Illusions start with dreams. They are a precondition to art,
where the artist realizes that they are illusions and then applies them to
their art. This takes place in two forms: the Apollonian and the Dionysian. The
Apollonian is the statelier of the two and is often associated with epic poetry
and sculptures. The Dionysian is associated with intoxication and wild music
and dancing (aka your Saturday night). Both of these forces are illusions since
they are dreams in art form, and are never mistaken for reality. They can give
insight into the nature of the world, which will be discussed later. One
difference between these forces is that the Apollonian often reinforces the
conception of the individual, while the Dionysian breaks it down into the
primal oneness of all beings.
One source of Apollonian illusion was the Greek gods. The
Greeks created gods that were so vibrant, they hid this truth at the root of
existence and gave them a reason to keep living. They provided a justification
for the life of man through their gods. This was incorporated into their
culture unconsciously since it wouldn’t have an effect otherwise, but the gods
are still of their creation and show their tendencies to hide from the truth so
they could continue living.
The relationship between the Dionysian and the truth is
based on the Dionysian man’s insight into the world. The thrill of the
Dionysian and breaking down the boundaries is what attracts people to it, but
this leads to the truth being revealed to them. After repeatedly partaking in
the intoxication and ecstasies of the Dionysian, the two worlds become
separate, with reality becoming inferior to the intoxication. But there is no
avoiding the real world since they must always return to it and any action that
they take is futile. This is the Dionysian man’s insight: that no matter what
he does he cannot change the nature of the world. Logically this would lead to
nihilism, however Nietzsche considers nihilism to be an outlook on life rather
than the nature of it. So life could be meaningless, but as long as one
continued to embrace life then one wouldn’t be a nihilist. The Dionysian helps
with this as it supplies a metaphysical consolation that life is fundamentally
positive by breaking down boundaries into the primal oneness.
This Dionysian wisdom is similar to the Greek cheerfulness
that permeates their society. This so-called cheerfulness also comes from the
wisdom of Silenus, who in a myth told King Midas that the best thing for
mankind is to not be, and the second best is to die soon. These two ideas (that
actions change nothing and that it is better to be dead) constitute the
essential truth at the root of life. Art alone is what can help deal with this
knowledge and continue living in spite of it.
Then everything changed when Socratism came along. Socratism
is the belief that one can get to know the world by knowing more about it, and
equates knowledge and explicability with virtue and happiness. This is an
optimistic outlook because it believes that everything in life can be fixed if
we only know more about it. This scientific basis opposes the artistic
Apollonian and Dionysian, and effectively destroys them in the end. As artistic
forces, neither the Apollonian nor the Dionysian can be easily explained and so
are seen as bad by the Socratics. Socratism also destroys myths as it tries to
find a historical basis for them and disregards their value as stories to the
Greek culture. However, Socratism is still an illusion that hides the truth
from us just like the Apollonian and the Dionysian. It’s just that Socratics
take their illusion to be reality while the others know them to be illusions.
Also, Socratism only works when you limit yourself to a certain set of problems
while avoiding others (like the Dionysian wisdom) so it fundamentally cannot
address every aspect of life.
There are a few flaws with Socratism. At the end of
Socrates’ life, he started to make music, indicating that he recognized the
limits of logic. This is the result of the limits of science, since it is still
an illusion. Science can really only describe objects and phenomenon, it can
never really explain them. In the end, this results in a need for art instead
of science to supply meaning. However, this leads to conflict as Socratism
teaches to avoid art. To Nietzsche, this conflict lasted until the present day.
But he is confident that through the image of the music making Socrates,
society will be able to embrace art again.
Nietzsche is putting a huge emphasis on art and its ability
to redeem our existence here, and this is a role that it may not live up to in
the end. It’s what will ultimately bring meaning into our lives after facing
the knowledge that life is worth living and there is nothing we can do to
change this, and science is incapable of performing this role.
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