We have already discussed how the path to greatness
necessitates an avoidance of hedonism and a pursuit of hardship, as per
Nietzsche’s philosophy. The zenith of
humanity can only be reached through bloodshed, war, toil, torment, and pain,
for through these qualities we become hardened and better, whereas a life of
luxury and ease turns us soft. However,
as a species that prides itself on reason and ability to learn, it begs the
question of why we must ALL endure this pain in order to achieve
greatness. Why is it not the case that
ONE brave human can do the suffering for all of us, and then pass on his lesson
for us to learn without having to endure the same torment that they managed?
I mean, if this guy had something to say, wouldn't YOU listen?
Obvious Christianity metaphor aside (which, if you are
curious about Nietzsche’s refutation of Christianity, read just about
everything he wrote, but “Will to Power”, “The Antichrist”, and “Genealogy of
Morals” would have some great starting points), Nietzche establishes that
greatness has a very SHORT lifespan, whereas mediocrity perpetuates
infinitely. The conditions necessary to
produce superiority in A human are in turn the very same conditions that
promote death and destruction for the majority of humanity itself. The outcome of a superior human is a rare
instance, and it takes many many instances of failure and death before one is
able to adapt and overcome. The
possibility that multiple superior humans are able to be generated within the
same instance and continue to perpetuate greatness in turn becomes almost
impossibly rare, which means that when a superior human comes along, his reign
tends to be brief with little continuity left behind.
We of course witness this reality in training constantly, as
for every one successful trainee (in ANY discipline, whether it be
bodybuilding, powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman, crossfit, etc) there are
thousands of failures. All are afforded
the same opportunity for toil, but very few possess the necessary traits to prosper
under these conditions, resulting in a lopsidedness in terms of success versus
failure. Popular phrases come about to
explain the phenomena, such as “if it was easy, everyone would do it” and
“everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift heavy ass
weights”, but the point is still the same: many will try, but few will succeed.
When you are this big, you can say and wear the dumbest things and no one will challenge you
When faced with a situation wherein effort results in
failure, there exists 2 possible avenues of response. One is to improve oneself in order to befit
the situation (the previously aforementioned “superior humans” who grow in
these environments) while the other is the improve the SITUATION in order to
befit oneself. It is this latter course
of action that tends to be the more popular of the two, and explains why it is
the case that mediocrity is what tends to prevail when analyzing the human
species as a whole. So how is it that
one who lacks the power to overcome adversity can somehow have the power to
radically change their environment to encourage hedonism and ease? As Nietzsche points out, real power is in
determining virtues and morality, and society has come to value “slave
morality” over “master morality.”
What do these terms mean?
Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality explains how, in humanity’s infancy,
we prized a “noble morality”, wherein qualities like a thirst for power, lack
of empathy/pity, and pride were valued due to their ability to advance the species. We sought these virtues for they were
necessary to survive in our harsh conditions, and those without these values
were naturally weeded out. However, as
we advanced DUE to these values, we in turn were able to create a life that
allowed us to not need to endure hardships.
Once met with this life, a greater amount of people who did NOT possess the
virtues of strength and power existed, to soon form the majority. Once in the majority, those who had strength
and power were the outliers and outcasts, essentially, “the different”, whereas
the weak had become the norm. In this
situation, it became logical to conclude that those who are different must be
in turn “sinners”, while those that form the majority are those with
morality. We began to praise humility,
passiveness, and claimed that “the meek shall inherit the Earth”. We made it moral to be a slave, and told the
downtrodden who existed under the crushing fist of the strong that they could
take solace in being morally superior to those who were in reality OBVIOUSLY
superior.
I am sure the guy in the middle has a great personality
We witness this phenomenon replicate itself within the
lifting community. In the beginning, the
only guidance we had for training was effort.
Lifters trained in various ways, using completely different methods and
protocols and yet many roads still seemed to lead to success insofar as the
trainee was applying ferocity and tenacity to their training. Watch “Pumping Iron” and witness the various
methods employed by each successful bodybuilder, or look at how Paul Anderson
revolutionized weightlifting by bringing in ROM progression and squats, or how
Bob Peoples employed a deadlift form that would make the modern era of lifting
go into seizures. These pioneers
possessed the noble “master morality”.
However, as time passed and lifting became more accessible, the rate of
unsuccessful trainees drastically increased and massively outweighed the
successful athletes. Once this occurred,
it became necessary for the weak to justify their weakness in the faces of the
strong, and a “slave morality” of lifting developed.
It became “moral” to lift with “good form”. It was honorable to avoid injury. Moderation was prized, because if lifting was
your life, you were unbalanced. We took
all the qualities necessary to be UNSUCCESSFUL and determined that these were
the rules and morals that must be followed in order to be considered a good
trainee. Though the intent of this post
is to compare Nietzsche’s works, I will re-iterate Plato’s analogy of the
surgeon, in that a good lifter is not a lifter who does good, but is in fact
one who is GOOD at lifting. If your
morality dictates you be unsuccessful, you are a bad lifter.
Sometimes though, you can be a bad surgeon AND a bad person
With this slave morality of lifting established, it becomes
readily apparent why we are unable to learn the lessons from those who have
already gone through the suffering in order to emerge the “superman”. They come down from the mountains, spread to
us their words of enlightenment, and we stone them to death for being
sinners. We decry them for not using
good form, despite the fact they achieved incredible size and strength. We accuse them of the crime of having superior
genetics, while we understand that we the unempowered must train completely
different manner in order to succeed. We
berate them for not following OUR methods, for being heretics against our holy
scriptures, for being “unvirtuous”. The
meek have inherited the Earth.
The path to success has already been paved. The lessons have already been brought to
us. Success is no mystery, the
successful walk among us, and with them they possess a noble “master
morality”. Despite their efforts, these
lessons cannot be passed on, for the vessel is unwilling to receive them. It is up to you to analyze your virtues and
question if they are the virtues possessed by one who seeks to overcome or by
one who seeks to BE overcome.
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