Good morning!

Today we’re getting into another, broader concept from the start of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil where he argues that our morality might not actually be ours. Burning that off, we’re going to do a thought exercise called the Inheritance Check. Wrapping up with our Book Nook, we’re going to take a look at §77, where we’ll find one of the many powerful lines in this book.

Have a seat, Thought Breakfast is served!

We inherit moral language very early in our lives. Family, school, religion, and culture spoon-feed us with ideas of the good and bad, the success and shame, the truth and falsehood from day one. Most of this happens before we get the chance to question it.

After all, “The Adults Are Talking” as The Strokes would say.

Now, what does that do to us? Others’ approval disguises itself to us as virtue. We think that by adhering to the rules we were given, and making everyone else happy, we’re really doing good — we’re really being moral. What is good here? It’s what’s acceptable, polite, approved, and non-threatening. Therefore, social belonging becomes our moral certainty.

Nietzsche asks us to dig deep down and find out where our morals really came from. Are you really living a “good life?” Or are you just one of the world’s best-tamed beasts? At the center of it, Nietzsche is questioning whether morality is truth, or simply inherited obedience (take a wild guess at which answer he chose).

But now what? Where does it go from here?

The purpose is not to rip away everything you’ve ever known about morality, but to examine it clearly. Real freedom requires asking questions like “why do I believe this?” or “who benefits from this value of mine?” or “Is this my true conviction? or mere conformity?”

Values should be put under the microscope. They should be studied, tested, and lived so that they can be truly yours.

Ask yourself:

“With one’s principles one seeks to tyrannize over one’s habits or to justify or honor or scold or conceal them — two people with the same principles probably seek something fundamentally different with them.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil §77

Nietzsche is a very controversial figure and this is no exception. He is pointing out that our principles are often less pure than we like to pretend they are. We like to think our morals come from truth or reason, but more often than not they are built around our habits, which themselves are shaped by fear and desire. We use principles to justify the life we already live, as well as to scold or conceal the parts of ourselves we’d rather not confront. Two people can reach the same value while using it for completely different reasons. One child learned manners by being rewarded with food, while another learned manners through social shaming. A psychologist would say that each child has a different psychological attachment to their politeness. The real question is not just what you believe, but why you believe it.

Munch on that for today. Have a great day, and come back tomorrow for another steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!

Yeah. That Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast