Be humble

So here comes another Nietzsche related post, for those of you who aren’t a fan of his don’t worry this is just a phase I’m going through (I hope). There is a quote from Nietzsche that says that “the essence of all beautiful art, all great art is gratitude.” This I believe is not only a true reflection of how art should be approached, but how one should approach life as well. I believe that one could equally say that, “the essence of a beautiful life is gratitude.” Now you might be thinking that it’s a bit of stretch or maybe you’re wondering how on earth I came to that conclusion but I will do my best to explain why I think so. I recently posted the quote from Nietzsche on Facebook and one of my friends commented asking “why?” (I’m assuming why I thought the quote to be true.), and at first I had no idea because I had just thought about how poetic it sounded; but then I began thinking about whether or not this is an accurate description of what art truly is.

If we were to replace the word ‘gratitude’ with the word ‘appreciation’ I think that it is easier to see what Nietzsche meant and I think it lends itself to asserting the quote as a true reflection of art. Very few people would argue against the notion that one needs to have an appreciation of art as a discipline in order to create art that is beautiful. Closely associated to the idea of gratitude, or appreciation is humility and I think that this where we get to the crux of matter. It is only when we approach art with humility that art is portrayed in its true essence. This is because I believe that an attitude not grounded in humility will result in a distorted view of art and reality. Humility allows us to see worth and value in the things that are often discarded by society as being worthless or of little value. This is because humility does not lend itself to ascribing a hierarchical value system to the things that constitute the world we live in, like people, nature, objects etc. This idea is exemplified in the life of someone like Mother Teresa who devoted her life to caring for the lowest caste of people in India known as the ‘untouchables’. Mother Teresa is arguably seen as the paragon of compassion, love, and humility and it was her humility that allowed her to see the value of the untouchables as equals which allowed her to love the people completely.

Now in the same way I believe that having gratitude, which is associated with humility, is essential to living a beautiful life because it is with humility that we are able to appreciate all people and see them with the same worth. So I think that Nietzsche was correct in saying that gratitude is the essence of all beautiful art, and I take it further by saying that gratitude is an important component of living a beautiful and meaningful life.

Christianity Resurrects Nietzsche

Been a while since my last post, which is good I think because I have had time to think about things and mull them over a bit. One thing that has occupied my mind for the past few months is the subject of philosophy which I am currently studying at varsity. So naturally we have covered all the giants of classical philosophy (At least to my mind they are) like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato- about whom some have said has laid the foundations for all western philosophy. I personally do not subscribe to such a reductionist view of philosophy but I will admit to the profundity of Plato’s work. But I digress, recently however we have studied a modern philosopher that, in my opinion, turned the entire philosophical world on its head. By looking at the mustached man in my picture I’m sure most of you will know that the man who I’m talking about is none other than Friedrich Nietzsche. The man who famously proclaimed the ‘death of God’ and who has gotten some stick for writing ideas that allegedly resulted in the Holocaust. I must say that I am not sympathetic with some of Nietzsche’s ideas but I do believe that many people have misinterpreted his works and ideas, and as a result many people tend to dislike him for his counter mainstream ideas. If one truly studies Nietzsche without any nuance, I believe that one finds that he is probably one of the most honest and colourful philosophers that have ever lived.

 

Well now that I have stroked Nietzsche’s mustachey ego, it’s time to mention one of his ideas that have had a major impact not only on philosophy, but society in general as well. One of the quite revolutionary ideas in philosophy that Fred proposed was that there is no objective, or absolute truth, but rather that we create truth by having different perspectives. It was this specific idea that contributed to the idea of post-modernism, and this is also why Nietzsche is regarded as the father of post-modernism. Now the reason I have an issue with this is that people have not only applied relativism to truth, but as well as morality which is quite frightening, and Nietzsche himself said that because absolute truth and objective morality have been subverted- that the 20th century would be the bloodiest century yet. And he was right, more people died in the 20th century than what is combined in the 19 centuries that preceded it. Most Christians that know of Nietzsche tend to be hostile towards his views as he was anti most things Christian. Ironically though I believe that a bit Nietzschean ideology has crept into the modern Christian subconscious.

I believe that the way Nietzsche’s philosophy has gained a foothold in the Christian mindset is through the process of compartmentalization- where Christians have segregated different aspects of their lives and attached not only differing, but contradictory ideologies to them. So in terms of their church life they believe in showing love and compassion but when they get are at work they see it as quite appropriate to be completely bigoted towards the lifestyles espoused by some people. The reason the Christian does not see the error in this is that he has resolved himself to believe that it is okay espouse non-biblical principles and ideas as long as these ideas belong to a part of his life that doesn’t incorporate church life. The error the Christian has made here is that he does not realise that church life forms part of, and is an extension of his public and private life. It is quite sad to think that Christianity has been reduced to a ‘choose your own truth and adventure’ type of lifestyle  because not only are Christians who do this shown to be hypocritical, but they continue besmirch the name of Christianity and give the rest of the world reason to lambaste Christianity. How ironic it is that the philosophy of the man who proclaimed the death of God is being unknowingly adopted by those who espouse a theistic framework. So, although our friend Fred died in 1900- this trend in Christianity has resurrected the bewhiskered German and has shown that Nietzsche is quite alive and well.

Here is an interesting Nietzsche quote to end off with:

The word ‘Christianity’ is already a misunderstanding- in reality there has been only one Christian, and he died on the cross

 

An African Renaissance

It’s election season in South Africa, and over the next few months South Africans should expect to be barraged with politicians promising change, dancing in public, and kissing babies on screen. I somehow feel that the elections this year will be a lot different from the ones that have gone before them. For one, I think that people in most places around the country have become disenchanted with the equivocations of the ruling party; people of all races and from different spheres of society have much to begrudge the efficiency and credibility of our government.

