Week 5 Post 5

Nietzsche's notion of the myth of eternal recurrence is that if we acted like we had to relive things over and over, we might live life a little differently. The myth says that what if a demon were to appear to you and tell you that you had to live your life over and over again countless times? Would you praise this demon, or would you go after him for this curse that he revealed to you? In other words, would you really want to live your life countless times?

I do not think that anyone of my age can successfully answer this question. I believe that to answer this question takes great wisdom. Life could suck for the first 25 years, and then you could meet the person of your dreams and have children and find true joy in life. Would that make the first 25 years worth it? My initial reaction was to say emphatically no. I do not want to live this life again, but it could be that with age I will find more happiness and the last 19 years could be worth it. It is also possible to go the opposite way. There are those that would embrace this with open arms. And yet twenty five years later they may think that the first 20 good years were not worth the last 25 bad ones. To respond to this takes great wisdom. Wisdom that only comes through experience.