Everything is relative to perception. We all are, or used to be weak. The weak use substance abuse as an emotional crutch, a creation of temporary acceptance of the state of their lives. The weak have no drive, no determination, they forsake their dreams. When faced with death, in reality or even in thought the weak cower and despair, for all hope is lost. Most of are trying to be, or are strong, confident men. The strong have a drive, a determination, to create the world they want and will. When faced with death, the strong stay strong because there is no regret in those who choose to live. Weakness is death itself, there is life in strength, so as long as you are weakminded then the thought of death will consume you.
I agree that everything is related to perception. However the weak are not necessarily those who cower from death as opposed to those who cower from life. Socrates and Jesus were both strong and powerful men, but because they didn't fight their impending doom, they are seen as representing the descending type, or slave morality, eventually resigning themselves to death, or following the norm instead of creating their own. They were not afraid of death, they embraced it, but because the idea is to embrace life, not death
Religious concepts are also based on perceptions. Nietzsche chose to see it that way. People interpret religious text in different manners. It's not about suppression of desire, but having control of your desire. When you think about it all crime and betrayal comes down to emotions based on desire. True, religion has been used for suppression by the government at times, but the original message, is about peace and harmony with each other. If everyone followed their desire without any inhibition no one would be happy.Sin is about betrayal of God and those around you. For instance, God does not condemn sex, he condemns the emotional and physical harm you can cause to yourself and others by having sex indescriminantly, i.e. cheating on someone who loves you, promiscuity that leads to STD's and unwanted children. There are also times when God has approved of murder. Everything is relevent to the situation and an understanding of this requires logic. Religious practice itself is a guide to making the best of life.
True, crime and betrayal come from desire, but so does love and faith. The point is emotion accounts for SOOOO much more than Christianity gives it credit for. Religion is not about suppressing desire, but Christianity is. It is not to say that it does not or has not had positive effects on humanity, even Nietzsche will admit this, but the point Nietzsche is making is that we as a human race have outgrown the need to believe the lie. (See: the madman for a great analogy/parable
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/nietzsche-madman.html)
It is similar to the lie of Santa Claus which was to generate ideas of generosity to children. After they become generous and empathetic, the idea of Santa Claus is no longer needed. I could be wrong but I think the bible does not say 'do not have sex indiscriminately' it says 'do not have sex before marriage'.This is my knowledge from my philosophy course last year so its gonna be a little rusty, lol but here goes: Christianity is full of ultimatums which are the work of the weak man. Instead of having moderation or self-control, Christianity forces the followers to do all or nothing. Instead of moderation of sex, they say to cut it out entirely until marriage; when a man's eye causes him to sin, he is told to pluck it out, it reminds me of Kant's rule of absolute truths in a sense
If life was everlasting do you really think that people would be driven to achieve or treat each other better? There would be no significance in embracing life because you would have no concept of anything contrary to it.
Life is not everlasting, it is eternally recurring. It is the same life repeated over and over. i can't remember if I said it was everlasting, but if I did, my bad. But as for your though experiment, the idea of living life should not be in achieving anything, because once you achieve something, it is over. The idea is to be constantly improving yourself. In that aspect because there is no final goal to be achieved, it does not matter even if you lived for an eternity or for a day. That is the main goal behind the 'Overman'.
As we've both agreed, death is a reality. I do not assume that the day does last forever, or that tomorrow will not come. While it may not be true today, it could be true tomorrow, and will be true at some point in time. People can come to conclusions by different means. You and I both appreciate and embrace life and neither of us currently rely on death for motivation, BUT where as you were able to just embrace life, it took awareness of death to lead me to doing the same and it may take the same for others here. Again, it's all relative to perception.
Touche (i cant stop saying that, lol) it is all relative. That's life for ya. It's been fun philosophizing with ya, learned some new stuff in the process and got the juices flowing
