Frederick Nietzsche, like many famous philosophers, believed democracy to be the disbelief in all gray men. We're gonna start this video with Nature's critique of democracy before we move on to aristocracy and history in the ancient Greeks and how the aristocratic morality and the hero morality produces High culture. Nietzsche believed his overman or ubermic could only arise in an aristocratic Society. In democracies, great men are pulled down by the masses. The preachers of equality try to decimate any who would rise above, and the Placid and even goodness of the herd is placed above any greatness in man. We see it today in our democracy, a rejection of Heroes and greatness, and the elevation of the mediocre and common man or woman or whatever we are. Removing the sculptures of war heroes and explorers to be replaced with statues of Modern Art that celebrate promiscuity, the underprivileged confusion, and generally have no inspiring message or feeling in them. The academics and institutions call for the demise of the heroic and speak only of

equality sensitivity privilege, and cultural politics never of Excellence self-overcoming. Traditional Values and heroism. Here is a quote from Will Durant in the story of philosophy speaking on Nietzsche and aristocracy versus decadence democracy means drift. It means permission given to each part of an organism to do just what it pleases. It means the lapse of coherence and interdependence. The enthronement of Liberty and Chaos. It means worship of mediocrity and the hatred of Excellence. It means the impossibility of Great Men. How could Great Men submit to the indignities and indecencies of an election? What chance would they have? What is hated by the people as a wolf by the dogs is the free spirit, the enemy of all Setters, the man who is not a regular party member. How can Superman arise in such a soil? How could a nation become great when its greatest men lie unused, discouraged, and perhaps unknown? Such a society loses character. Imitation is horizontal instead of vertical growth. Not the superior man but the majority.

man become the ideal in the model everybody comes to resemble everybody else even the Sexes approximate the men become woman and the women become men. I think we see what Nietzsche is talking about today. We see a lot of horizontal growth of culture but not vertical not deep advancement in the spiritual and cultural like a spiritual and cultural Renaissance for the most part great and Noble men want nothing to do with our society of decadence. They Retreat from this Melting Pot instead of mounting it. Politicians only rise if they have silver tongues wealthy allies and are willing to come comprise principles for reputation. They'll say whatever they they can you know to get votes democracy at this very expanded level is ruled by the loudest and most cunning people. The masses are sick with Madness victim identity instead of hero identity is virtuous and wealth interests dominate all. Nietzsche believed the preachers of equality were absurd and anti-nature not all men are equal far from it as heraclitus once said one truly great man.

to me is worth ten thousand mediocre ones. Great Men of art, War, intellect, virtue, and vision move cultures forward. They create Golden Ages and evolve the human race. To the preachers of equality, Nietzsche would ask: what is the goal of civilization? Is it to make everyone mediocre and pacified with pleasure? It's a dictator to everyone's sensitivities. Or is it to produce High culture and great men and women who evolved the species? Should we try to make everyone happy and equal and in doing so create widespread unhappiness, meaninglessness, and the last man? Or should we organize society as nature intended, around the powerful and heroic figures who live beyond good and evil? Elevate what is best and shift the cultural Focus away from money and equality and towards the Ubermensch. Nietzsche's goal seems to be the rise and Rebirth of high culture. It's what all of his writing was kind of dedicated to: the higher man and the Revival of high culture. His radical aristocratic beliefs seem extreme to our soft and

timid ears, but aristocracy was the norm across most of the Civilized world in the past Millennia. Really, since the dawn of civilization, there was aristocracy, and let us be clear here, aristocracy has its faults just as democracy, and it can cast oppression over the people just as much as it can cast sunlight across Humanity. I actually don't believe in aristocracy or the old aristocratic models. Old aristocracies were built on slavery and the oppression of a more peasant class, and this allowed the elites, the people at the top, to have more time to, you know, culture, to Art, to debate, to philosophy, to war, these types of things, and this was needed in the past for cultural advancement, but today we have technology, very advanced technology, and systems that we could make work for us instead of working for the system. If we, you know, inverted that measure and made the system work for us, we could all live a more free and, you know, empowered life. And in that, if we had the guiding morality of the old

