Single Idea 20137

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 8. Eternal Recurrence]

Full Idea

There is an ideal ...of the most exuberant, most living and most world-affirming man, who has not only learned to get on and treat with all that was and is, but who wants to have it again as it was and is to all eternity.

Gist of Idea

The great person engages wholly with life, and is happy to endlessly relive the life they created

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil [1886], §056)

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Beyond Good and Evil', ed/tr. Hollingdale,R.J. [Penguin 1973], p.64


A Reaction

This seems to be the main point of the idea of eternal recurrence. Could we inculcate this vision into the teenagers of our nation - that they should each try to design for themselves a life which they would be happy to endlessly repeat? Hm.