Melbourne Journal #3: The Great Ocean Walk

This past week, Jen and I did the Great Ocean Walk. In the Melbourne region, the Great Ocean Road is a famous tourist attraction. Fewer know about the Great Ocean Walk, which is a hiking trail hugging the same section of coast. It's not particularly remote by Montana standards - you pass through a car campground, or cross a road, every day - but it's unique, challenging and worthwhile. It's 100 kilometers long and can take anywhere from 4-8 days. We took six days to do it, with 1/2 day travel (bus and train) on the first and last day. It was challenging, with three 13+ mile days, but not oppressively so. It got us into shape for our next backpack in Tasmania, which we start this coming week.

Along the  hike I read Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nietzsche mentioned him, positively, more than once in my reading of his work, and since I've been wanting to read Emerson for a long time, I picked up one of his 'selected works' at Shakespeare Books while I was in Missoula. Emerson has hit me hard and deeply, bringing spirituality and love back into my philosophical reading. I had a similar experience reading the Brothers Karamazov last fall, through the character of Alyosha. Here's one Emerson quote about gratitude and perspective: 

The misery of man appears like childish petulance, when we explore the steady and prodigal provision that has been made for his support and delight on this green ball which floats him through the heavens.

Emerson's writings (at least what I've read so far) focus on how to live from our inner-nature and promptings. Like Nietzsche, he believes that Western morality has taught us not to listen to our inner-Nature/guide/intuition, and also like Nietzsche, he believes that we must do a better job of listening to our inner-Nature. Here is a quote from the book Nature about the flow of nature through us. 

We learn that the highest is present to the soul of man; that the dread universal essence, which is not wisdom, or love, or beauty, or power, but all in one, and each entirely, is that for which all things exist, and that by which they are; that spirit creates; that behind nature, throughout nature, spirit is present; one and not compound it does not act upon us from without, that is, in space and time, but spiritually, or though ourselves: therefore, that spirit, that is, the Supreme Being, does not build up nature around us, but puts forth through us, as the life of the tree puts forth new branches and leaves through the pores of the old.

And here is a quote, later in Nature, in which Emerson says that a person should act from his/her own inner-sense of right and wrong and not from the dictates of an individual, a group, or the dominant culture.  

Meantime, whilst the doors of the temple stand open, night and day, before every man, and the oracles of this truth cease never, it is guarded by one stern condition; this, namely it is an intuition. It cannot be received at second hand. Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing. On the contary, the absence of this primary faith is the presence of degradation. As is the flood, so is the ebb. Let this faith depart, and the very words it spake and the things it made become false and hurtful. 

Melbourne Journal #2: Exploration (Jen Arrives)

Jen has been here about one week now, and since she's arrived, we've done a couple of walks downtown, a trip to the beach, and several bike rides along the coast. It is, of course, great to have her here. I was reminded once again, while alone for the first week, that she makes my life better.

I've been going in to work most days, but so far I've been struggling to figure out what my purpose is - in Australia, at work, and beyond. I have more freedom here, in terms of work, than I did in Denmark. On the surface, this is a blessing, but so far I am finding it much more difficult, as it forces me to face a deeper existential question: what is meaningful for me and what gives my life purpose? It used to be that, as far as work goes, career achievement alone was meaningful and purposeful, but now that I've achieved a measure of success, this is no longer the case. I need more, but what?

I have started to read Carl Jung, who writes about this precise issue. Here is a quote of his, from "Modern Man in Search of a Soul," in which he contrasts the psychology of mid-life with that of youth: 

"As a rule, the life of a young person is characterized by a general unfolding and a striving toward concrete ends; his neurosis, if he develops one, can be traced to his hesitation or his shrinking back from necessity. But the life of an older person is marked by a contraction of forces, by the affirmation of what has been achieved, and the curtailment of further growth. His neurosis comes mainly from his clinging to a youthful attitude, which is now out of season. Just as the youthful neurotic is afraid of life, so the older one shrinks back from death."

I do see in myself a tendency to revert to youthful pursuits as a way of coping with my current psychological struggles. But according to Jung, the angst I'm feeling is my psyche letting me know that I need to figure out what is meaningful for me now, even in the face of apparent meaninglessness. According to Jung, "The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it."    

Melbourne Journal #1: Getting Settled

I'm a bit behind on my blog posts, having been here almost two weeks. It's hot here in Melbourne, with February being the equivalent of August in the northern hemisphere. We've had some 100 degree days, but then it cools off again significantly, down into the 70s, so it hasn't been that bad. 

For the first week of my stay, I was alone, and during the first couple of days, my host TC (in the pictures) took me around the city. Melbourne is a big city, at around 5 million people, and we live in the neighborhood of East St. Kilda, which is a few miles from downtown. It's the Jewish neighborhood in Melbourne and is a cool, bustling place. 


NIETZSCHE: SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT IDEAS FOR ME

I have finally finished reading Nietzsche, and there are a few ideas of his that I hope to take forward into the rest of my life. The first is encapsulated in the following quote: Redemption is to recreate "it was" into "thus I willed it." In our modern era, we no longer have to worry about survival. This frees us to reflect critically on our lives and on the lives of those around us. A pitfall of this kind of critical reflection is that we can end up regretting our past decisions, resenting our loved ones and ourselves for falling short, and generally, feeling like a victim. In this quote, Nietzsche says that instead we should accept, and even embrace, our past - say a radical Yes! to it all - turning "it was" into "thus I willed it." Given that the past can't be changed, this leads to an optimal psychological orientation toward life, though it is very difficult to implement. It's worth noting that Nietzsche experienced a great deal of hardship and misfortune, so these are not empty words coming from him.

The second concept from Nietzsche that I want to take with me going forward is a combination of his three ideas: the will-to-power, the relativity of values, and the over-man. The will-to-power defines (for me) the application of the will toward, in Nietzsche's words, 'becoming who you are.' This requires first deciding what actions empower/diminish you, and then doing/not doing those things. The distinction between actions that empower/diminish is different for every individual, hence the relativity of values. And once a value system is in place, the act of doing/not doing what empowers/diminishes you requires an effort of self-overcoming that defines the over-man. This may seem abstract, but I don't think it is: figure out what empowers/diminishes you, then strive to do/not do those things. 

The final concept of Nietzsche's that I hope to retain is the error of confusing cause and effect. This very Buddhist notion goes as follows. We are biased to think that, as Jen is fond of saying, our actions define us: if we do bad things we are bad, and if we do good things we are good. This is an essential aspect of Western morality, inherited from Christianity, and it is problematic because it allows for someone, or something, other than ourselves to define what is good and bad for us. Nietzsche argues that the direction of cause and effect is wrong here; that in fact, our inner-state will determine the quality of our actions: if our inner-state is "good" our actions will be good, while if our inner-state is "bad," our actions will be bad. This distinction is important, because in the latter view, we must decide for ourselves what defines "good" and "bad" inner-states, which brings us back, again, to the relativity of values.