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7 ways to change your life from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most unusual philosophers, who succeeds to shock the world
even today.
He wrote several books, including “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, “Beyond Good and Evil”,
“The Birth of Tragedy”, and “The Twilight of the Idols” and his ideas have shaken
the foundations of human society on many aspects such as culture, religion, philosophy, literature,
psychology.
He was one of the biggest precursors of existentialism and his
teachings can guide us in bettering ourselves, in gaining confidence while facing the difficulties
of life, helping us become stronger, freer and happier.
More importantly, his teachings help us to shape our own lives in the way we please.
To help you understand the ways in which his ideas can change your life, here are 7 habits
we can adopt from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche:
1.
Spend more time alone Nietzsche says: “I go into solitude so as
not to drink out of everybody's cistern.
When I am among the many I live as the many do, and I do not think as I really think.
After a time it always seems as though they want to banish myself from myself and rob
me of my soul.”
Philosophers are often perceived as wise and lonely creatures.
And it seems that Nietzsche was no exception.
Although Nietzsche enjoyed great moments of popularity when he was a young professor at
Basel, he only got fully acquainted with his true inner self, when he was wandering alone
in the Alpine mountains.
Nietzsche believed that in social life, we tend to copy one another so much, that as
a result it is often difficult to understand what is truly unique to you.
We need to take more time alone to explore our inner world.
According to Nietzsche, solitude can be approached in three different ways: 1) by avoiding being
surrounded by people, 2) by focusing more on creative activities like personal hobbies
and 3) by meditating on life’s meaning and analyzing ourselves.
Others can steal a lot of time from our lives and we need to make time alone a priority
to meditate, to read a book which speaks to our soul, to walk in nature, to plan our life.
One hour each morning and a few hours each weekend in which you can be by yourself can
make a huge difference to your life.
However, we should not fall to the other extreme, of being lonely.
There is a difference between solitude and loneliness, the latter being the state of
being alone, and having an intense desire to be with other people.
So, remember to make a conscious choice to ride solo from time to time and enjoy your
own company.
2.
Mind your own business Nietzsche says: “You have your way.
I have my way.
As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Nietzsche was one advocate of perspectivism, the world view that says that since each of
us sees the world differently, there is no correct way to live your life as others really
cannot see the world as you do.
All of us have different lives and different life experiences, it results in different
judgements, opinions and emotions which results in different actions.
Thus, what we all have are called ‘’subjective truths’’ and we must realize that they
do not necessarily represent reality.
Somebody born in a Sub-Saharan country, for example, might see the world very differently
from somebody born in Singapore.
As there is no objective reality, it is important to stop trying to convince others that our
point of view is right as there is nothing “right” or “true”, there is only our
perception.
We are all biased in one way or another and, to make our lives easier, it is better to
give up the desire to categorize things as good or bad.
In essence, everything is relative.
To apply this Nietzschean lesson in our lives, we should be more humble, and stop pretending
that we have the final answers to what is true or not, what is good or evil, our life
is a journey and each step a new discovery.
Therefore, next time when you feel the impulse to criticize somebody for their opinions or
who they are, you should stop for a few moments to reflect on this.
It is very easy to dismiss an opposing view or different lifestyle as ‘wrong’ simply
because it is not in line with one’s personal beliefs, but most of the time these choices
have little-to-no impact on our own lives and as such we should not engage in the debate,
and instead mind our own business.
3.
Follow your own plans Nietzsche tells us: “He who cannot obey
himself will be commanded.
That is the nature of living creatures.”
According to Nietzsche, freedom is not a given right, it is a faculty that must be exercised.
By being lazy in exercising this faculty, we might fall into the trap of following other
people and groups which he termed the herd mentality, instead of following ourselves,
our true instincts and reason.
When faced with an unpleasant situation, most people try to get away with the smallest energy
expenditure possible, being too lazy to think for themselves as it is much easier to follow
somebody else, a group, which tells you what is right and wrong, how you should behave,
and even who you are.
Thinking for yourself requires a great deal of mental fortitude, strength, and discipline;
a level of effort few people choose to put in.
We need to listen to Nietzsche and make the effort to be disciplined, to listen to our
inner voice, our reason and act according to our own values and principles.
In other words, we need to obey ourselves first before acting in society.
We might start doing so by having a real introspection, discovering who we really are, what we need
to do in order to be happy, what kind of job would be appropriate to our skills and goals
in life, what kind of person we should be in a relationship with, where we want to be
in 10 years time.
Starting with these answers, we can create a long term plan and we need to review this
plan frequently, to make sure we don’t deviate from it.
We can change our plans from time to time, but when we do, we need to make sure the change
was not dictated by somebody else’s goal for us, but by a change in our inner selves.
4.
Choose reality over religion To quote Nietzsche: “In Christianity neither
morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.”
An essential aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophy is his criticism of religion, of Christianity
in particular.
In the past, followers of Christianity generally took the words of the Bible literally, including
the chapters of Genesis and the Apocalypse.
Nowadays, many believers don’t take the Bible at face value, but rather interpret
it in their own ways or according to their community, trying to find meaning and wisdom
that is in-step with our modern-day sensibilities.
But Nietzsche saw the rift between religion and reality, aggressively blaming religion
for not only sugar-coating reality, but also for distorting it.
One of the main theses of Nietzsche’s philosophy is that Christianity is born out of resentment
towards the ruling classes.
He saw it as creating an illusory reality and morality in order to attack the ruling
class at a time when Christians were amongst the poor classes of society at the fringes
of a powerful Roman empire.
In time, after seeing the potential of this new religion, the very men of power Christianity
formed in protest of, started to use it to further keep the masses under control.
