I'm reading this paper, which I think is very informative about the modernist crisis in faith of any kind that what we feel and think possesses, somehow, intrinsic meaning. The paper has recalled for me Eliot's great poem "Ash Wednesday," which I submit as a supplement to what lies in the background of the paper -- the emotion (the crippled emotion) afflicting the modernists. Too long to quote, so please read it at this link:
Ash Wednesday: Ash Wednesday by TS Eliot
What's being called 'theism without God' is something we need to understand, if possible in Heidegger (though he was tortured by his own psychological demons and therefore unable to speak for those still possessing a more whole and hale sense of the possibilities of the human spirit). Given Heidegger's emotional limitations, an immense burden on his thinking, I do think we need to look also to other thinkers such as Wieman, whose ideas are presented in the paper Steve linked. I'm trying to catch up on the conversation since last night and hope we can actually discuss what was at stake in the modernist effort to maintain a conviction of purposefulness and value in human existence after the 'death of God'. I hope you both agree to read the paper on Wieman and also Ash Wednesday and discuss them here without misunderstandings if possible.
I'm trying to catch up on the conversation since last night and hope we can actually discuss what was at stake in the modernist effort to maintain a conviction of purposefulness and value in human existence after the 'death of God'
I'm game! ... re-reading the article and
reading Ash Wednesday, now.
Here are some early mentions by Nietzsche of God is Dead (see also Zarathustra) - the point at the end of 125 below (
italics) is that Nietzsche was a prophet and foresaw this and it's effects, which many believe have yet to fully play out - I agree.
Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1887)
Neue Kämpfe. — Nachdem Buddha todt war, zeigte man noch Jahrhunderte lang seinen Schatten in einer Höhle, — einen ungeheuren schauerlichen Schatten. Gott ist todt: aber so wie die Art der Menschen ist, wird es vielleicht noch Jahrtausende lang Höhlen geben, in denen man seinen Schatten zeigt. — Und wir — wir müssen auch noch seinen Schatten besiegen!
The Gay Science/Joyful Wisdom, section 108 (Thomas Common translation):
108.
New Struggles. After Buddha was dead people showed his shadow for centuries afterwards in a cave, an immense frightful shadow. God is dead:— but as the human race is constituted, there will perhaps be caves for millenniums yet, in which people will show his shadow. And we we have still to overcome his shadow!
And my more literal translation - an attempt to give a taste of Nietzsche's original style:
After the time Buddha of Buddha's death, his shadow was shown for centuries in a cave, - a monstrous ghastly shadow. God is dead: but the way people are, there will perhaps be caves in which his shadow will be shown. And we - we must also still defeat his shadow!
125.
The Madman. Have you ever heard of the madman who on a bright morning lighted a lantern and ran to the market-place calling out unceasingly: “I seek God! I seek God! “ As there were many people standing about who did not believe in God, he caused a great deal of amusement. Why! is he lost? said one. Has he strayed away like a child? said another. Or does he keep himself hidden? Is he afraid of us? Has he taken a sea-voyage? Has he emigrated? the people cried out laughingly, all in a hubbub. The insane man jumped into their midst and transfixed them with his glances. “Where is God gone? “ he called out. “I mean to tell you! We have killed him — you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun? Whither does it now move? Whither do we move? Away from all suns? Do we not dash on unceasingly? Back wards, sideways, forewards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Do we not stray, as through infinite nothingness? Does not empty space breathe upon us? Has it not become colder? Does not night come on continually, darker and darker? Shall we not have to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying God? Do we not smell the divine putrefaction? for even Gods putrefy! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console our selves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife, who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What lustrums, what sacred games shall we have to devise? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us? Shall we not ourselves have to become Gods, merely to seem worthy of it? There never was a greater event, and on account of it, all who are born after us belong to a higher history than any history hitherto!” Here the madman was silent and looked again at his hearers; they also were silent and looked at him in surprise. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, so that it broke in pieces and was extinguished.
“ I come too early,” he then said, “ I am not yet at the right time. This prodigious event is still on its way, and is travelling, it has not yet reached men’s ears. Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard. This deed is as yet further from them than the furthest star, and yet they have done it!” It is further stated that the madman made his way into different churches on the same day, and there intoned his Requiem aeternam deo. When led out and called to account, he always gave the reply: “ What are these churches now, if they are not the tombs and monuments of God? ”