For decades the ANC has fought for the equality of all South Africans in all spheres of life, and to some degree they have achieved that. However, I feel that in order to say that all South Africans are equal or have equal opportunity, we have to address the issue of language equality. I say it is an issue but most people wouldn’t see it as such, and some might only be thinking about this for the first time. Nelson Mandela once said, “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities.” But how can there be equal opportunity when there is inequality in education? The best tertiary institutions in the country only provide university courses in English and Afrikaans, (2 of the 11 official languages) which is hugely disproportionate to the amount of students that use either of the two languages as their preferred means of communicating.

What generally occurs in our current education system is that many students are taught in their mother tongue during elementary and secondary school but when they arrive at university they are forced to choose to study in either English or Afrikaans. This places them at a huge disadvantage before they even begin their studies and more often than not results in them failing and dropping out of university. The choices these students are then left with are either to look for work that doesn’t require an undergraduate degree or to pursue their studies at an institution that offers courses in their mother tongue. Sadly many of these institutions only offer a handful of courses and are generally below par in terms of the education they provide. Quite a sad state of affairs. How many great scholars, scientists or poets are we missing out on because language is a barrier for them? Would South Africa have been able to produce a Pablo Neruda or a Blaise Pascal with the current situation this country finds itself in? The answer to that is a sad and a resounding ‘no’.

With all my complaining however, I find myself privileged to live in a country that has a plurality of cultures and 11 official languages, but if we’re truly honest it is English that rules the roost linguistically and it is English that will continue to do so for the foreseeable future sadly. This of course is no surprise, English is after all the lingua franca and the language of the global citizen. However, I believe that if South Africa and even Africa is to prosper and have its own renaissance period, then there needs to be a way to promote and support the use of our indigenous languages at universities nationwide. If this does not happen, I fear that the African perspective might be lost in a sea of western ideals and philosophies.

virginity can be cured…

Irresistibly Fish

aka ‘What The Back of His T-shirt Should Have Said’ [spoken word – Micah Bournes]

some powerful thoughts contained in this spoken word as a response to seeing a t-shirt with the words “Virginity can be cured” on it:

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The Sea of Relativity

 

I love food, and the awesome thing about living in South Africa is that there is so much variety that you almost don’t know where to start when it comes to trying everything on offer. Ah yes, plurality in the culinary world is a glorious and delicious thing, but I noticed a trend that has slowly infiltrated its way into mainstream society. It is the belief that all worldviews- whether it be a religion or a philosophy of life- are true. I think pluralism is great don’t get me wrong, the fact that there is so much variety and diversity in culture and the fact that there isn’t one totally dominant culture is something we should celebrate. But if plurality is taken to the arena of morals and values then I believe we are treading on very dangerous ground. 

I’m a huge fan of different cultures and how people do things differently, and a definition that has helped me understand culture a bit better is by sociologist Daniel Bell who defines culture as,  “the effort to provide a coherent set of answers to the existential situations that confront all human beings in the passage of their lives.” The thing that struck me most about the definition is that there needs to be coherence about life and I think it is a lack of coherence in our thinking that has made its way into cultural milieu we find ourselves in.

I think that one of the reasons this has happened is because of our need to be politically correct. We live in a society where there is a flowering of individual thought, free will, and freedom of choice, which I am a huge advocate of but to what end? Whatever beliefs I hold to, no matter how bizarre are given equal value to everyone else’s. Now you might be thinking “of course, THAT’S EQUALITY!” However I think we need to draw the distinction between the equality of people and the equality of ideas. I believe in the equality of all people, that one’s a no brainer, but ideas cannot be said to hold equal value because you get some great ideas and then you get some really bad ones. The abolition of slavery- great idea, and so was giving men and women equal rights. Now in the same vein you also have your bad ideas, like the Holocaust, apartheid, colonialism, I think you get the picture. Now if we are to believe that all ideas/world views are of equal value then we will ultimately end up with a society that espouses and even protects relative moral values. I for one believe in the objectivity of truth and values and I think one of the ways the degradation of society can be halted is through the espousal of objective moral values. If we do not, we run the risk of drowning in a sea of relativity.

Society is only skin deep.

One thing that has been a recurring thought in my life is how the  perceptions of society tend to have an overriding influence on our own perceptions. We live in a culture and a society that has taken it upon itself to redefine things like beauty, success and even what a ‘real’ man or woman looks like. What is worrying is not only that society gets to do this at a whim but also that we don’t stop and question whether or not society could be right or wrong.

I think that beauty is something that has been so warped that many of us have believed the lie that “beauty is only skin deep”. I have a few close female friends that I have had the opportunity to discuss this idea of beauty with and they feel that the pressure that is often placed on them by society is not only unfair, but suffocating. A beautiful woman by today’s standards is one who shows off a lot skin with exaggerated physical features. This perception of beauty is so far from the truth that it is difficult to believe that it has gained such popularity.

Now I don’t claim to hold the absolute truth about beauty but I believe that beauty lies in the essence of a being or object; it is seeing things in their true essence that we are able to see the beauty in them. A tiger killing its prey is beautiful because, in essence it is a fierce and powerful creature that was created to do just that. Not to say that women are like tigers or anything but in the same way women are beautiful when they are caring, nurturing, loving, and free to be who they want to be. A woman who loves herself is a beautiful woman.

The definition of beauty provided by society is so shallow and narrow minded that it has proven to be the only thing that is skin deep. Beauty cannot be what we define it to be or we’ll live in a world where we can’t appreciate and celebrate the diversity of people we live with. Beauty is an objective truth that shouldn’t be confined by our finite human perceptions. So let’s enjoy the beauty of all people and the world we live in.

Stay beautiful.