did n lose his way before anyone start talking about self-actualization there was n who taught us how to become who we are then he went mad and never made sense again that being the case can we trust him or any of the people who speak about self-actualization to be our guides to become who you are said n you must consider getting rid of everything that doesn't belong to you this includes the context and the culture into which you're thrown you didn't ask to be born to those people and that class speaking the language they did
if you fulfill a role woman parent teacher businessman or craftsman that role comes with expectations you might not accept all these footings secretly influence you unless you spot them and decide which to keep therefore n said the first step in self- knowledge is not to study the self at all but to read history the history of the human race and how it brought you to the point you find yourself now in n's case he was born the son of a Lutheran min Minister and was very devout as a child but Christianity had seen better days
religion across Europe had deteriorated due to scientific discoveries in the enlightenment corrupt clerics and religious wars lasting Centuries by the time he came of age he noticed that people were saying they believed in God but weren't acting like it he famously called this the death of God he asserted that people had killed God and went around pretending he was still alive he was determined to be honest about the loss of his own faith and set about creating something to replace it the German speaking World in which he was born was divided into dozens of principalities
during his life a militaristic Prussia unified them into a single state and an ugly nationalism emerged when the chancellor bismar provoked an unnecessary war with France the Germans were ready to die on his say so n was appalled by how Millions can lose themselves to the manipulations of a single Authority gifted intellectually n got a cushy job as a professor of philology in the well-run city of Basil but academic life was stultifying as he could only write and teach on a narrow subject using a rigorous and crippling methodology he was supposed to be teaching the
culture of ancient Greece but he was more interested in solving the problems of his day these were his given we all have them once we identify what they are and the nature of their influence we must decide whether or not to keep them in his case n rejected Christianity he said it was a slave morality focused on making people compliant to the status quo he thought it was life denying more interested in shutting down impulses than cultivating them for good fruit they can bring he rejected German nationalism favoring his polish ethnicity and called himself a
European he blew up his academic career by publishing a book that broke all the rules the birth of tragedy the next part of the Journey of becoming who you are is to examine who your body says you are in n's case his body didn't work very well he was subject to migraine headaches that could disable him for days at a time he was going blind there was little he could do to change these conditions but he could find ways to adapt he wandered all over southern Europe looking for a climate that was kind to his
head and eyes he experimented with drugs that offered relief he developed an aphoristic writing style that did not demand he spend so much time with a manuscript despite his ill health nche committed himself to saying yes to life rather than getting caught up in what was wrong with it he hated regret envy and excuses no matter how bad a given day was he would be fine if that day repeated itself eternally because that was better than being dead he was the originator of the saying whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger the point is to
not be determined by others by the circumstances of your birth the developments of history or even the characteristics of your body Define yourself in that n is the Forerunner the patron saint if you will of all those who defy societal expectations it's impossible to free yourself from the expectations of others without questioning morality morality is how we're controlled it marched Bismark troops into cannon fire it had people claim to believe in God when they had killed him by making us pity the weak have compassion for the cowardly and envy the strong morality kills Vitality n
thought humankind needed to evolve past morality Beyond Good and Evil and follow whatever affirms life n showed us our Will To Power not power over others but a power over ourselves tap into your Will To Power and you won't be merely human anymore you'll be super human what n called the Overman by striving to become the Overman you become Who You Are by insisting on going his own way n alienated others students stopped coming to his classes the university generously paid him a small Disability Pension barely enough to afford a room in a boarding house
his books were almost totally ignored and he was forced to self-publish and mail copies off to anyone who might read them he attempted to cultivate disciples among a small group of friends but most of his friendships fell apart he broke his heart over a woman just as independent as he by age 44 he had written five books in the past year he felt euphoric despite almost total poverty and isolation he had a mission his headaches miraculously disappeared everything was finally clicking until it wasn't seeing a cart horse fall and beaten by its driver n embraced
the horse told it he understood cried mother I'm a fool and collapsed the police were called and the great man was taken to an insane asylum there he pounded on a piano showed confusion and agitation he claimed to be the successor to God a clown and dionis he spent his last 11 years mostly catatonic when his writings were finally discovered they were edited by his German nationalist sister who distorted them to justify what would later be Nazi ideology there is some controversy over what caused n's Insanity the initial diagnosis was that he suffered from the
effects of syphilis but the course of his disease did not match that condition some thought he had a tumor on the optic nerve that had been causing the blindness and headaches but photos show no bulging where you would expect to find it still others assert his was a Divine Madness a kind of reward for attaining an advanced spiritual level that the rest of us will never understand the closest friend he had thought he was faking it I have two theories about what happened to n and I'm not sure which I like better if I had
