I remember my first sculpture class. We were free to create whatever we wanted so long as it followed the very broad instructions given by our instructor. I recall showing up for the first day and being given a block of clay, some interesting looking utensils, and a “hello.”
As the rest of the class began filling in, the teacher began to teach. She began by saying she knew none of us had ever sculpted before, and told us not to worry. She then told us that she was not going to tell us how to use the utensils, and that the only guideline was that we created something that we would appreciate every time we looked at it. At the time, the class showed me that I was not destined to be a sculptor, but now, when looking back, I realize how much I learned, and now, after studying Nietzsche, it seems that the lessons from both coincide.
Even though the sculpture I created was not the most amazing thing I have ever done, I greatly enjoy it. The reason I like it, is because I followed the teacher's only instruction: “make something that you can appreciate every time you look at it.”
After years of enjoying my personal masterpiece, I have figured out why I enjoy it, regardless of its un-motivating appearance. I enjoy it because I put time and thought into it, and since I was very mindful when I created the piece, I, in turn made the most of every minute of work I put into it. I was meticulous during class, and did not waste a minute. Therefore, when I look at the sculpture, I don't see a decent sculpture, I see the product of my time and thought, and am happy that I produced a meaningful work of art.
It might not be blatantly obvious, but the way the teacher, and I approached this class is in accordance with how Friedrich Nietzsche wants people to approach life. After immersing myself into The Gay Science, I have been introduced to many interesting ideas, however three themes continually reoccurred in the book and are still reoccurring in my mind.
The concepts that Nietzsche most heavily emphasizes in The Gay Science are that the present is simply a product of the past, and that who you are at a certain moment, and what is happening to you at that moment are inevitable; he believes that people must continually progress with time, he thinks that if time is progressing, people should be as well; and finally his most powerful and controversial belief is that the world is comprised of finite objects: people, personalities, events, and thoughts are all finite, due to this, time moves cyclically and not linearly, therefore, he believes that every life, no matter the seeming uniqueness of it, will reoccur.
In my sculpture class, I remember being handed some tools and then being told to use them, without instruction. I had no say in which tools I was given, and this is how Nietzsche sees daily occurrences; people have no control over what forces will be instantiated on them at any given moment. In my sculpture class, I had two choices, I could either get upset that I did not know how to use the tools, or I could decide to use them however I wanted to. Thankfully, I decided to simply do what I could with what was given to me, and did not think twice about it.
Nietzsche would have praised me for this decision. In life, Nietzsche believes that since people have no control over what happens to them, they should make the most of whatever does happen. Nietzsche believes that if you do not make the most of your circumstances, then you are wasting life and when the eternal return comes, that those moments will be heavily regretted.
The eternal return in Nietzsche relates to his belief that the contents of the world work in a cyclical fashion. Nietzsche believes that there are only so many possible scenarios in the world, and that everything that happens, every feeling, thought, and emotion, will reoccur in the future. His beliefs on self-improvement, and making the most of every minute become quite grave when mixed with this belief, and that is why Nietzsche heavily emphasizes them all. As stated above, Nietzsche believes in making the most of every situation that you encounter. But, to be more specific, he believes that every moment should be spent improving oneself.
In aphorism twenty-six, Nietzsche explains this belief, he states, “[l]ife - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die - that is: being cruel and inexorable against anything that is growing weak and old in us…”(Nietzsche, 50). Nietzsche believes that as people watch time progress, that they should use it as a model and do the same. In my sculpture class, I felt the same way. I wanted to spend every minute of the class working on my piece so that when my time was up each day, I could be totally satisfied with the work I had done.
Overall, my sculpture class and Nietzsche's beliefs coincide because they both tell people to make the most out of uncontrollable circumstances; they are both meaningful only when a person puts all their physical and mental power into making every minute a useful and enjoyable one. And they both have the eventual goal of producing either a sculpture or life that can be enjoyed and admired forever. Both the class and Nietzsche are about the means and not the end.
For me, this art class was not great because I created an aesthetically pleasing sculpture, but because I enjoyed the process and also improved during it. For Nietzsche, life is the same. It is not about where or how you end, but it is how you got there. In my art class, and to Nietzsche, the enlightened student and person can look back at their experience and the eventual product, either a sculpture or a life, and be totally happy with the end result, regardless of what it seems to be.
