Date: Sat, 06 Jun 1998 13:38:55 -0700
From: Mike Staples <mstaples-AT-argusqa.com>
Subject: Re: God and Being


Michael Eldred wrote:

> Cologne 05 June 1998
>
> Mike Staples schrieb:
> > Michael, where does the experience of the "purposfullness" come into
>
> > play? It often seems to me that such purpsefullness is an essential
> > element in our thinking about God.
>
> The question of purpose or meaning is indeed central, Michael. The
> metaphysical
> God is the great Sinngeber, the provider of meaning 'behind it all'.
>
> Nietzsche writes on this (Kritische Studienausgabe 13:46 cf. Heidegger
> NII:56):
>
> "Der Nihilismus als psychologischer Zustand wird eintreten muessen,
> erstens,
> wenn wir einen 'Sinn' in allem Geschehen gesucht haben, der nicht
> darin ist: so
> dass der Sucher endlich den Mut verliert. Nihilismus ist dann das
> Bewusstwerden
> der langen Vergeudung von Kraft, die Qual des 'Umsonst', die
> Unsicherheit, der
> Mangel an Gelegenheit, sich irgendwie zu erholen, irgendworueber noch
> zu
> beruhigen -- die Scham vor sich selbst, als habe man sich allzulange
> betrogen...
> Jener Sinn koennte gewesen sein: die 'Erfuellung' eines sittlichen
> hoechsten
> Kanons in allem Geschehen, die sittliche Weltordnung; oder die Zunahme
> der Liebe
> und Harmonie im Verkehr der Wesen; oder die Annaeherung an einen
> allgemeinen
> Gluecks-Zustand; oder selbst das Losgehen auf einen allgemeinen
> Nichts-Zustand
> -- ein Ziel ist immer noch ein Sinn. Das Gemeinsame aller dieser
> Vorstellungsarten ist, dass ein Etwas durch den Prozess selbst
> erreicht werden
> soll: -- und nun begreift man, dass mit dem Werden nichts erzielt,
> nichts
> erreicht wird..." (kursiv weggelassen)
>
> roughly:
> "Nihilism as a psychological state has to come about, firstly, when we
> have
> sought a meaning in everything that happens which is not in these
> happenings; so
> that the seeker finally loses courage. Nihilism is then the becoming
> aware of
> the long waste of energy, the torment of 'for nothing', the
> insecurity, the lack
> of opportunity to recuperate in some way or other, to still find peace
> in
> something or other -- the shame about oneself, as if one had cheated
> oneself for
> far too long... This meaning may have been: the 'fulfilment' of a
> supreme
> ethical canon in everything that happens, the ethical world-order; or
> the
> increase in love and harmony in the intercourse between beings; or the
> approach
> towards a universal state of happiness; or even setting out for a
> general state
> of nothingness -- an aim is still a meaning. What is common to all
> these kinds
> of ideas is that something is supposed to be reached through the
> process itself:
> -- and now it is grasped that through becoming nothing is achieved,
> nothing is
> reached..." (italics omitted)
>
> The plug pulled out of the meaning socket.
>
> Unchained from meaning, humankind hurtles through space like a
> renegade meteor.
> Bad weather is coming. Nietzsche calls for strength to withstand the
> vacuum of
> meaning, to look nihilism in the face.

So Michael, I'm not sure what to make of this. I need it spelled out
(spoon-fed). I understand that Heidegger does not necessarily dissagree
with Nietzsche on all point. I was under the impression that Heidegger
did not agree with Nietzsche on the issue of Nihilism, which he is using
to open the passage you quote.

When you say that "The question of purpose or meaning is indeed central,
Michael. The metaphysical
God is the great Sinngeber, the provider of meaning 'behind it all'." I
hear your dissagreement with this proposition. Are you then saying that
because there may not be a great Sinngeber, that there is no alternative
that saves man from being unplugged from meaning (purpose)? It seems as
though Heidegger quite often offers unique alternatives...e.g., the
opposite of something is not necessarily nothing (perhaps I am not
stating this correctly, but perhaps you know what I mean). So...where is
the creative alternative to purposefullness??

Michael Staples






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