The Problem Of Atheism-Nietzsche Essay

The Madman's Return

After the madman had left the town, discouraged by his premature proclamation of God's death, he returned to his cave for slumber, hoping to awake when there were more ears ready for his truth. After a hundred years, dust and muck had crusted on his slumbering body. He awoke and brushed clean his robe, returning to the very same market. Here he had found a new age, and a different looking people. He had come upon a town of the Godless, who wore science around their necks where crosses once hung. Filled with joy he had asked one of the bustling townspeople who had buried God, where his grave lie and how has man come to deal with their sentence. The rushing man had responded by looking at his watch and pointing to a tall building constructed where there once stood a church. The madman fell to his knees and wept, "I have found ears for my knowledge, yet they are still blind to the shadows! I have again come too soon; man has not yet taken blame for their murderous act!" He ascended again to his cave, to sleep once again until his time has come.

Overcoming Atheism: The Many Phases of Nihilism

In the opening paragraph of "On Truth and Lie" Nietzsche bluntly illustrates the most imperative and puzzling truth humanity would have to reconcile from then on. This passage opens to the reader the depth of despair which one is faced in the eye of such an overcastting truth; Nihilism. Our insignificance and loneliness in this universe wipes away so much of the pillars formerly erected in humanity's name and leaves us condemned to our blind freedom. Mankind had been so accustomed to the idea and feelings of order, standards, and a God whom could keep us in line. Well, it is obvious that truth of our existence as shown through astronomical discovery has killed these ideas, has killed God as Nietzsche puts it, and anyone bold enough to face up to this truth should understand the severity of this dilemma. It has been over one hundred years since Nietzsche had pointed this out and tried to reconcile it, and still most of humanity has yet to pull down their shrouds and face the light of this abyss, even those who call themselves Godless. The latter is what is most troubling about today's world, because one could write hundreds of pages on the reasons and misfortune of those who shield their eyes from truth with masks and gods of all sorts. This has been a problem for thinkers and men of progression throughout history. The herd shall remain such as long as they believe in their invisible shepherd, it is the atheists and "free-thinkers" that have the most promise and yet are the most misguided. They face the problem of nihilism with strong backs, but clouded minds. Even Atheism must be overcome.

Nihilism is a very misunderstood and misquoted idea that deserves the respect of clarity. It is the most important reality that faces humanity, and thus poses it the greatest problem. This is not at all a bold statement, it is very apparent once looking into the vastness of the night sky, and at a certain level of personal evolution, understanding that they are not staring back at you, that they exist and burn much like you do; without purpose or reason. Atheism today wears the same colors as religion because those who are within it still "know" without a questioning of this knowledge. They still scream, preach, whine, argue, and hate much like their religious counterparts. The screaming is in the name of their "truth" rather than this other "truth". Atheists wear their pride in brighter colors because they believe they have the intellect and insight that has surpassed those God-lovers, and with it they will enlighten the world to their truth. This reeks of Christianity.

One of Nietzsche's greatest observations is not the "death of God" but rather his shadows. God's shadows are what most Atheists are blind to; they bask in these dark castings without seeing the sunlight beyond them. As stated earlier, the Atheist will to spread their gospel of Godlessness is quite Christian, and shows a deep rooted value on pestering in the Western psyche. They wish to impose their ideas on those who still believe in God, and by doing so use the same force, the same means as their opponents, and lack the strength to penetrate any wall within their organization. They wish to kill what has already died. What is wiser, and what Nietzsche had also discovered, is to let the herd be. In Zarathustra after he had wandered down to the town and was laughed at by both the townspeople and jester he proclaimed that it was a waste of breath to speak to the herds and their shepherds, but to find kindred souls and speak to them of what needs to be done. Atheism would be wise to keep to itself and find solace in its own existence before pointing fingers. It is very apparent that Atheists and "free-thinkers" do not have the foresight or insight to be preaching to anyone, as many still only see the dark side of nihilism, and have yet seen its potential and full radiance.

There are as many faces of nihilism as there are phases of the moon. Nihilism can be an escape from action, an excuse for non-action, a crippling of action, or a call to action. It can be as comforting as it can be terrifying. When one observes the chaos of the world, the social problems, famine, and "evil" a gaze into the sky can bring solace more so now than ever before, because we are but one floating rock in a sea of the infinite. The wise choice would be to laugh in the face of the entire world's seriousness. This laughter is absent by modern Atheists, and in its stead, an insecure seriousness. Often death becomes their focal point, as if their mortality justifies their erratic lifestyles and choices. Somehow this negates one's death, or rather steals something from it. On the contrary, the way to steal away from death is to disregard it as influence over one's choice, to live focused on life rather than death. Although one' mortality may sweeten the day, too much influence over one's decisions may prove to spoil it. This is evident in the justification of many cigarette smokers, though it is not only death which they try to decorate.

