God is Dead and we have killed him!

As you well know, my class right now is a philosophy class. I was very concerned at the beginning of the class. I have always HATED philosophy classes. The main reason is that all that I have taken int he past have been about tearing down religion, about proving (as if they could) that there is no God and that life is in all actuality only what we make of it and for the most part meaningless outside of ourselves. So naturally I started this class nervous and scared that I would have to deal with that attitude again.

The class from the beginning has gone exceptionally well. Not at all what I had expected it to be. Maybe it was a fresh outlook on it. Philosophy being used to explain my religion instead of tear it down. Philosophy giving the words to be able to speak to others who have no real clue about philosophy but for some reason understand its principals enough to be dangerous. Anyways, it has been going very well. I received a 25/25 on my first essay. I will post it later. I have been cautious to do that since, anyone could pick it up and plagerize me. But I will post it later.

So that all being said, this past week, I was introduced to Nietzsche who is the author of the quote I have chosen for the title of this post. And wow, was I ready to scream. My class that I had just learned to deal with and appreciate was about to be thrown out the window. Until I read it in context and at that point I nearly cried like a baby because what he was saying has come to fruition today. Read it and let me know your gut reaction. It may take a time or two to really get what he is saying. But tell me what it makes you feel! I'm writing my next essay on this. (And I don't know why it is called "The Gay Science." I haven't read the whole book, just this portion. I am going to go buy it though.)

THE GAY SCIENCE
Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich W. Nietzsche (1844-1944), a German Romantic philosopher, was born in Rochen, a Prussian province Saxony. His academic training was in Theology, Classical Languages and literature at the University of Bonn. He was a Professor at
the University of Basle until 1879 when he resigned for health reasons.

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 aboutwho 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? Backwards, sideways, forwards, 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 ourselves, 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 traveling - 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 themselves!"

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?"