Imagine if you will that,
By urbandekay
@urbandekay (18278)
May 5, 2007 2:28pm CST
A demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, 'This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!' Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, 'Never have I heard anything more divine'?"
Well, what is your response to Nietzsche's question and why?
all the best urban
4 people like this
11 responses
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
6 May 07
I'd gnash my teeth and curse the demon! And perhaps even kill myself. There's no way I could bear going through this life again and again. Once is more than enough!
2 people like this
@urbandekay (18278)
•
6 May 07
What would make it worth repeating?
all the best urban
2 people like this
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
6 May 07
I'm not sure anything would make it worth repeating.
1 person likes this
@ChampagneGiggles (699)
• United States
15 Jul 07
I would "pour on ashes and rend my clothing." The lack of change and variety take the joy out of living. If every day is predictable, even if it's a good day, how horribly dull that would be. To always know the events of the next hour, day, year - monotany at its height. The only thing I will never tire of is seeing my son's birth. But to be fated to screw up in the same way, life after life... pure teeth-gnashing horror.
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@urbandekay (18278)
•
15 Jul 07
Ok, is there anything that despite the horror would make you wish to relive it all?
all the best urban
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@ChampagneGiggles (699)
• United States
19 Jul 07
The only thing I can think of is pregnancy. Except for the whole preeclamptic bit. There's nothing more exciting and empowering than feeling life move in you. I could relive that happily.
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@urbandekay (18278)
•
19 Jul 07
Yes, that must be worthwhile, was amazing enough when my dog had pups!
all the best urban
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@minnie_98214 (10557)
• United States
7 May 07
I wouldnt say anything. I mean what difference would that make if youre talking about a demon. I mean is what Im gonna say gonna change anything?
@minnie_98214 (10557)
• United States
7 May 07
What I have to feel something......is said demon cute hehehe. Im just kidding. Lets just say I beleived in demons....I think I would just feel strange and confused. Id have to ask this demon to give me time to think about it. Yes I am always joking about things I tend to not take things to seriously.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
7 May 07
The question is about how you would feel about it not what you would say
all the best urban
1 person likes this
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
26 Jul 07
I would say to the demon, "You are a liar and you are a defeated foe. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased my eternal salvation and has guaranteed me an eternity with Him in heaven. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to go back to hell where you belong."
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@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
26 Jul 07
He wouldn't because He isn't a liar.
I already have all He has said and His Word is true.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
26 Jul 07
And if Jesus appeared and said the same?
all the best urban
1 person likes this
@sassinqueen (710)
• United States
23 Jul 07
Demons are liars. And, I would not give it a second thought. HAHA in his face.
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
12 Aug 07
...yes, but with God, the only possibility (ultimately) is the best possible 'end' result! Nietzsche was very much a cynic.. but I'm very much an exuberant idealist. I have found that since God is Life (itself, the great spirit and spark of life), Life, can only remain Living and aLive by being excellent/perfect.. therefore the 'end' result of all this, can only be the utimate best possiblity.
- The only thing that would make living my life over and over worthwhile, would be the finding of Him, and the healing and then loving all the people, even the ones who had hurt you. And then spending a life happily married and raising two kids and helped with grandkids.. That of course would be just great to repeat.. but anything Pre-Christ in my life, forget it!
@urbandekay (18278)
•
23 Jul 07
Hmmm, imagine then God appeared to you and...
all the best urban
1 person likes this
@missak (3311)
• Spain
19 Jul 07
lol I think if Nietzsche really took this question literally he was high or something. I think it rather talks about when we just "follow the river" and do what we are told to do without thinking or choosing.
In real life, we can learn from mistakes and even annimals do sou why would we believe we have to pass on it again? I wouldn't throw myself down neither... I find freedom is the art of creating possibilities and choose from them, so I would choose tell that demon to stop smoking Nietzsche's herb lol
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@urbandekay (18278)
•
19 Jul 07
Thanks for your responce but you have rather misread Nietsche, he proposes this as a thought experiment; a means of discovering what you value in your life, part of his project of moral perfectionism. It asks the question, what kind of person would you have to be to affirm the Demon's profecy and other questions regarding the values we hold.
all the best urban
2 people like this
@missak (3311)
• Spain
22 Jul 07
I know, I just was putting it a bit of humor and hirony (he does the same by the way).
My point is that Nietsche story here doesn't contemplate free will and personal ego developping. I think this is beyond moral perfectionism, it is rather into ethics. We can hold personal values that are not related to good and bad, and thus, this "repetition profecy" has no sense.
1 person likes this
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
12 Aug 07
Ah! My response is, and would be, that demons always lie!
- [Go through my childhood again? No way.]
@vhansen (2029)
• United States
29 Aug 07
I would have to do it over again.My life has been tough in many repects but I do believe that the good has outweighed the bad.If something truly horrendous had happened then maybe I'd curse but no,nothing I can't handle again..and again.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
19 Aug 07
Worse than that, at least he gets to rectify his mistakes, here you have to repeat them without change!
all the best urban
@cyntrow (8523)
• United States
8 Oct 07
I came upon this question late and it is such an interesting one, I feel the need to respond. I would be fine with my life as it is and living it again wouldn't bother me. I believe that everything I have been through, ups and downs, triumphs and failures, have made me the person that I am. I would gladly live my life again. And, no, my life hasn't been easy. But if it were easy, I wouldn't have the strength that I have today.
@cyntrow (8523)
• United States
11 Oct 07
The ups outweigh the downs because the ups are the things that I remember. Sure, I don't forget the hard times. But at the end of my life, I won't remember the tears. I'll remember the smiles and the laughter. I can't hold the bad times in my life. I have to let them go. It's too heavy a bag to carry. I prefer to travel light.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
9 Oct 07
What is it about the ups that makes them outweigh the downs?
all the best urban
@MagdalenaM (681)
• United States
7 May 07
If I simply had no choice but to relive everything I would welcome it and look forward for the good times that I had in my life. The consolation about reliving the bad times is that I would have done everything the same no matter how many times I would have to relive my life-
The truth is Simon, we relive your lives many, many times through memories - the pain, the love and the fun with almost the same intesity if not more...
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