For Atheists, the new replacement of God is the self, but not in Nietzschean terms, not a deep, autonomous human being self creating and so forth. Rather, a shallow superficial God-self in the likeness to the old one. Man uses consumerism, hedonism, new ageism, and all around blind living to deal with the unbearable despair they face. In today's world, regardless of how strong one's faith is, how conservative or new age one's ideas are, they cannot deny the terrifying possibility that slithers into their hearts every time they look into the infinite sky, or recall the pointlessness of the Holocaust. They are reminded of chaos, of absurdity that shines brighter than any cloth can conceal. This is the age of unconscious awakening, a deep seeded understanding, yet a constant effort is made to conceal this truth with all one's might. What is often missed, or denied is one's responsibility and freedom. These are issues that troubled even the most serious of 20th century "existentialists", and can cripple the layman, unsuited for toppling such heights. Nietzsche provided a way to transcend this, to give lightness to the weight of our freedom, and that is through the allusion of dance and laughter. No other philosopher has stared into the quandaries of existence and asked us to take it light heartedly, to most this would seem shallow, or would assume they had missed something. On the contrary, we had missed something. We had missed the larger picture, the true virtue of our ability to choose. We had missed the ability to say "yes!" What is essential to living our lives honestly, fruitfully, and truly happily is to accept our existence in all its follies. We must enjoy the peaks in the face of valleys, the night and the day and not simply expect bliss and salvation as the only experiences of value. This is what Atheists must understand, and must undertake as their greatest task. To say "Yes" to their lives.

However, this will not be achieved until the Godless learn to stand on their own two feet. Individualism is a key factor for Nietzsche, with good reason. In order to achieve any sort of "authentic" happiness, one must do it themselves, not by assimilating another non-religious group. Atheism is almost synonymous with leftists, because leftists are often seen as "progressive", which may seem suitable for Atheism as its forward movement of humanity. However, the collectivism, egalitarianism, and utilitarianism present in leftist doctrine gives off a theistic odor of "equal creation" as well as contradicts the reality that each person is not equal and has their experiences and challenges to overcome. Here Atheists are looking to fill the gap left open and festering, the gap of identity. When left with no standard to measure one's self, the individual is left to their own devices. This is where good conscience is required, where one must have the fortitude to live their life as an ongoing experiment, a process of trial and error to find the most "authentic" or honest self that one can create. This self for the Atheist, if their goal is flourishing and happiness, needs to be more than a role to play or an actor of one's life. Rather, what is needed is a created self that lives and loves life as an end in itself. One must determine what they value, why they value it, and continue to do so. There is a constant choice that needs to be made, for instance, in a relationship, as to if and why that relationship remains valuable. This is an individual challenge that cannot be decide in groups, by shepherds, because they do not know what others value. Often, the preachers themselves don't know why they value what it is they claim to and thus must preach to justify it. This is why collectivism and left-ism is also to be overcome by the Atheist. No genuine happiness can be found in the collective thought.

It is important to elaborate on the idea of "authenticity", because of the absence of a standard. Its absence in Atheism is in part due to the Western culture; the capitalistic consumerism that, thanks to a number of Psychologists, has worked its way into the mass's idea of self. What we are faced with today, both Atheist and believer, is the rise of psychological manipulation through advertising and mass media. Movies, television, comics, and newspaper all work to pound herd ethics, ideals of progression, and social roles into the populace's heads. Even what is described as secular bleeds Christian virtues into the mainstream of society. This poses a great challenge to a self-creator of any kind because of the sheer amount information one must thwart off in order to get enough peace and quiet for self evaluation. What is most troubling is the level of unconscious meddling done through these tactics, making one's task harder to undertake. The deconstruction of social roles is essential. The recognition of one's self as a character, as stated above, must be dismantled through constant self scrutinizing. There is a way to enjoy activities, objects, fashion, etc on a more meaningful level once revaluing them. There is a qualitative difference between being one's "own self" rather than playing a role to decorate their existence.

For example, wearing a thrift store garment, drinking coffee, and occupying coffee shops could reflect multiple ways on one's personality. One way is that a person simply enjoys each of these in a pragmatic sense, such as buying the cloths for frugal reasons, enjoying the calm atmosphere of the coffee shop as well as its brews. On the other hand, one may enjoy these things, and place them together to fit a certain model, that is a stereotype of a "hipster" or "intellectual" type that goes about these things to appear as such. This would seem less "authentic" or honest than the former where one partakes in this lifestyle out of necessity or by "accident". That is, not conscious of its association with some lofty idea or image. Even with a minute awareness of how these may reflect falsely on one's person, the honest man may shrug this off well aware of their "truer" self, and that this coincidence is simply unfortunate and of no greater concern. The one who carries a greater discomfort is the masked man who does not fully enjoying the taste of his coffee, nor the comfort of his sweater. This is very telling of the type of existence one should have under Nietzschean terms, living as yourself rather than wishing away your life by trying to be another. It is not only the Atheist's who wear masks, but it is the Atheists who are most seriously affected by this, because unlike believers, they understand there is only have one life to live.

There is a need, more now than ever, for the Philosopher. Science may provide truths, but this is not where the chain ends. What is needed is a type of person able to take on these discoveries courageously, to bask in these truths regardless debris lay in its wake. This is the task of the noble Atheist, who stares Nihilism in face and radiates his own light unto its bleakness. The Godless should stand naked before themselves and work to sow their existence with only what will ripen it. The old philosophies that stand cold and grey, should be knocked down and replaced with those that are alive; that breathe and bleed, and thus grow. Atheism should shake free the weights of its stagnation and fear and create a standard for human beings that have not yet been seen. Too long have philosophers and men of momentum been bewitched by their words without the passion to move themselves. We should not be afraid to construct mountains, as so many philosophers, moralists, Atheists, and "free-thinkers" have been to this day. Tomorrow is a day for the fearless, and this is what I challenge those who are willing to take it upon themselves to live.