For the frustrated soul in a broken world, freedom is more temptation than promise, especially considered as two apparently opposite options. \u00a0First is the Confucian Gentleman, who lives the freedom of the mature and moral man. \u00a0He is described in Confucius’ famous “autobiography” that culminates in the assertion that, at 70 years old, he can follow every desire of his heart and never veer from the path of morality. \u00a0This is the moral marvel of those positive souls that think they can become virtuous. \u00a0This is the temptation of the proud and self-assured. \u00a0It is, perhaps at its most realistic, the temptation of those whose moral standards are low enough to be met. \u00a0The opposite option is the Nietzschean Overman. \u00a0Here morality is abandoned, not for wild self-indulgence, but because it is seen to be empty, meaningless, the self-delusion of those finite souls that think a few hundred years of human “progress” is evidence \u00a0of our perfectibility. \u00a0But the Overman sees in all morality the self-conflict of the soul, the division of the individual. \u00a0And so, when God dies and morality fades away like the echoes of His death rattle, the Overman discovers himself free. \u00a0Thus is the Overman like the Gentleman, free of moral concern, free of moral duty, free to act in any manner he pleases. \u00a0This is the tmeptation of the despairing. \u00a0And as the Confucian Gentleman is more likely in our world to be the self-confidence of those those moral standards are low enough to be met, so is the Nietzschean Overman more likely to be the adolescent indulgence of those who hide moral virtues in the darker corners of their dishonest hearts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the frustrated soul in a broken world, freedom is more temptation than promise, especially considered as two apparently opposite options. \u00a0First is the Confucian Gentleman, who lives the freedom of the mature and moral man. \u00a0He is described in … Continue reading