Friedrich Nietzsche on Human Complacency and Religion

What is the meaning of life? Why are we here in this world at this exact time? Truth be told, questions like these are harder to answer than some of the most complicated equations in history.

But let’s break it down, why is that? This has been a question that people have been thinking of for centuries. The main reason is unlike a lot of questions you see in tests, you can’t find a real answer. There’s nothing that says you got the correct answer but rather we assume that we do.

Let’s look at another one, does god exist? The number of conversations that are had about this is out of this world. But similar to the example above, there is no solid answer, you either choose to believe or don’t based on several factors.

Let’s take a moment to introduce Friedrich Nietzsche, a German Philosopher who was known for his rather controversial statements on a variety of topics. Today, we’re going to talk about his views on religion and how it leads to complacency.

Point 1: Why aren’t more people Nihilistic

Nihilism is the idea that all beliefs that people hold essentially have no evidence and that nothing is known for certain. Almost everyone thinks of questions like what is my life.

So you would think that everyone would have some sort of nihilism in them. This is why Neitzche wondered why it was almost the opposite where people would believe that their life has a purpose or believe in things that simply couldn’t be proved.

He thought that the main reason that people aren’t Neilistic despite always wondering questions like why they exist is just simply that there was another option that was more welcomed/common.

Point 2: True World Theories

Neitzche called these options, true world theories. There are 100’s of them but the idea is that all of them are much better than earth because they give us everlasting happiness and relieve us of the countless issues we have in our daily lives.

A lot of different religions believe in indifferent true worlds. Christianity believes in Heaven, forms of Hinduism believes in reincarnation, etc. What I personally found interesting was what Neitzche said about these “True Worlds”.

Point 3: Looking at Neitzche himself

His view was that people who subscribe to them have a tendency to be complacent with life. Now he was aware that it was a bold statement. But one thing that’s important to remember about Neitzche was he didn’t have hate towards these religions nor was he fully nihilistic.

At the end of the day, just like all other philosophers, he wanted to uncover the truth about the world and why we do the things that we do. However, instead of looking at this idea like every other philosopher had, Neitzche wanted to take the contrarian approach to spark more thought and questioning.

He wasn’t anti-religious, he just wanted to challenge what most people think about on a day to day basis. His motivation is understanding the underlying incentive that people have of making these realities.

Point 4: Why Nietzche viewed religion as complacency

Like I was saying, Neitzche said that the people who believe in these different true worlds tend to become complacent with their life. Out of all the religions, Neitzche was the most spoken about Christianity so let’s look at that for the purpose of understanding.

He said that Christianity is an example of how religion denies certain characteristics that can be associated with living the best possible life. The idea of sinning could make people ashamed of their instincts or their sexuality.

Faith can discourage curiosity in the sense of looking at things as more than just a predetermined destiny. You can start to see how different values that Christianity has could limit how people live their lives.

When we look at true worlds, and in Christianity, that true world is heaven. Heaven is where presumably, all that goes away and nothing you experience here can come close to what you experience in the hereafter. To some, this world is just a test to decide if you go to heaven or hell.

Nietzsche argued that this idea of an afterlife can discourage people to live this life to the fullest because they want to secure a spot there.

Point 5: My Perspective

And in my opinion at least, what he’s saying makes sense. Having rules and beliefs in certain things definitely can limit what you will do for something or someone.

I find it interesting how in this case, everything that Neitzche says makes sense but he is misunderstood to people who heavily believe in religion. The base of this whole idea is that people who follow religion won’t do something because the rules in the religion hold them back.

Living your life by being complacent with what life gives you because it’s fate or destiny doesn’t make sense to me. However, I’m sure that this doesn’t apply to everyone who believes in religion but I think the concept still holds true.

I think that taking this to the extreme isn’t that uncommon. If you committed a felony, from my perspective, it wouldn’t be right to think that God will take care of you are protect you instead of focusing on getting out of that situation.

After learning about Neitzche, I think that example is exactly why he believes that religion can lead to complacency and occasionally ignorant decisions. I think the devil's advocate approach he had for things like this is exactly what creates insight, progress, and thought.

TL;DR

• Friedrich Nietzsche was a German Philosopher who was known for his controversial opinions on a variety of subjects. He was rather misunderstood as attacking the religion but he was more focused on explaining the reason behind it.
• One of his main ones was his thoughts on religion/true worlds and how they lead to complacency with life.
• He thought that religion denies certain things that lead to being the best version of yourself. An example being how having faith can lead to you not taking action in a situation because you have too much faith.