Nietzsche advises us to stay away from religion, as it is a way to take us away from reality,
to control us, injecting ourselves with a slave mentality and morality.
For every claim you hear, you need to look for its proof, for its basis in reality, you
need to be able to see the facts, not only the stories attached to those facts and you
need to reject those stories which the facts contradict.
For example, if your community believes that seeing a black cat crossing the street is
bad luck, you should research and test this claim, perhaps observing the occurrences of
seeing a black cat and correlating it with the events that took place in your life in
the days immediately before and after.
With this evidence you can start to draw your own conclusions about the veracity of that
superstition.
The same approach can be taken with any kind of belief or superstition.
5.
Follow your intuition In the words of Nietzsche: “Thoughts are
the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.”
Nietzsche focused mostly on intuition and gut instincts, sometimes seeing himself more
as a psychologist rather than a philosopher, confessing he can “smell” if somebody
is not authentic.
He considered that our thoughts are controlled by our feelings.
For example, when we make a decision, we sometimes feel we just follow our logical reasoning,
but actually it's our mind that tricks us as our thought process is influenced by our
feelings including desire, fear, anxiety.
Considering this view of a thought as a shadow of our feelings, in order to really know ourselves
and others, we should rather rely on our intuition and instincts when it comes to making important
decisions in our life.
Oftentimes we are not aware of what makes us act as we act and logic cannot help us
because our mind is corrupted by our feelings.
To live an authentic life, in line with who we really are, we need to start trusting our
instincts and intuition more, because they are meant to push us to obtain the things
that we really desire and to avoid the things we fear.
One effective way to take a deep look inside our feelings is to learn to pay more attention
to our emotions.
A few times every day, stop what you are doing and ask yourself “how am I feeling right
now?”, “what can I do to improve my emotional state?”
Also, when confronting some tough decisions, you can ask yourself “do I feel alright
with the actions of my spouse, my boss, or colleague?”.
If not, you need to take action to let them know something bothers you.
Or you can ask yourself “would I feel happier if I take this action instead of another like
moving to another city and so on.
Getting in touch with your emotional side can help you better navigate your way through
life’s problems and tough decisions.
6.
Use envy to your advantage Nietzsche teaches us to: “Look at who you
envy, that is the person you should aim to be.”
For Nietzsche, envy is a positive feeling, that forces us to accelerate our self-development.
This is in line with many other of his teachings, gravitating around the idea that it is better
to face your inside monsters rather than hide them under the carpet.
Becoming conscious of everything you fear and are anxious about is important for maintaining
your psychological health.
Some motivational or spiritual gurus advise us to completely suppress our feelings of
envy, suggesting we should behave in a peaceful way, being kind with everybody, avoiding conflict
even with ourselves and ignoring negative feelings, covering them with a smiley face.
But this is at complete opposition with what Nietzsche believed.
He was against repressing emotions, even if they are negative.
We have to explore them, finding them a positive application in our lives.
Instead of ignoring the feeling of envy, you should rather use the people you envy as your
role models.
Instead of trashing them and having resentment, it is better to try to imitate them, to learn
from the way they speak and act and find out what triggers their success in life.
Think of all the celebrities you envy, as well as your acquaintances or even friends
you have a gram of envy towards and ask yourself what are they doing differently?
Do they have an advantage in life that you don’t?
How can you compensate for this?
What can you do on a daily basis to progress towards being like them?
Maybe you envy one of your workplace colleagues, who always looks stunning, dressed in expensive
clothes, garnering perpetual praise and salary raises, seemingly without any effort.
Perhaps it’s not their looks, but their friendly and relaxed attitude that makes people
more attracted to them.
Instead of complaining about the unfair treatment between you and them, it is better to face
the harsh reality that you might lack the social skills and positive attitude that can
push you further up the ladder of success.
You might need to listen to more self-development content, read more books on how to increase
your social skills and likeability, or buy new clothes that make you feel more confident.
Rather than keeping your anger and resentment inside, use your envy as a motivational tool
to bring you more success in life.
7.
Find happiness in the little things In our final quote from Nietzsche for this
video, he says: “How little it takes to make us happy!
The sound of a bagpipe.
Without music, life would be a mistake.
The German even imagines God as singing songs.”
Like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche placed music on the top of the most elevated experiences
one can live.
Good music is not to excite our senses, but to transcend our spirit into a greater and
divine reality, filling our hearts with joy.
Enjoying life plays an important place in Nietzsche’s philosophy.
One of his big themes is the dionysiac experience, a celebration of all the senses, living dangerously,
pushing the limits of our existence.
The more developed a person is, the more elevated his or her pleasures in life, and the more
happiness he might extract from the small experiences in life.
Happiness is free and very common, we do not need to do much to have it, it happens naturally.
You wont get happiness by gaining a job position, by earning a lot of money, finding the perfect
partner, moving into a dream house, buying an expensive car.
According to Nietzsche, happiness is a state of being which comes and goes, and the more
open you are to life in general, the more often you can experience happiness.
You might live in a very poor environment, you might be without family or friends, but,
if you are receptive to everything that happens around you, if you can learn to find meaning
and pleasure from the little things in life, like the sound of birds at your window or
the colour of the sky, you can be as happy as a king or queen.
You can experience happiness if you can walk in nature, if you surround yourself with music
and great art.
You can be more happy if you don’t repress your emotions or behave too rigidly in life,
but rather be more open to anything life has to offer.
Start saying yes more often, go on that mountain trip you postponed for so long or start a
hobby, like painting or playing music for example.
Surround yourself with wonder and you may just find you have a wonderful life.
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