Nietzsche’s view that the soul will be dead even before the body is not consistent with his concept of ‘eternal recurrence’:
“Look at this gateway...”it hath two faces. Two roads come together here: these hath no one gone to the end of. This long lane backwards: it continueth for an eternity. And that long lane forward – that is another eternity. They are antithetical to one another... and it is here, at this gateway, that they come together. The name of the gateway is....’This Moment.’ ...there runneth a long eternal lane backwards; behind us lieth an eternity .Must not whatever can run its course...have already run along that lane? Must not whatever can happen of all things have already happened, resulted, and gone by?
...For whatever can run its course of all things, also in this long lane outward – must it once more run! - And this slow spider which creepeth in the moonlight and this moonlight itself, and thou and I in this gateway...must we not all have already existed?”[1] (Nietzsche, p. 189-90)
The concept of two eternities defies logic. Eternity is by definition, one continuum, a single, indivisible entity. The idea of two antithetical eternities meeting in a moment is patently absurd.Perhaps one could say that the past and future connect in the present. According to Nietzsche, the law of conservation of energy implies that everything in the universe will repeat itself in exactly the same way. Time is eternal. The universe with everything in it is finite. From this it follows that it will repeat itself ad infinitum. Is Nietzsche reintroducing the concept of immortality through artistic eternal recurrence? The only difference is that matter is eternal, not soul. In a sense, Swami Vivekananda comes to Nietzsche’s rescue:
‘The effect is the cause manifested. There is no essential difference between the effect and the cause...When the cause is changed and limited for a time, it becomes the effect...Applying it to our idea of life, the whole of the manifestation of this one series, from the protoplasm up to the most perfect man, must be the very same thing as cosmic life...everything in this universe is indestructible. There is nothing new; there will be nothing new...Each manifestation of life is coming up and then going back again. What goes down? The form. The form breaks to pieces, but it comes up again. In one sense bodies and forms even are eternal...there must come a time when exactly the same combination comes again, when you will be here, and this form will be here, this subject will be talked...An infinite number of times this has been, and an infinite number of times this will be repeated. Thus far with the physical forms...even the combination of physical forms is eternally repeated.’ [2]
‘...Nature is like the chain of the Ferris Wheel, endless and infinite, and these little carriages are the bodies or forms in which fresh batches of souls are riding, going up higher ... until they become perfect and come out of the wheel. But the wheel goes on. And so long as the bodies are in the wheel, it can be absolutely and mathematically foretold where they will go, but not so of the souls...there is recurrence of the same material phenomenon at certain periods, and that the same combinations have been taking place through eternity.’ (2.230-231)
‘...No force can die, no matter can be annihilated...It goes on changing, backwards and forwards, until it returns to the source from which it came. There is no motion in a straight line. Everything moves in a circle; a straight line, infinitely produced, becomes a circle...you and I must be part of the cosmic consciousness, cosmic life, cosmic mind, which got involved and we must complete the circle and go back to this cosmic intelligence which is God (2.231). ..There is only One Being, One Existence, the ever-blessed, the omnipresent, the omniscient, the birth less, the deathless...You are all God. See you not God and call Him man? Therefore, if you dare, stand on that –‘(2.236-237)
Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence is a tiny part of Swamiji’s conceptualization. Nietzsche does not give a rationale for his idea. Since he rejects the idea of God, one eternal existence, the oneness of all beings and the idea of a soul evolving through rebirth, his idea of eternal recurrence is not consistent with reason.
[1] Nietzsche, Friedrich, (2009), Thus Spake Zarathushtra, (Mumbai, Wilco Press)
[2] The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,9 vols. (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8, 1989: 9, 1997). For a fuller description of Vivekananda's views on reincarnation, please see; Davidson,Pramila;"Carl Jung:"Deconstructing the Reincarnation Myth," Prabuddha Bharata, vol.116,No.3,March 2011www.google.com
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