Good vs Evil (beyond good vs evil)

Dear Dan

I must say that this is the first definition of good and evil I have ever heard that I can subscribe to!!!
This is what I would define as en ethical couple of good vs evil rather than a moral or moralistic couple, at least if you use the terms ethics and morality the way they are defined by both Spinoza and Habermas.
Perhaps my couple constructive vs destructive is too limiting, we really do need to speak of good vs evil here? A good vs evil beyond the traditional good vs evil (referring once again to Nietzsche)?
Yes, Zarathushtra and Nietzsche are our brothers and companions. But they are not us and we are not them. Zarathushtra never aspired for more than that. His only ambition was that his words would be taken as seriously as the words from a trusted old friend, not a divinity. This is therefore also how we should read The Gathas when we read the text in a truly gathic way.

It is a true pleasure to get to know you!!!
Ushta indeed
Alexander

2007/9/7, Dan Jensen <kaweah@yahoo.com>:

Brother Alexander!

Since I spout off so much about good and evil, I must
owe you an explanation. I am probably misrepresenting
my position until I do.

Let me begin with a couple quotes from Nietzsche's
Zarathustra:

"Let thy virtue be too high for the familiarity of
names, and if thou must speak of it, be not ashamed to
stammer about it." (V. JOYS AND PASSIONS)

"Similes, are all names of good and evil; they do not
speak out, they only hint. A fool who seeketh
knowledge from them!" (XXII. THE BESTOWING VIRTUE)

I speak with little hesitation of Good and Evil, but I
do not venture, in this context, to assign names to
Good and Evil. These "twins" are far too elusive and
transcendent to be named. That is to say, one cannot
rightly say "murder is Evil" without blinding oneself
to the deep mystery of the moral pulse of existence.
Perhaps a murder feels evil to the mourner, and so it
is evil, but taken out of that tragic context,
"murder" is really only a word.

Morality is wonderful! (This is kind of a sublime
tautology to me)

What is so wonderful about it?

Look at the universe, at all that goes on within it,
and ask the question: from whence comes joy? Nothing
about what science knows about the world explains joy,
or grief for that matter. There is nothing about
objective actuality that is right or wrong. Ok, so
then, why is everything so right and wrong? Why does
anything matter at all?

Why does physical pain "hurt?". Does it always grieve
us? It can sometimes amuse us, no? To me, it is not
the objective circumstances of the joy and pain that
are worth noting, but rather the joy itself, and the
pain itself. I am dumbstruck by the simple wonder of
the world as a value-laden being. I find the battle
between Good and Evil, between joy and grief, courage
and fear, in whatever form it may take, a kind of
beautiful and terrible drama.

Shall we not partake in the drama? Isn't that what
we're here for?

You might say that the question "what is the meaning
of life?" is a question that answers itself.

Back to Nietzsche:

"Thus, steadfast and beautiful, let us also be
enemies, my friends! Divinely will we strive AGAINST
one another!" (XXIX. THE TARANTULAS)

This is not about everybody going out and killing each
other. That's not it at all. It is more about joyously
embracing the good and battling evil as one encounters
them in life, without stooping to name-calling, and
without any need to alienate ones enemies.

Also, I'm not saying that Zarathushtra resembled
Nietzsche's Zarathustra, but I do believe their core
insights were the same. I don't follow either
Zarathushtra or Nietzsche in lock step, but I feel a
profound camaraderie with their words.

Ushta!
Dan