I started reading this essay today and i have only managed to go through a little less than half of the text, but i think the text has enough ideas to begin a reflection on it, and hence, i am dividing my reflection on the article into two or three of posts. so heres the first one.
i will start by quoting him from the text.
"for the health of a
single individual, a people, and a culture the unhistorical and the historical
are equally essential"
The text introduces two ways of perceiving the world around, which he terms, a historical way of looking and the other, its opposite. According to him a historical being perceives the events of the world with his/her footing in the past. events of the past define the being's identity and to a large extent, define how he/she responds and reacts
to the present moment,While an ahistorical being, like a baby, or beasts, react purely to the present with no baggage from the past or no premonitions about the future.
Im confused about this myself and am only beginning to grasp what nietzsche is implying with his text.
on one hand i feel that a person is not an isolated being, he is social and historically tied to his past.i can talk of this from my personal experience to some extent. during the teenage years, it came naturally to me to reject all the ideals, the methods of working that my ancestry tried to instill in me, and i tried to run away and move in tangential directions to where they wanted me to go and how they saw me growing up.little did i realise, that even in my attempt at moving away, i was still very much connected to my past, even if seemingly i was running away from it.only now is when im realising that this history that i seemed to perceive as a heavy weight always trying to drag me down was nothing but a great pool of things for me to draw from. only now is when i realise its my unique history and upbringing unlike anyone elses and a slight sense of attachement has begun to grow.
Im not saying that change is bad and there is a need to cling unhealthily to the past, but definitely if history helps you grow and move forward and enlivens your actions, its definitely a good thing.
on the other hand living historically might at times seem like a burden which prevents you from the experience of the present moment.
Nothing lives which
would be worthy
of your striving, and
the earth deserves not a sigh.
Pain and boredom is
our being and the world is excrement,
—nothing
else.
Calm yourself.*
So i agree which nietzche when he says that both a mix of historical and unhistorical perceptions are needed for the life of a healthy human.
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