Analysis:
When Nietzsche stated, "God is dead." he was making a cultural statement. The claim was that God has died in the popular imagination. It is not believable for there to be a God. In the opening sentence it states, "...that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours,..." now, there is no need for a light in bright morning hours except for the fact that 1. he is mad and 2. the people are in the dark. The madman is laughed and jeered at by the crowd as he calls out in search of God. This shows the apparent attitude of the crowd toward God. The madman angered by the crowd, speaks out, "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him -- you and I. All of us are his murderers." In this, Nietzsche is pointing out that in the last couple years we have killed God from society with the rise of reason and science. That the death of God in society is our doing.
The madman goes on to explain the significance of taking God out of society, "What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Without the sun the earth loses its balance, its sense of motion, regulation, and its life and light. Essentially, Nietzsche is showing them the consequences for what they do not understand. For what they have done is taken the center out of virtually everything they knew, out of their churches, their universities, their foundation. The center in society was God. When God was taken out, the consequences resulted in WWI, WWII, The Atomic bomb, Vietnam, AIDS,... the bloodiest century known to human history. The 20th Century was the result.
The Parable continues, "I have come too early," he said then; "my time is not yet." At the end of the 18th Century, when this was written, society did not understand the consequences of their actions. They did not understand that reason without God has no rules. That reason without God does not solve our problems. That reason without God only gives us better ways to kill each other. As society had killed all thought of God, the madman found no hope in God.
[[The full work by Nietzsche is available here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/nietzsche-madman.asp]]
*My notes are from a lecture series by Summit Ministries. http://www.summit.org/about/
With Love<3
Very powerful and creative imagery. Thanks for sharing.
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DeleteDon't forget the part where he says we should make ourselves gods to be worthy of the murder of god. The idea of the overman, self overcoming and redefining morality in human terms is a main theme in his work. The madman is not mourning, but a lesson that as god is dead we should now be aware we are entirely responsible for our actions and his perception that late 19th century intellectuals had not yet given this serious thought
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