aristocratic societies. I think that would be the recipe for the highest advancement of culture, and this is why I'm making this video. Nietzsche saw morals as the most powerful thing ever invented by man. The morals of a people determine their character and their future. The Christian morals brought about meekness, inwardness, guilt, and feminine virtues. It subdued an entire race of wild, blonde Beasts of the north. The Pagan moral system of ancient Greece, however, invigorated the people with manly virtue, the will to be Masters, and to be free. Nietzsche believed ancient Greece, especially pre-Socratic reefs, to be the image of high culture. They were an exceptional people who brought War, art, architecture, mathematics, philosophy, drama, and literature into a beautiful Pinnacle of achievement. If we measure a culture by the great men and women it produces, ancient Greece tops the list. Many Titans of genius and Excellence Strode those streets, perhaps more than any other time since the Renaissance is a close second.

again, another time when the Catholic feminine virtues softened in the master morality, and aristocratic ideals invigorated a people. In fact, the Renaissance or Renaissance means rebirth, a rebirth of tradition, a rebirth of values, a rebirth of the classical era. These two times in history have been the peak of advancement of vertical and cultural advancement. What created that? Let us explore Nietzsche's appraisal of ancient Greece and aristocracy and look at the vital elements which bring about high culture, namely that of breeding, physical excellence, education, and hero morality or manly virtue. So let's start this video on aristocracy with the roots of where it comes from. Aristocracy is established when a strong and vigorous people conquer a lesser one. The ancient aristocracies came when pastoralists or horse and cattle people conquered agriculturalists and set themselves up as rulers. It is usually a vigorous minority which conquers a majority, like the Han subjugating millions in China or the Scythian Indo-Aryan horse people.

conquering Northern India, Persia, all the way up through Europe, and setting themselves up as a ruling class. Most aristocratic societies begin with violence. The pastoralist would sweep down on farming towns and villages and subjugate the masses of weaker sedentary folk. The pastoralists ate meat, often fasted, endured hardship and war, traveled much, and were stronger for it. These barbarians were virile, crude, and healthier than civilized people in every sense of the word. Their dominance was both physical and spiritual. The Greeks were one of these conquering people. They came in with vigor and subjugated the people of the Peloponnese and the surrounding areas. They were the Dorians who became the Hellenes and set themselves up as the ruling class of aristocrats. The pastoralist and then aristocrats were breeders. They understood how to create a healthy and strong stock of animal. They would breed horses, dogs, cows, and see the results of many generations of good breeding. By mixing only the best with the best, they would

produce the most strong, vital, and beautiful of a species. Purebred horses, for instance, still go for millions of dollars today. It was plainly obvious to the master Aristocrat with his selection of horses and hunting dogs, the value of selection. For instance, the Aristocrat would breed the strongest and most virile hunting dogs together to make a superior batch of dogs, which he would get to train and develop and pass on generation to generation. This eye for breeding was applied to marriage and mixing amongst the noble families. The ancient way of arranged marriage amongst nobility was to propagate the strongest Bloodlines and maintain a dominant ruling class that excelled in all attributes. We can look at, you know, the monarchies and aristocracies of Europe or go all the way back to the Aryan rule of India to see this happen. You know, the caste system in India was set up by the Aryans who invaded, and they set themselves up as brahmins or in the top cast, and there was a a precedent of arranged marriage.

where you could only marry within your cast so Bloodlines would remain pure. And because of this you know it brought about maybe a more strong and virile person. Nietzsche, like the Greeks, believed physical domination, Beauty, and genius were a product of hereditary work. It'd be ludicrous to refute this although you know you might morally disagree with Eugenics. You know we breed horses for a reason. We breed dogs for a reason. A lot of physical domination, Beauty, and genius were a product of breeding. Nietzsche said the best should be with the best and love should be left to the rabble. This aristocratic way of thinking perhaps is not pleasant to our modern romantic sensibilities, but it is many generations Forward Thinking. If there's love, it's an added compliment or a designated side of fair only in this way nature thought shall the highest sort of man be brought about. From proper breeding came the celebration of physical Excellence. Just look at the ancient Greek sculptures and it's easy to see they valued strength and Perfection of the physical form.

