One should not have a fixation about the figure of the
Nietzschean 'Superman', indeed. Spengler - if we are not mistaken, it
was him - rightly noted that, rather than a theory, it was meant to
be a 'reagent'. Besides, it should not be mistaken with its
caricature, that which can be found in what a famous former French
from Lyon III called in anti-Nazi sex-shop literature.
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/com/com_niet.html , on the other
hand, gives a simple, objective and accurate account of what
Nietzsche's conception of the 'superman' really was, for those who
are not familiar with it :
"Nietzsche's superman cannot acquire universal power unless he
realises his universal existence. How can omnipotence and individual
existence be compatible with each other? Supreme power can only be in
the infinite. Where, then, comes this boasted power? There is no true
power when one is bound to temporal individuality. And when universal
power is attained, there is a transcendence of individual existence,
for then it gets identified with Reality which is infinite".
This should be attained, as you have gathered, by means of an 'active
nihilism', a 'positive nihilism', as opposed to a 'negative
nihilism', to the 'tabula rasa' which follows the realisation of the
relativity of all the so-called values on which the modern world is
based ; in short, by negating the negation. Nietzsche described
himself as "Europe's first complete nihilist, who, however, has
himself already lived nihilism through to its end, within himself -
who has it behind him, beneath him, outside of him". The question is
whether he really managed to overcome nihilism, and, beyond this,
more essentially, whether the path he opened, the method he created,
is valid. The first question has been tackled by tens and tens of
books in the broader context of an analysis of Nietzschean
philosophy, and Evola, like Heidegger, even though from a very
different angle, has reached the conclusion that the German
philosopher failed in overcoming nihilism. To Evola who, unlike most
of those who have studied Nietzsche's work seriously, didn't draw the
readers' attention only to the ethical aspect of his nihilism, but
also examined its gnoseological, metaphysical, theological, and
historical aspects, the "negative, destructive phase of Nietzschean
thought ends in the affirmation of immanence, so that any value, even
if the planned revaluation of values had been achieved, is still
interpreted anyhow according to 'Life', to the 'Will-to-Power', to
what does not transcend the 'Dionysian'".
Sooner or later, one of the essays written by Evola on Nietzsche's
nihilism will be translated into English and published onto
http://thompkins_cariou.tripod.com , so as to enable those who are
interested in that question to go deeper into what he called
the 'best Niezsche' and the 'worse Nietzsche'. One of them -
'Dioniso' - was inserted in an anthology published by one of the
most renowned specialists of Nietzsche's work, Tilgher.
--- In
evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, "darklittleflame"
<ads694@h...> wrote:
>
> --- In
evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, "evola_as_he_is"
> <evola_as_he_is@y...> wrote:
>
> > [Nietzsche] is seen as an emblematic representative of one
> > of the possible forms of irreligiosity, that which, towards the
> > reality of chaos and of the irrational, does not appeal to
> > transcendence.
>
> I read Nietzsche as emphasizing `the reality of chaos and of the
> irrational' not as a `ground' to replace the nihilistic
otherworldly
> fictions of Christianity etc, but as a reality of the `abgrund' of
> our age, the absence of a `soil for taking root and standing' in.
> Those few who are able to face this abyss, who can
> display `fearlessness in the face of the fearsome and
questionable,'
> those whom `in the face of tragedy the warlike in their souls
> celebrates its Saturnalias' are capable of awakening the
> transcendent dimension within themselves.
>
> These warriors of the spirit are not setting up a new set of values
> over and above the old `decadent' ones, which would obviously fall
> prey to Evola's criticism that Nietzsche's solution `is only a
> pseudosolution' and that `a true nihilism does not spare even the
> doctrine of the superman.' They are instead those capable of
> instantiating the doctrine of the eternal recurrence, who can, by
> facing the abgrund of life, open themselves up to the transcendent
> dimension. Hence Evola's view of the doctrine of the eternal
> recurrence as `an opening beyond immanence unilaterally conceived…
> the same thing that was taught in the world of Tradition.'
>
> This is Nietzsche's primary doctrine; one should not be led astray
> by the "superman," which only forms a very small part of
Nietzsche's
> work. As Lampert states, `caution with respect to the teaching on
> the superman can be seen to be in order if one measures the
> beginning of Zarathustra's course by its end, for he begins as the
> teacher of the superman but ends as the teacher of the eternal
> return...Interpretation of the superman teaching requires that it
be
> reconciled with the teaching of the eternal return.' Lampert sees
> Zarathustra's superman speech as more an attempt to bait and
> motivate prospective `disciples' rather than an actual doctrine.
>
> As for `Dionysian naturalistic views' and possible links to Tantra,
> a passage from `Twilight' is interesting in this regard, `It is
only
> in the Dionysian mysteries...that the fundamental fact of the
> Hellenic instinct expresses itself...what did the Hellene guarantee
> to himself with these mysteries? Eternal life, the eternal
> recurrence of life, the triumphant Yes to life beyond death and
> change...through the mysteries of sexuality...the instinct for the
> eternity of life, a sacred road.' There are obviously parallels
with
> some Tantric sexual practices here, perhaps given credence to the
> belief that such mysteries were originally imported from the East.
> Evola's comments on the Traditional nature of the doctrine of the
> eternal recurrence would also be applicable to Nietzsche's views on
> the goal of the Dionysian mysteries as he conceived them here, i.e.
> an opening to the transcendent dimension.
>