I am really aware that not everybody has mental strength. I suspect that it is a really robust childhood -- in particular, being able to roam free for a period of time, whilst making one's own errors, and falling down and picking oneself up a few times -- that provides the basis, the mere basis, for mental strength.
But there are other aspects too. Mental strength is, for instance, definitively NOT the ability, or "will", to step on those who are lower in the social hierarchy than thou. An inclination to do so almost certainly denotes the opposite of mental strength -- a total absence thereof. For the compulsion to harm those who are weaker is a sign of self-doubt and the need for external assurances from the world.
Rather, hear Nietzsche: “How much truth can a spirit bear, how much truth can a spirit dare? ... that became for me more and more the real measure of value.”
And here-on begins the struggle.
For "What is truth?" utters the patriarch, fecklessly -- as if he's never been given a chance to know more than he does about it.
1 comment:
Yes, this idea that the truth has to be questioned is really patriarchal.
First, they are speaking to themselves (the patriarchs) - they are the ones who need to decenter themselves from time to time. Second, they always say "what is truth?" when confronted with something they do not want to face.
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