Friedrich Nietzsche

[bad_brain]

will reply to that one as soon as I have some spare time in the next days, but in the meantime you might want to check out the concept of the categorical imperative, imo Nietzsche ripped a lot off from Kant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ph0bYx]

Speaking of Nietzsche, here's my new favorite quote that I heard yesterday:

For what purpose humanity is there should not even concern us: why you are there, that you should ask yourself: and if you have no ready answer, then set for yourself goals, high and noble goals, and perish in pursuit of them! I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible...

Pretty much sums up my life so far.

[DNR]

be careful in defining 'power'. What is power we seek?

My power is not to control other people, but to have control over myself.

Control over things in the world is mostly an illusion, but it is very real to have control over yourself. Most people give up control to others - because it is easier to follow than lead.

Power is having freedom of choice in your life.

DNR

[ph0bYx]

Bacteria

[lilrofl]

Bacteria

For truth.

Funny thing about Friedrich Nietzsche is; if you read enough of his work... no matter how outlandish he gets, you eventually find you have become a nihilist.

He goes through a transformation in his writing though, expressing radically different outlooks on life... when he thought life was confusing and wonderful, and when he thought it was cruel. (the change I might add was over the rejection of a woman for those who do not read his work)

I tend think that the soft sciences tend to attract people who are flexing in the direction of the writer. Moreover I think that classical psychology, rather then cognitive psychology is best left to the past... else the ideas of Freud and Jung would have to also be considered intricate, and all three of them would make piss poor Nihilist in the end.

I've added for reference three quotes illustrating vastly different personalities. The hopeful, the denial, and the devastated.

"Without music, life would be a mistake." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

"Hope is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man" ~Friedrich Nietzsche

[bad_brain]

My power is not to control other people, but to have control over myself.

I agree with being able to control yourself is the key to everything...BUT you can not have full control over yourself when you don't have control over some other people too. in a perfect world where everyone simply takes care of his own stuff and everyone sticks to a basic moral code it would be easy, but many (most?) people are simply a-holes and opportunists ready to sell their momma if it brings them some kind of advantage....some more and some less. you can ignore the lesser ones and still stay in control, but once you have to deal with the other kind you need to gain control over them to keep them low so they don't start to control YOUR life.
of course I always carry some Nietzsche quotes with me, and he said something which fits perfectly:
Fear is the mother of morality.

P.S. ooook...I googled.

[lilrofl]

True. Seems like you've studied Nietzsche before lilrofl.

Yep, I even thought I was a nihilist for a bit... until I realized one morning that nihilist don't believe in anything, including nihilism.

It's an empty road, and I prefer to think of the world as a place full of un-achieved promise, rather then a place of achieved entropy.

I get disappointed more often this way, and it had made me both a fatalist and a true misanthrope... but it get's me out of the house; where I can see and enjoy some of the wonder that exist out there.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, it's easy to be a nihilist in a vacuum... but the world does not happen in a vacuum.