How we become mad

Living in a culture which often seems to have a world view at odds with that in which I was raised, illustrates that one’s own values are not universal and that ‘absolute truth’ is only a fiction.

Not everyone is able to grasp this and it is sad to watch them impotently banging their head against breeze block walls hoping to make a crack. Even grasping this fact does not make it easy and there is always the hope that your own values will prevail.

Many of us foreigners have a difficult time particularly with the notions of truth and justice. It is sometimes impossible for us to step outside of the world we left behind and realise that none of these things are important in the way they were back home. Our attachment to the righteousness of these values makes us look like mad people raging against illusions.

Knowledge for All?

I wonder whether some knowledge is too dangerous for the average person. The knowledge I’m referring to, often seems to be expressed in a form that is incomprehensible to most, with an entrance that seems designed to scare away the casual reader.

A case in point is Nietzsche. His oft quoted statement “God is dead”, out of context, raises many fears in the average person and leads them to believe that he is saying god is deceased. These people would discover that they had much in common with his reasons for this statement if they took the time to read and understand. They might even appreciate his analysis of the problem leading him to make this statement. But for these people, who are so easily scared away, Nietzsche must not be read. Who knows what they will do with the information and they may not have the disposition to be presented with the terrifying truth he reveals.