Epigram #153 from Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil continues to haunt me. Each of the Epigrams and Interludes of Part IV is worthy of a month’s study, but this one feels like it will take a lifetime to really understand.
At 51 years old, I feel certain that I have loved and been loved a handful of beautiful times in my life. And I’ve always thought of the loving words of my grandmother, the protective hug of my father, the intimate kiss from a lover, the smile of my kid while taking out the trash, the delight in the gift from my daughter… I’ve always thought that all of these were good.
Perhaps Nietzche is right. Maybe they are before and after the judgement of my reason. And those acts of love are certainly more complex than to receive the simple label of “good.” They are beyond a whole lifetime of loving. They encompass generations of relationships and centuries of evolution to resolve in simple acts with so many meanings.
It’s this departure from black and white that attracts me to Nietzsche and drives me towards understanding love. In a philosophy of the future…
