Good Morning Everyone!! Happy Friday!! Sisyphus’ boulder is atop the hill. You got it there. Congrats! The boulder resets on Monday, so enjoy the view while it lasts.

Today, for our main course, we’re looking to a widely popular philosopher that we haven’t covered yet: Friedrich Nietzsche. We’re going to see how Nietzsche sees reflection as self-overcoming. To burn that off, we’ll do a Nietzschean micro-overcoming thought exercise. To wrap it up, we’ll take a small quote from Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil.

This should be a fun one, so pull up your seat. Thought Breakfast is served!

Nietzsche presents (and critiques) a phenomenon that we haven’t covered yet in this week’s series: reflective paralysis. This phenomenon happens when thinking replaces action. Nietzsche tells us that true reflection exposes weakness, stagnation, and contradictions that we might hold. The purpose of this type of reflection is to ignite change, and not to just to ruminate.

It can be argued that Nietzsche’s view on reflection is tantamount to philosophical inquiry as a whole. What is philosophy if you don’t practice? Just a rabbit hole of meaningless thought to occupy your time?

For Nietzsche, all insight must culminate into self-overcoming. You use reflection to become a stronger, clearer version of yourself. Reflection reveals where you’re timid, where you’re dishonest with yourself, and where you’ve avoided responsibility.

The direction you take after reflecting is choosing what kind of person you are becoming and acting toward that choice.

The point that Nietzsche really hammers down on is that this confrontation with oneself MUST lead to transformation. If it doesn’t, then it’s nothing but wallowing.

Nietzsche says in The Gay Science, “Become who you are.”

Not “become who you want to be.” Not “become what you should be.”

These four words of his offer great insight into the path to self-growth or even a more low-key self-care agenda. Again, stop trying to be something you’re not. Run from yourself, and you’ll be no better than a dog chasing its own tail. Confront yourself and the layers will peel back and your true self will be realized.

When Nietzsche calls it a “self-overcoming,” he doesn’t mean conquering your entire self. Rather, he means overcoming the environmental conditions that shaped your internal and external profile profile in the first place. This goes back to Kierkegaard highlighting the environmental influence on our “self.” You have to peel back those surface layers to find your true self.

Without action, reflection is rumination. With action, reflection is power.

Identify something you’ve reflected on with us over the past week that made you a little uncomfortable.

Ask yourself:

The action should:

The point of this exercise is that self-overcoming begins with one decisive gesture or action… not any drawn-out plan to completely change who you are.

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. The noble soul has reverence for itself.” - Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

This famous line of Nietzsche’s has transcended centuries, and the insight can be applied to almost anything. For this topic, we can say that reflection helps us identify our “why.” Our “why” is the orienting principle that makes any action meaningful.

The direction we choose doesn’t come from mood or motivation. Those are just excuses that people use to stall growth. The direction we choose comes from a clarified sense of purpose.

To Nietzsche, the “how” becomes bearable when the “why” is chosen, internalized, and acted upon. When he says the soul has “reverence for itself,” he means treating your life seriously enough to choose a direction intentionally.

So to sum it up, direction is what’s behind the door labeled “reflection.” Nietzsche shows us in this small quote that purpose serves as the hinge between reflection and direction. Basically, you have to accept and face where you came from to figure out where you’re going.

Munch on that for today. It’s hard to wrap Nietzsche into a six-minute newsletter for people who just woke up, but I think we did a good job here. Have a great weekend, and come back on Monday for another steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!

Thank you for reading along with us today! If you enjoy this content, and want to start your days grounded in thought and mindfulness, I suggest you have a seat at our table! Smash that button below to check out more editions and subscribe!

Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast

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