On the Strength of Forgiveness

Being that pursues strength of will and self-mastery is and will always be a foolish and counterintuitively limiting path. Yet it remains a path that exists by grace, and is therefore a Christian path.

The strangeness of Nietzsche’s philosophy is that in a world of mimetic humans maximizing physical and mental strength of various types, the ability to forgive and break a chain of mimetic escalation requires more self-control than the ability to escalate. By Nietzsche’s own overman definition, Christ’s apolitical action is stronger than all others in human history because he chose his actions of loving restraint despite greater capabilities, where all others would lash out in accusation and violent self-defense given similar circumstances. Many of Nietzsche’s followers today fail to understand that Nietzsche was aware of and agreed with this point.

Strength of will cannot be defined by skilled action alone, as many assume. It must be defined by including the controlled absence of action despite having capability, since showing restraint when having the capability will always be proof of greater physical and mental control than ability without showing constraint. In every case, disciplined use of a certain level of strength is greater than undisciplined use of that same level of strength.

This truth is seen across domains. The best composers and musicians are not those that write and perform fast and wild, but those that can use both sound and silence surgically to deliver the best listening experience. The best soldiers in special forces groups similarly deliver mission results using very precise operations, often with very limited amounts of violence despite their marksmanship and other capabilities being at the peak of their group.

Is Christ defined by strength of will? Was his act of forgiveness of the world of his attackers and of the universe of sinners an act of strength, or of something else? Why is this question so important?

It is important because it frames how we define Nietzche’s own being. Is Nietzche’s being defined by strength of will? Or by something else?

All Will is a Gift from God #

Writing about the existence of a strong will, used with discipline and forgiveness, is a grace. The existence of a strong will, used with discipline and forgiveness, is a grace. The existence of a strong will, used with discipline, is a grace. The existence of a strong will, is a grace. Existence is a grace.

“A religious man thinks only of himself.” A man thinks only of himself. A man thinks. A man.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God with me.” – 1 Corinthians 15:10

The act of murdering God or the act of writing about murdering God, as an act of existence, is also possible only by grace.

God is not dead, never was, and never will be. Thank God.