him in my office right after he went insane and needed to come up with a diagnosis I would say he has bipolar disorder with psychotic features there were plenty of delusions of grandeur many of his writings of the last year can be read as the ravings of a Madman his autobiography contains headings such as why I'm so wise why why I'm so clever and why I write such elegant books his illness calls his philosophy into question you might believe that if it was bipolar disorder then it had an organic cause and had nothing to do
with his philosophy if so then you're being overly reductive about the disease mental illnesses are best understood by using a biopsychosocial model n's condition would be the result of the interaction of three factors the biological contribution may have come with the genetics n inherited from his father who also went insane additionally he self-medicated for his headaches with chlorohydrate the sedative called a Mickey incorrect doses of this drug can produce hallucinations and confusion there is also documentation that he was not eating well prior to his breakdown some days not eating at all the drugs and malnutrition
both could have had an effect on his mental status socially n was bereft he had lost most of his friends wouldn't talk to his family did didn't have a country was constantly moving from place to place and was a pariah in his profession his books were ignored when folks are left alone they have no one to bounce their ideas off of if they begin to fall into the despair of depression or overcompensate with grandiosity and Mania nobody is around to help psychologically n saw himself as a prophet of the Overman this identity consumed everything there
are lots of times when it's important to maintain a single focus on an important value you an organizing idea as he put it an organizing idea coordinates all your thoughts and feelings to serve one overriding drive which rules as king of the psyche it gives you the ability to live your life with single-minded devotion anyone who's ever devoted themselves to a cause worked towards a goal accepted a mission adopted a vocation or kept a marriage alive has had an organizing idea but n's organizing idea went too far it was like an important bodily organ that
grew into a tumor n's single organizing idea was the thing responsible for his social isolation and drove him to abuse drugs so that he could keep on working organizing ideas go bad when they are single when there are no counterbalancing organizing ideas such as family or friendship that provide a check of its excesses it becomes a kind of tyrant surrounded by parts of the psyche that only tells it what it wants to hear niches didn't hear what it needed to hear to slow slow down take care of himself and care about the feelings of others
Carl Yung the psychoanalyst was very influenced by n and went on a similar journey of becoming who you are which he called individuation he went a bit mad as well it's documented in his autobiography however he was able to regain his sanity because he had other responsibilities his wife children and his patience they were like a Lifeline that pulled him out of the Abyss before he had gone too far n had cut that Lifeline my second theory does not involve a diagnosis I pull out of the DSM I think when n felt compassion for that
horse a disavowed feeling had found a [ __ ] in his armor his philosophy was designed to protect him from his illnesses he didn't trust softer feelings like compassion I think he had discovered he was wrong and perhaps saying he was a fool was an admission of it he then looked at everything he had done all the books and all the sacrifices and recognized they were the vain strivings of someone who had lost his way it was all too much for him so he essentially died and was willing to let his sister distort his philosophy
in whatever ways she wanted so if you are the type that defies societal expectations my sympathies are with you I'm in your tribe but n's story teaches us the cost of completely defining Yourself by yourself there are others who have a claim on who you are you must find a way to work with them because it's impossible to go it alone so where does this believe us those of us who yearn to become who we are is n's philosophy nothing more than the grandiose ravings of an undiagnosed Mania is it a mistake I would say
yes if we strike the words nothing more then his philosophy does get you on the path towards becoming who you are n was like a hiker in his beloved Alps who followed a faint Trail and climbed higher than any before but he should have packed some rope a bivy and extra Provisions or turn back when the weather got bad he shouldn't have gone alone this reality is reflected in Abraham maso's theory of self-actualization in it he conceives becoming who you are as something that's gained only after essential needs are met it's premature to be striving
for self-actualization when needs for self-esteem and belonging are wanting likewise self-esteem and belonging are unimportant when you're not safe or your body is not taking care of while I don't think things are really as mechanistic as all that it's plain to see that n skipped the need to belong to others in maso's hierarchy of needs be that as it may n's Madness was not entirely n's Madness it was The Madness of his Society his was an embattled culture which felt it had its back up against the wall there was little room in Christianity for descent
any German that did not show enough nationalistic Pride did not belong in Germany Academia had become stagnant and divorced from the concerns of everyday life his friends could only take so much and his great love interest could only do things her way he rejected his Society for its lack of Tolerance and inflexibility but in doing so became intolerant and inflexible himself let that be a lesson to us be careful about severing ties when you set out to become who you are you'll have many things you don't want to keep please note what comes with them
before you let them go and if you have a loved one who's becoming who they are let them be that person without rejecting them entirely they need you and you need them even if they can't identify with you or individuation to speak in yian terms if you found this video helpful don't forget to like And subscribe to drive the algorithm so more people can discover these powerful ideas
