will not hold us guiltless
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer