From Eternal Recurrence To Timeless Liberation The Daily Enlightenment Buddhist Inspirations (since 1997)

[T]he knot of causes in which I am entangled recurs,—it will create me again! I myself belong to the causes of eternal recurrence.
— Friedrich Nietzsche
(Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

In ‘The Gay (i.e. Joyous) Science’, as translated by Walter Kaufmann, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche shares an intriguing thought experiment of sorts called ‘The Greatest Weight’. He wrote, ‘What if some day or night, a demon were to steal into your loneliest loneliness and say to you, “This life as you now live and have lived it, you will have to live once again and innumerable times again; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy, and every thought and sigh, and everything unspeakably small or great in your life must return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!”

To summarise… He first asked, ‘What if someone makes it so, that this present life of yours will repeat infinitely, in every detail big and small, with all its ups and downs?’

Nietzsche continues… ‘Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him, “You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.”‘

To summarise… He next asked, ‘Will you be anguished and berate this person in rage, or will you regard this as a most wonderful boon, with that person as one who has given you a “holy” revelation?’

Nietzsche continues… ‘If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, “Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?” would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life, to crave nothing more reverently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?’

To summarise… He then asked, ‘With this idea transforming you for better or worse, will you want every aspect of this life to be lived and experienced as it is, with each thought, word and deed, that you will think, say and do respectively, which will thus bear immeasurable weight? How favourable will you be to you and your life, to want nothing more forever, than what you will affirm personally now?’

When analysed with Buddhist perspectives, there are at least three major lessons we can derive from Nietzsche’s idea…

[1] More Motivation And Less Regrets: According to the Buddha’s teachings, there are endless rebirths with karmically continuous yet changeable lives, unless there is liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Nietzsche however proposes to embrace living this life as if it is the only one, with ‘eternal recurrence’ of it. Even if this is not congruent with reality, it is nevertheless an ingenious way of thinking, to motivate us to live every minute aspect of this life as fully as we can, such that there will not only be no regrets at all, there will only be the best possible life lived, given our present conditions, with the other causes and conditions we can create.

[2] Greater Urgency And Purposefulness: Reflecting thus gives us a great sense of urgency to live this life as purposefully as we can, as if it is the only consequential life we have, that trickles away with each second, that will echo on indefinitely, exactly as it transpired. Every moment creates our destiny. How should we best think, speak and act from now on? The karma we create will bear fruits in good time, in one way or another, for better or worse, such that they change the way things are ‘forever’… till they further change later.

[3] Swifter Progress For Liberation: Paradoxically, although there is ‘eternal’ changing instead in real life, with spiritual and physical evolution and devolution till we realise the unchanging state of Buddhahood, living as if there will be eternal recurrence can be used as a skilful means for leading us to timeless liberation from all somewhat repetitive rebirths swiftly, (such as by ensuring Pure Land which guarantees enlightenment is reached by the end of this life). The way to truly breakthrough our self-imposed limits in this life is by thinking there are no other opportunities for breakthrough than those present in this life.

If these thoughts do not significantly change you now, just as they probably did not in your previous lives, this life might indeed kind of recur ‘eternally’… again.