Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was the most insightful man in history, but he's been maligned for being too disturbing to read, and his Ubermensche concept was regrettably adopted by the Nazis. Ubermensche, which is German for “overman,” was the idea that humanity will eventually achieve full self-awareness. It comes down from the world's first philosopher, Zarathustra, founder of the world's first major world religion, Zoroastrianism, from which other major religions are derived: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Bahá'í. Gnosticism and Greek philosophy. With a provenance like that, it's probable that striving to become an ubermensche may be the most important goal of every human; in fact, Nietzsche said “ The Ubermensch is the meaning of the earth.” How can something so cardinal be so unknown?

The best way to describe an Ubermensche is to enumerate the goals: make your own values. Be selfish in strategic ways. Understand that suffering is a necessary component of good things. Understand that you will be hard to understand. Be gentle toward the weak out of consciousness of your own great strength. Don’t be too humble; delight in your own abilities; and lastly; become devoted to the Earth. Those are outstanding goals, and certainly make becoming an Ubermensch laudable; too bad the Nazi interpretation of becoming the literal overmen ruined it for everyone.