Bartosch 1

Dakota Bartosch
Mrs. Gardner
Hon. English/Per. 4
17 November 2015

The Tyranny of Secularity

A great 19th century German philosopher by the name of Friedrich

Nietzsche famously penned in his Parable of the Madman
(The Gay Science)
the
proclamation:
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him

(181-182).
What he meant by this was that secularism was becoming more and
more popular, and that he himself, being a former Christian who once believed
in the literal eminence of a monotheistic being, now perceived God as being
dead, as God simply ceased to exist to Nietzsche, and to many other budding
atheists of the era. Now whats peculiar about this statement of Nietzsche's, is
really what directly follows it: How shall we, murderers of all murderers,
console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the
world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives (
181-182).
Immediately after declaring the death of some being Nietzsche truthfully
believed not to have legitimately existed in the first place, he has his
character of
The Madman
lament the loss. Why? For what reason would an atheist
despair at the loss of a deity they have no real faith in? For the answer we look
to another of the great European philosophers of the 1800s.

Bartosch 2

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is known for having classified humans

under three simple categories: aesthetes, ethicists, and spiritualists.
Aesthetes are generally impulsive by nature, ravenously seeking out art or
beauty in mundane things and endeavoring to cultivate eccentric experiences;
they value intrigue and fun above all else; all they desire is to have a good
time while theyre here, and they fear boredom as much as they fear pain
(picture the hardest partier you can imagine). Ethicists are considerate, and
live for others over themselves. They believe in community, or at least family,
and get up each morning feeling somewhat incentivized to contribute to
humanity, to make a positive influence on the world and people around them.
They theorize and philosophize, and develop complex and pragmatic
understandings of their environments, even if they themselves arent aware of
it (its also worth noting that Kierkegaards version of the ethicist is secular).
Picture a social worker.
The spiritualist hands themself over to their religion, their deity or
deities - or their pantheism - living for the sake of something they know they
can never comprehend, satisfied in the whimsical understanding that theres an
important ephemeral Something out there which is at least aware of their
existence, and may be judging their actions from on-high. Picture an average,
rather amiable stranger.
Kierkegaard developed these categories by contemplating the
oppressiveness of boredom on the human soul; evidently he believed that
boredom was a serious human malady, and was the root of all intellectual
ugliness. He considered life to be little more than a constant struggle against

Bartosch 3

such venomous boredom. The three types of people he defined act the way they do
so as to escape boredom, though, he concluded, at varying levels of success. The
aesthete escapes boredom rather bombastically, as their exploits and
experiences are fleeting and irresolute; to Kierkegaard, the aesthetic
lifestyle is ultimately futile, and concludes poorly, as the aesthete never
defines for themselves a palpable identity, nor cares to contemplate the
philosophical idiosyncrasies of the world around them; they likely never
experience long-lasting catharsis or satisfaction - something Kierkegaard
referred to as a quality of fullness (232). For the ethicist, things are better,
but, according to Kierkegaard, not perfect.
They may fashion for themselves an identity - perhaps even one theyre
proud of - and maybe they succeed in whatever their ethical goal is, but, if
they lack spirituality, then they will ultimately discover that their
rationalistic outlook is cumbersome and non-cathartic. With age, they
consider the world more and more extensively from a clinical perspective, and,
for the most part, dont achieve a quality of fullness, which is really the chief
goal here.
To Kierkegaard, it is the spiritualist who comes out on top in all of this,
especially the pantheist, who does not believe in the anthropomorphism of God,
but considers God to be omnipresent and eternally enigmatic. The spiritualist
is capable of the truest happiness, as they leave tough, jarring intellectual
questions to their religion, allowing themselves to be swept up by sweet,
largely accepted - and often times celebrated - zealotry.

Bartosch 4

Where does tyranny fit into all of this, though? Well, any sour mentality
is by its very nature tyrannical to the human hosting it, as it festers within
that human and depresses them like a bad drug, and what Ive just gone over is
how secularism can breed such a caustic mindset. So, should you strive for
spirituality in order to attain happiness? Well, there are many who disagree
with Kierkegaards pessimistic conclusion which places spiritualism at the
vanguard of an enjoyable lifestyle, so his postulate
is
debatable. Anyhow, one
thing both Kierkegaard and Nietzsche seem to agree on is the Epicurean
eminence of spirituality over the secular dominions of humankind.
Nietzsches aforementioned fictional madman is driven to lunacy by
secularity, and Kierkegaard outright condones a religious attitude over a
secular one. The thing to remember about all of this is that secularism can be
ironically dangerous to the mind, conducive of hopelessness and insanity. If
you happen to become secular, do not become militantly anti-religious, but
appreciate and respect the happiness of those who turn themselves over to God,
as they could be truly happy. Maybe in understanding and respecting others, we
atheists can foster for ourselves a new archetypal identity - one of kindness
and understanding, of happiness and acceptance in rationality, rather than
pedantic agony. We mustnt allow our rationalism to oppress us, but liberate us,
and grant us a resplendent understanding of our reality.
Some say ignorance is bliss, but knowledge can be too.

Bartosch 5

Works Cited:
Kierkegaard, Soren.
Either/Or: A Fragment of Life.
Penguin Classics,
Toronto, 1992. Print.

Nietzsche, Friedrich
. The Gay Science (1882, 1887).
Walter Kaufmann ed.,
New York, 1974. Print.