The Eternal Recurrence of Tragedy and Joy in Life

Thought from Nietzsche:

If a demon came to you and told you– “This life, everything you have experienced in life, all the joys, all the pains and tragedies, all the regrets, all the pains and sufferings were to happen for eternity and on loop forever”, would you respond by telling the demon: “This is the most blessed thing I have ever heard, thank you you are a god!” or would you gnash and wail your teeth forever?

Eternal Recurrence of both pain AND joy.

This is the thought:

Life is beautiful *because* of the pain, suffering, and questionable parts of existence.

A lot of philosophers and thinkers tell us:

All pain and suffering is bad. The best life is the life with no pain and suffering (Epicurus, Buddhism, Christianity).

But pain and suffering is actually what makes life sweeter.

Is it a duty to eliminate pain and suffering from life?

We cannot have the good without the bad. The sweet without the bitter. The bitter without the sweet. The joy within the pain, the gratitude without suffering. It’s like desiring to have the joy of eating food without hunger, or the joy of drinking water without thirst. Pain is a prerequisite to life.

Love it all!

Love it all! Love all parts of existence! Find deep gratitude for all the pain, suffering, and scars of your past. Love all the questionable things about reality. Love the cruelty, the injustice, the strife, the death, war, and all which is horrible. Without it, you would not have become you.

ERIC

PHILOSOPHY BY KIM

Stoic Collage ERIC KIM -resized

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