Ultimate Judgement Lies Within (Week 5 Post 5)

Nietzsche criticizes herd morality, evident in many religions, especially inChristianity. We have created our own notions of good and evil, things worthy ofheaven or damned to hell and turned it from opinion to fact. Religion also takesthe responsibility for much of life and its occurrences out of the hands of theindividual and blames it on the heavens instead, even claiming that this code ofgood and evil was ordained and enforced by a supreme ruler. At some point inearly history we stopped taking responsibility for our own moral judgments.

Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal (Week 5 Post 4)

Nietzsche insisted that we must redefine what we consider to be true values.Christian values were considered by Nietzsche to be "rehearsals" of true valuesso he argued for a transvaluation of vales, a reevaluation and reinterpretationto be carried out by those capable of doing so. He urged us to replace thevalues imposed by Christian morality, like humility, sympathy and unconditionallove with contrasting, empowering values like pride, apathy and strength. Hebelieved that Christian morality and its principles of humility and sympathyworked to suppress the will to power that he valued and considered a part of ournature and central to our advancement.

Same Product, New Look (Week 4 Post 8)

"The way to get income is to have new material." We see this repeatedly inadvertising as they change their packaging, their advertising technique, theirtarget market. Always keep the people wanting more. People, Americansespecially, like new things, new products, new ideas, even new religions. Cultleaders prey on that void inside many individuals. That desire to find somethingmeaningful that has yet to be found. Some even enjoy the trend factor. Buddhism,scientology, even Kabalah (?) have become trendy. It is way "cooler" to say youare Buddhist than to say you are Catholic. Or even better, to belong to some newreligion or `spiritual movement' that people don't even know about yet.

Beware the Kal (Week 4 Post 7)

This was my favorite article to read this semester. I nodded, I smiled, Ichuckled, I got a little mad and then a little sad. An emotional journey, if youwill, that placed me in the seat of the skeptic, the believer and the guru andallowed me to examine the facts (as presented by the author), from all angles.Lane, being a follower of Radhasoami, recognized right away that Eckancar hadplagiarized directly from Radhasoami texts, lied about biographical details andcommenced vast cover ups concerning the true origin of Eck's doctrines. Lane wascalled out as the Kal, the negative force that had been predicted from thebeginning of mankind. I think he kind of enjoyed this. The more they fought, themore he persisted. If someone is spreading information about you that is untrue,sure there is a sense of anger, but most, well adjusted people can laugh it off,shake it off, know that people who really know them will not believe it or willlike them anyway. When people get angry, when they stomp their feet and threatento sue you, to kill you to ruin your life, well, that's when you know you aregetting somewhere.

Hocus Pocus (Week 4 Post 5)

Nietzsche had great admiration for Christianity that served its originalpurpose- to elevate the weak and ailing populous. He was fond of sincere, piousChristians and had respect for the founder of Christianity but harbored illfeelings and animosity toward St. Paul and others who corrupted the originalintent of Christianity and turned it from hope for the lowly into a universalreligion that made war on aristocratic values. Nietzsche argued for theabandonment of the purely moral view of life. He believed that weakness andtimidity should no longer be considered values and that we should rekindle ourtrust in instincts. He called for a renunciation of "the whole hocus pocus" ofdogmatic religion and believed that we should do away with the falsearistocracies of politicians and priests.Nietzsche criticizes herd morality, evident in many religions, especially inChristianity. We have created our own notions of good and evil, things worthy ofheaven or damned to hell and turned it from opinion to fact. Religion also takesthe responsibility for much of life and its occurrences out of the hands of theindividual and blames it on the heavens instead, even claiming that this code ofgood and evil was ordained and enforced by a supreme ruler. At some point inearly history we stopped taking responsibility for our own moral judgments.

Sinner, Heal Thyself (Week 4 Post 6)

In Nietzsche's estimation we have killed God. He considered the death of God tohave occurred when "we" destroyed the foundation for human goodness, truth andbeauty. Long ago, a crutch was offered to humanity to ease our understanding ofthings previously unknown or incomprehensible. That crutch was God. The problemis, as more has become knowable and man begins to realize that there is no surefoundation, no God to command or reward us, no ultimate purpose-that we have tomake our own decisions and live with the consequences of them, a sense of panicemerges. People tend to prefer the world of their illusions. They are morecomfortable with their pretend games about God as the foundation for politicaland moral decisions. It makes it easier for them to sleep at night when they cantransfer the burden to someone else.Nietzsche's critique of religion stems from his belief that religion as it isis ugly and distorted with a self denying morality. The death of God then, isthe key to salvation since after that salvation has to become an act of humanwill rather than relying on the grace and mercy of God. We have to relinquishthe idea of destiny being handed to us by God and take responsibility forourselves and our way in the world.

It's Evolutionary My Dear Watson (Week 6 Post 3)

The nature vs. nurture principle asks what percentage of behavior and specificcharacter traits is related to genes compared to the percentage related toenvironment. Watson says that since `nurture' is hard to quantitate even thoughits role is evident in such examples as the second child who is completelydifferent than the first born (I have one of those), he chooses to focus onnature or genetics.Watson suggests that a bright child is bright more so because of good genes thanbecause of good teachers. However, we do know that environment does play somepart in this whole puzzle. Establishing how large a part is not so easy. Allhumans have different potentials but if certain genetic mutations can beattributed to neurological disorders then we can begin to better predict andeventually control the occurrences of autism, schizophrenia, depression,alzheimers, etc. Watson enlists the help of eager young scientists to help inhis search for a genetic basis for neurological disorders.