Seliger Stehlen
“Stehlen ist oft seliger als nehmen.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
The quote above comes from a collection Böse Weisheit — Sprüche und Sprichwörtliches apparently published in 1883 according to this (http://www.friedrichnietzsche.de/?REM_sessid=&action=21&start=27) It can be translated along the lines of “stealing is often more blessed (blissful?) than taking.” But there’s something lost in the translation, as there often is. It was incorporated into Also sprach Zarathustra Deutsch English in different places in slightly different quotes. I admit when I first read it, I thought it was directly in Zarathustra, but when I went to read it again to reference it (trying to always do book references and re-readings best I can) I didn’t find it so I had to dig a little.
This quote actually first came to my attention from the cover of Nietzsche zum Vergnügen https://amzn.to/2WBQs0J one of my more favorite Reclam pocketbooks. The original version is a blue one, which is fitting for today’s element. The newest edition is no longer blue unfortunately. Nietzsche was my main point of reference for nihilism and really my first encounter with it, where I think I truly internalized it. It’s not directly related to Absurdism, but peripherally Nietzsche not only had great influence on Camus and his thought, he loved a good “paradox,” the idea that one must recognize one thing but do another. Nietzsche recognized if nothing else that life was hard and full of nonsense. That you had to become something more by letting go of the things holding you back. But underlying all of it, there is emptiness.
Looking back, when I started reading outside of religious material and encountered Nietzsche in his true form it was like a drug for me. I consumed it out of control and it changed my life drastically. And then I got addicted, I consumed so much material from him and a few others that it was a bit like having a mild drug habit. I am pretty sure people thought I was on drugs given how much I changed and how much my life changed. I think I spent time stopping on all the clichés before getting to pass GO. But at some point a good friend and mentor of mine nudged me over to the Plague. Which offers a much more grounded take on life for an Absurdist. From this I moved on to the Myth of Sisyphus, which is an abundant well of motivation for keeping on keeping on. Still, at its core Absurdism emerges from nihilism and is in fact deeply rooted in it. Unlike the despair or meaningness that comes from nihilism though, Absurdism recognizes this, looks past all of it, and allows you not to care about the uncaring universe while still living your life. But sometimes it’s necessary to have scorn, to revolt, and occasionally, do a bit of stehlen instead of nehmen. I think there’s a Simpson’s episode about this too. Will look into it.
-DA
