tonytan4ever · March 13, 2021 22:32 · tonytan4ever · Mar 13, 2021
diff --git a/Dictation 2020.04.28 b/Dictation 2020.04.28
 In dark honest moments, we are liable to recognize with considerable agony that there is so much missing from our lives. We
 've been unable to get quite the career we wanted; our partners may leave us largely unfulfilled; we may have made some 
 catastrophic mistakes that can never be corrected; our appearance might be shameful and in decline; and there is, correspond-
 -ingly, so much that we envy.

 No philosopher has ever taken envy more seriously than Friedrich Nietzsche. The 19th century German philosopher described
 it as the most important emotion at work in individual and collective life. In his writings, he refer to it with a slightly
 unusual word, the French term "ressentiment", which places emphasis on the humiliation we experience in the face of what 
 we desire but cannot have. 

 In Nietzsche's book, On the Genealogy of Morality, published in 1887, the philosopher presents us with a ground-breaking
 diagonosis of envy. He opens with a speculative history of how our ideas of good and evil developed, and the crucial role
 of  envy therein. In Ancient times, Nietzsche argued what counted as negative or positive was defined in a rather direct
 and simple way by the powerful -- those who held military, financial, and political authority -- got to decide what sort
 of actions and behaviors would be thought admirable. Because of the aristocrats' attachments and tastes, good came to be
 synonymous with aristocratic values like "winning", "making money", "being confidently sexual", "knowing a lot", and 
 "securing fame". A short of their own virtue, the powerful, in ancient times slept soundly. 

 But the aristocracy's reign did not go unchallenged. There were too many weak, powerless, and downtrodden people at large.
 A mass of men and women, who Nietzsche alternately called "the slaves", "the plebians", or simply, "the herd". These peo-
 -ple, increasingly wanted to avenge themselves against the powerful. At the same time, they lacked any practical means of
 doing so: having no money, or political leverage. 

 Then they hit on an idea of genius: they would fight back against the rich and the strong with the weapon of guilt. They 
 couldn't attack the powerful physically, but they could leave them unable to sleep well at night. They would ruin them 
 via their consciences. A central in this avenge attak was, for Nietzsche, the ideology we know today as Christianity. 

 Christianity was, for the philosopher, a brilliant devilish instrument of revenge, dreamt up by the weak to make the
 strong feel guilty for their advantages. It was Christianity's strategy to relabel as "bad" everything once associated 
 with aristocratic values; and to anoit with a term "good", everything with which the herd was identified.

 So, in the new Christian moral scheme, having no money was relabeled "nobel poverty"; having no education was praised as
 "sincerity"; lacking sex was hailed as "chasitity", and as Nietzsche put it, not being able to take revenge, turned into
 "forgiveness". Envious for what they couldn't have, Christians made the powerful feel untenably guilty, and insisted that
 the kingdom of God belonged to the weak, the meek, the chaste, the poor, and the persecuted. 

 Nietzsche almost admired the audacity of this move, but at the same time, he held it to be responsible for an appalling 
 bad faith, and the degradation of European's civilization. In a cantankerous tone, he wrote that, the man of "ressentiment"
 is neither upright nor naive; nor honest and straight with himself; his soul squints; his mind loves dark corners, secret
 paths, and backdoors. 

 For Nietzsche, the psychological health of a person or society depends on being able to resist denigrating what one wants
 but can't have. It involves resisting the urge to deny the gaps in one's life for the sake of inner convenience. It is for
 Nietzsche always better to say what one wishes to be and have, rather than to twist one's entire personality to avoid dis-
 -comfort. We must, for the philosopher, be strong enough to face, and stay honest about our own misfortunes. 

 Though Nietzsche spent a lot of time studying Christinaity, he understood that the desire to redraw values on the basis of
 repressed envy was manoeuver that could appear under many guises. His attacks may seem harsh, and potentially even an 
 absurd defence of a boorish upperclass set of values, but it's important to remember that Nietzsche himself was no aristocrat.
 He lacked money, sex, an audience, friends, but he was committed to honesty with himself, and so didn't shirk away from
 admitting that in certain moods, he would dearly have wished to be more heroic, fulfilled, and brave, yet lack the talent
 to be so. 

 Nietzsche's message is that one of the most mature acts we are capable of, is to admit to the strength of our envy, and
 the scale of our regret, without falling prey to defensive philosophies of denial, in all their many and ingenious disguises. 

 Our Western philosophy cards feature 20 of the best ideas from Western philosophy. Click on the link on screen now to find
 out more.
	In dark honest moments, we are liable to recognize with considerable agony that there is so much missing from our lives. We
	've been unable to get quite the career we wanted; our partners may leave us largely unfulfilled; we may have made some
	catastrophic mistakes that can never be corrected; our appearance might be shameful and in decline; and there is, correspond-
	-ingly, so much that we envy.

	No philosopher has ever taken envy more seriously than Friedrich Nietzsche. The 19th century German philosopher described
	it as the most important emotion at work in individual and collective life. In his writings, he refer to it with a slightly
	unusual word, the French term "ressentiment", which places emphasis on the humiliation we experience in the face of what
	we desire but cannot have.

	In Nietzsche's book, On the Genealogy of Morality, published in 1887, the philosopher presents us with a ground-breaking
	diagonosis of envy. He opens with a speculative history of how our ideas of good and evil developed, and the crucial role
	of envy therein. In Ancient times, Nietzsche argued what counted as negative or positive was defined in a rather direct
	and simple way by the powerful -- those who held military, financial, and political authority -- got to decide what sort
	of actions and behaviors would be thought admirable. Because of the aristocrats' attachments and tastes, good came to be
	synonymous with aristocratic values like "winning", "making money", "being confidently sexual", "knowing a lot", and
	"securing fame". A short of their own virtue, the powerful, in ancient times slept soundly.

	But the aristocracy's reign did not go unchallenged. There were too many weak, powerless, and downtrodden people at large.
	A mass of men and women, who Nietzsche alternately called "the slaves", "the plebians", or simply, "the herd". These peo-
	-ple, increasingly wanted to avenge themselves against the powerful. At the same time, they lacked any practical means of
	doing so: having no money, or political leverage.

	Then they hit on an idea of genius: they would fight back against the rich and the strong with the weapon of guilt. They
	couldn't attack the powerful physically, but they could leave them unable to sleep well at night. They would ruin them
	via their consciences. A central in this avenge attak was, for Nietzsche, the ideology we know today as Christianity.

	Christianity was, for the philosopher, a brilliant devilish instrument of revenge, dreamt up by the weak to make the
	strong feel guilty for their advantages. It was Christianity's strategy to relabel as "bad" everything once associated
	with aristocratic values; and to anoit with a term "good", everything with which the herd was identified.

	So, in the new Christian moral scheme, having no money was relabeled "nobel poverty"; having no education was praised as
	"sincerity"; lacking sex was hailed as "chasitity", and as Nietzsche put it, not being able to take revenge, turned into
	"forgiveness". Envious for what they couldn't have, Christians made the powerful feel untenably guilty, and insisted that
	the kingdom of God belonged to the weak, the meek, the chaste, the poor, and the persecuted.

	Nietzsche almost admired the audacity of this move, but at the same time, he held it to be responsible for an appalling
	bad faith, and the degradation of European's civilization. In a cantankerous tone, he wrote that, the man of "ressentiment"
	is neither upright nor naive; nor honest and straight with himself; his soul squints; his mind loves dark corners, secret
	paths, and backdoors.

	For Nietzsche, the psychological health of a person or society depends on being able to resist denigrating what one wants
	but can't have. It involves resisting the urge to deny the gaps in one's life for the sake of inner convenience. It is for
	Nietzsche always better to say what one wishes to be and have, rather than to twist one's entire personality to avoid dis-
	-comfort. We must, for the philosopher, be strong enough to face, and stay honest about our own misfortunes.

	Though Nietzsche spent a lot of time studying Christinaity, he understood that the desire to redraw values on the basis of
	repressed envy was manoeuver that could appear under many guises. His attacks may seem harsh, and potentially even an
	absurd defence of a boorish upperclass set of values, but it's important to remember that Nietzsche himself was no aristocrat.
	He lacked money, sex, an audience, friends, but he was committed to honesty with himself, and so didn't shirk away from
	admitting that in certain moods, he would dearly have wished to be more heroic, fulfilled, and brave, yet lack the talent
	to be so.

	Nietzsche's message is that one of the most mature acts we are capable of, is to admit to the strength of our envy, and
	the scale of our regret, without falling prey to defensive philosophies of denial, in all their many and ingenious disguises.

	Our Western philosophy cards feature 20 of the best ideas from Western philosophy. Click on the link on screen now to find
	out more.