NIETZSCHE: Eternal Recurrence Is Real (in the Will to Power Notes)

If we read the book the Will to Power, which is really a compilation of notes, released after Nietzsche’s death, and compiled by his sister, a different picture of the Eternal Recurrence comes to light. We see an attempt by Nietzsche to offer a kind of materialist framework in which the Eternal Recurrence is not merely a thought-experiment, but an actual state of affairs.

The problem is, that this compilation of notes is not generally viewed as a canonical work by Nietzsche. That is to say, scholars disagree on whether or not the ideas in this work truly represent Nietzsche’s own views. There is considerable debate as to the influence of his sister in the compilation of these notes. Did she make changes? Did she make things up? Did she add a word or sentence here and there? For the purposes of this video, we will not concern ourselves with these questions, but as we go on, it’s important to keep this in mind.

The entire final chapter of The Will to Power is devoted to the Eternal Recurrence. 14 notes in total deal with the subject. They present a radically different picture of the Eternal Recurrence than we saw in Nietzsche’s earlier writings.

We see how the concept of the Eternal Recurrence has become more than a thought experiment, as it was first formulated in The Joyful Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

If we take this conception of the universe as a fact, it follows that the universe was not created, but that it has always existed. It implies time is not linear, but cyclical.

The cyclical nature of time is found in other systems of thought, notably in Eastern religion, but also in Norse mythology and Greek philosophy – notably with the Pythagoreans. In fact, the conception of time as linear has only really been found in one religion: the Judeo-Christian one which has since come to dominate Western thought.

Because of this, Nietzsche finds with his new conception of the Eternal Recurrence another breaking point with Christian values. By asserting the cyclical nature of time as an actual reality instead of a thought experiment, he can deliver another blow to the Christian worldview, which fits into his greater project of bringing about a transvaluation of values.

The point is that Nietzsche has found a physical basis, not just a theoretical or moral basis, to assign a positive value to the material world.

If everything repeats itself and comes back again for all eternity, then this present moment, this material world of ours, becomes of great importance. Every moment is eternal. Every single experience of your life is now part of the absolute, part of a perpetual cycle.

Our life is not just “a lightning flash between two eternities”, as Schopenhauer puts it, but an everlasting light.

This is the most radical formulation of a life-affirming philosophy. By promoting the Eternal Recurrence from a theoretical thought-experiment to an actual, physical reality, Nietzsche seeks to affirm life in a very true and real sense. The Eternal Recurrence becomes a more serious matter. It’s the difference between living your life as if something was true, versus living your life knowing something is true.

[dn]

On transcendence and Hinterwelt: You mentioned buddhism. It's actually quite interesting to look at the points where Nietzsche and buddhism, especially eastern chan/zen buddhis intersect. I'd actually say buddhism can be very anti-hinterwelt. Some mahayana buddhists could even say that samsara and nirvana describe the same thing, with the difference stemming from the difference between a non enlightened and an enlightened mind, that every single moment/event is interdependent on everything else and the absolute can be found in it and that the enlightened person leaves all non-concrete conceptions behind and joyfully soaks up every instance, full of worldly acceptance. In zen buddhism the most spiritual and informative practice is to simply exist and take notice of it (basically zazen). Idk what's more worldly than that.

[Eternalised]

Marvelous. Really enjoyed this collaboration! :)

[caseh]

Two of my favourite philosophy explanation channels collaborating? Man I am lucky

[TheLivingPhilosophy]

Awesome to see yours and Eternalised complementary takes on the subject great stuff! I've always found the difference between linear and cyclical mythologies to be quite interesting because of the downstream effects. The story that comes to mind is of when Alexander the Great first arrived in India and there was a gymnosophist (naked wise man) meditating on a rock and to each the other was absurd. The gymnosophist said that Alexander could reach the peak of the mountain only to find that there were hundreds of flags there before him. How much of our own prepossession with progress and the actual attainment of material progress caused by this linear view of time. I think the linear mythology of time lends itself to material progress while the cyclical lends itself to spiritual progress. And that makes what Nietzsche is doing with the Eternal Recurrence just fascinating because where does that fit into this model? Anyway just a thought that came to mind great video!

