Nietzsche Free Spirit Essay

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Nietzsche thought the vast majority of people are “bound spirits”, trapped by the beliefs that have been indoctrinated into them by their families, governments, and religions. The free spirit comparatively is one who has liberated themselves from the belief system and bias of others. The term “free spirit” to Nietzsche means a mind that takes ownership of itself without the boundaries of the past. A free spirit becomes the master of their mind, imperceptible by hoodwinks, and thus, finding the falsehoods in ignorance, censorship, and tyranny to lead to the truth.
‘Free individuals put their will into things, whereas believers see in things a will.’(Lackey:1999:6) Alternatively, in other words, things are not tethered to an ideal (religion, governments) but rather only to a person's will to power. Nietzsche, saw that to achieve free will, the restraints of religion and bureaucratic democracy needed to be …show more content…

Nietzsche does disclose that life brings with it misery, sadness, and isolation but the path to freedom is to create a life removed from the traditions that cause constraint of will and eliminate us from conformity, and the power of others in our lives. ‘The overman is within us; it is not "out there."’ (Ansell-Pearson:1992:323). It is somewhat a nihilistic approach to remove oneself from the chains of society, to pursue a life outside of the socially acceptable norms, though Nietzsche argued that nihilism is the destroyer of society, culture and the bonds of humanity, suggesting that new standards should be developed. ‘Rather, he becomes, to his mind, the first sane voice crying in the intellectual wilderness: make way the coming of a new human, a "subject" which can only become a "self " when it paradoxically learns to overcome its very constructed

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