If God is Dead, Why Can’t We Let Him Go?
“God is dead; but given the ways of men, perhaps for millennia to come there will be caves in which his shadow will be shown.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
The shadow of God will always be around.
I think Nietzsche was correct about religion as a whole. At the end of the day, mankind seems to always want a reason to explain why the world works the way it does, even there’s not an explainable reason. We can develop explanations for why we exist, the meaning of the universe, and how volcanoes work once we create gods and religions. I don’t think religion will ever completely go away.
NIHILISM AND THE ORIGINS OF RELIGION
Nihilism, which is the viewpoint that there is no meaning to life, appeals to almost no one. Once a person views life as meaningless, all hope in life is lost. Mankind developed religion as a way to explain why bad things happen to good people. If an earthquake occurs in Lisbon, Portugal and kills thousands of innocent people, people can say, “well, it was God’s will.”
In his book “The Geneaology of Morals,” Nietzsche highlights that religion is also a form of nihilism as well. He specifically highlights Christianity as being European nihilism. The reason why is, because Christianity promotes the afterlife and heaven over life here on Earth. Christianity says life on Earth is not important and meaningful. The only thing that’s meaningful is Heaven and life after death. Therefore, the solution for nihilism creates its own form of nihilism.
A SOLUTION TO NIHILISM
Nietzsche’s solution to this is to turn away from the nihilism of religion and instead find meaning in the lives we know that we have. Rather than turning to religion, we would find meaning to our lives here while we’re alive. There is no objective meaning to life. The only meaning in life is the meaning we give it ourselves.
What are your thoughts? Have you noticed the nihilism that surrounds us everywhere?
Notes
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1882). The Joyous Science, pg. 121. Translated (2018) Hill, Kevin. Penguin Random House