Dilvin Tayip's 1st Blog Post: Nietzsche, The Eternal Return

When Nietzsche makes the famous proclamation that “God is Dead,” he is left with the problem of what to do about this “problem”—because for Nietzsche, there is no way this couldn't be seen as an issue. For him our world is one in which “god” simply does not work and is not relevant, and neither are the values that come with god. Nietzsche believed that modernity and the growth of a largely secular society left us in the midst of a momentous crisis, one that the world has failed to truly recognize. A crisis that is either ignored through blindly continuing in this belief of “god” that deep down you knew was dead, or by accepting it, then simply disregarding it and falling into a kind of nihilism or what might be called “the last man” in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Also in Zarathustra, we are introduced to the idea of the “Overman” whom is the man that knows that god is dead, yet still able to create his own aesthetic values, as opposed to moral values throughout his life and continue living in a way that is meaningful. The Overman is about self-overcoming, and the acceptance of life. The Overman is one who has made the journey to, and reached the understanding of the “Eternal Return,” and able to embrace it. So what is the eternal return? Though it has been interpreted in a number of ways, ultimately the eternal return is best seen in my opinion as an attitude toward time that recommends fully living in the moment while encouraging individuals to distinguish what is worth infinitely repeating in your life in an attempt to allow one to “live through time” by embracing every moment fully without being weighed down by meaninglessness, guilt or other pointless things us human beings tend to spend too much time dwelling on.