[RtaniDean]

Interestingly, “14 notes” seem Shakespearean in the continuity of Sonnets, 14 line poems! Kinda cool how elements seem to resonate with each other, such as you even mention Shakespeare. You have a deep inner-awareness in all these ideals / ideas as presented. Your channel is truly intriguing and this being is grateful to you and all who contribute and comment. Thank you. Dean

[artemaizcacao]

Once I drew a design about the complementarity of opposites, some 6 or 7 years ago, and I babtized my art as eternal coming back....years later I had a NDE (near death experience) and the godlike person or being that I saw told me, hei, this is all necesary, all this lifes, expresions, experiences, shape worlds, Solar sistems, galaxys, and as well as in a microcosmic fractal side, we are all coming once again and again to this human experience, everyone is necesary....vielen dank for the video and greetings from tropical Costa Rica, Tschüss-Pura vida

[frankchilds]

This is Great 👍 This is where Nietsche touched Mahayna Buddhist thought. In brief, one comes to see that this very moment, no matter how vain is eternity itself. This is a logic beyond thinking. So be it. The power to keep living comes from this.

[InspirationFromThePast]

It does, make sense for sure, snake eats it tale for sure, and circle of life just keeps repeating itself. Great collab guys, well done.

[progers]

Please note at the start of the formulation in the Will to Power, Nietzsche writes “if” the world can be thought of as measurable etc. In other words, Nietzsche only claimed it would be true under those assumption, which he did not agree with, as we know from elsewhere.

[lilatolouian]

Has anyone ever told you what a soothingly clear and nice voice you have? I feel like I could listen for hours!

[sethmichaels.]

Well I'm believer in the eternal recurrence

[nonserviam]

It was weird, when first you uploaded this I had just the night before been reading on this, from the Will to Power. I was reluctant to watch then because I wasn't in the mood to think about it.
But it keeps coming up; keeps recurring.

[johnny_veritas]

I'm tired of watching this video an infinite number of times yet counting only one view. Give this man infinite ad revenue. lol

[michaelp.]

This is a very well put video, congratulations. I'd love to see some Aristotle in this channel.

[sigvardbjorkman]

This makes me think of the hammer of Thor that symbilizes not just the heartbeat but as such the life force itself. Given that the same people that believed in Thor also believed in circular time rather than abrahamic linear time I think it is a quite interesting parallell if he ever had it in mind.

[mingmiao]

I think the notion of eternal recurrence also makes sense from a Schopenhauerian perspective. Since the will, the thing-in-itself, is eternal and unchangeable, it then follows that its manifestations, regardless of how innumerable and diverse they can be, must reoccur over and over again. Schopenhauer also said we can think of the everyday world as embodied music. Eternal recurrence, or the circular nature of history, is akin to a musical melody repeating itself.

[ryokan]

I'm guessing the only way to determine if Nietzsche changed his mind about eternal recurrence is to ascertain the exact dates of those aphorisms 1053-1067.

1888 was the most productive year for Nietzsche with regard to his works that were intended for publication just before his mental breakdown at the beginning of 1889. It's worth noting that none of those works indicate that Nietzsche had changed his mind about eternal recurrence. If it could be demonstrated that the aphorisms 1053-1067 from the eternal recurrence chapter from The Will to Power were composed before 1888, then that would suggest that those aphorisms are nothing more than thought experiments, especially in light of the fact that Nietzsche strongly rejected metaphysics. Also in Ecce Homo, Nietzsche indicates that Thus Spoke Zarathustra contains his entire philosophy and all subsequent works are elaborations of that book even if he says things very differently.

I would be really interested if anybody could demonstrate if Nietzsche really had changed his mind.

[lalsenarath]

Internal recurrence assumes time as an independent quality of the world. Also assumes the quantity of infinity. It cannot be said that such is something external to human brain. These qualities are a large part brain, and small part imparical world.

[shengcer]

This last interpretation of eternal recurrence from will to power really undermines Nietzsche’s powerful wisdom. It is a shallow thought in that random ordering would result in something meaningful and repeatedly endlessly. It runs against the 2nd law of thermodynamics. I tend to believe Nietzsche was reluctant to publish these aporphisms because they were not really representative to his philosophies, but his sister did anyway.

[dipkhatiwada]

I think eternal recurrence is true . I had a similar experience where i had deja vu that lasted for hours, and had prolonged episodes of deja vu for months . Although i would never be able to prove this, because i can't explain this how something like that could happen without a empirical evidence to provide for