their first statues and works of art were of athletes and Warriors. The ancient Olympics, for instance, were a religious Festival to celebrate the male form and manly virtue in contests of Excellence. They prized physical Excellence as much as we celebrate physical degeneration today. Aristocratic societies tend to see what is strong, powerful, and beautiful as good, while Democratic societies tend to lose its appreciation of natural strength and beauty, and the good gets conflated with weakness masquerading as virtue. In Greece, there was a term, Kalo kagathia. Kalo means beautiful and Noble, kagathia means good or virtuous, and this term was used, you know, for Aristocrats, meaning they were beautiful, they were strong, and that meant they were good and virtuous. To the Greeks, the good was the beautiful. They believed ugliness was a sign of evil and ill-breeding. If a soul developed a strong and Noble character, she would become physically beautiful, symmetrical, and strong in the process. Hence, a beautiful body meant a strong

and noble character. They were a fully embodied people. Whether you agree or disagree with these sentiments, they lived on the natural instinct and prized physical strength, vigor, and fitness. And this seems to be natural in nature, you know, the best get to breed with the best because they're the strongest. They out-compete everyone else, and hence they get the best spouse and the best offspring. This is nature's way. This natural evaluation of physical excellence created a more robust, strong, and well-rounded individual and led to the higher development. Once we start to reject the body for the mind or for God, we lose touch with the natural truth, the natural instincts. And this was a huge thing that Nietzsche was pointing out to the Christianized Germans, to the Christianized West. Wow, we adopted Christianity and we lost touch with our instinctual, primal, physical roots. We have lost touch with what it means to be a man, what it means to be a wild creature of the earth. And all of a sudden, we're living for some true world or for

some Heaven instead of affirming this life. Education, both moral and mental, was another aspect of ancient Greece that propagated high culture. In Nietzsche's philosophy, good breeding combined with stern schooling created men capable of higher deeds. The aristocrats of Sparta, for instance, were trained in rigorous education of war and in virtue from a young age. The aristocratic sons of Athens would attend the gymnasium for training of the body and were tutored by the sophists and philosophers for training of the mind. The sons of kings and rulers had the best tutors. Alexander the Great, for instance, was first schooled in the Spartan ways of vigor and self-restraint. He learned to thrive in hardship and under pressure. He was then schooled in the gymnasium with the finest trainers and then he studied under Aristotle for many years, learning the natural sciences, philosophy, political science, mathematics, and strategy. Although he went on to be the greatest conqueror the world has ever seen, he was magnanimous and, for the most part, benevolent as a ruler.

Alexander had his flaws. He was a philosopher at heart, and he is an example of what excellent breeding, excellent education, excellent physical fitness, and hero morality creates in a man. In the view of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, it was far easier to reform a single ruler than the masses. To this end, many philosophers sought out the company of Royal and aristocratic families to create an enlightened Society. They sought to educate the leaders because culture flowed forth from them, and if they were lucky, they may just wind up with the philosopher king. Beyond breeding and physical and mental training, Nietzsche praised ancient Greece for its culture of manly virtue and hero morality. This overarching force of hero worship and the heroic ideal of a ret day excellence and virality was vital in bringing about the higher types of men. The Greeks would have heard every verse of The Iliad by a young age and fallen asleep to stories of Achilles, Hector, Heracles, most Knights. Many aristocratic families claimed direct descent from these Heroes like Ajax or

Jason, or Heracles, or Achilles - these prized ancestors, these models of strength, courage, and wit, inspired emulation in the youths. This is very important. Imagine the kind of psychological resiliency you would have growing up in a time with such strong heroic myths as a central focal point of culture. Where it wasn't science, Marvel superheroes, or the suffering Christ that was worshipped, but your mighty ancestors. The heroic ideal inspired their quest for excellence in all things. Citizens measured each other based on their excellence in manly virtue, their vigor and war, in industry, in politics, in athletics, and in debate. Expressed the Greek love of arete and heroism and competition. Even the potters in ancient Greece, the lowliest of men, competed to prove their arete or excellence and would sometimes write slurs against their competition on the bottom of their ceramics. The master aristocrat would have seen comfort, opulence, security as dangers. They make you weak, flaccid, easily overtaken. They would have seen war, struggle

great challenge as a glorious opportunity. Their entire moral system around what was good and bad is almost inverted from the modern day, and it's hard to wrap our mind around. And this is important to me because this hero morality, this quest for excellence and overcoming that was imbued into the Greeks, was the center of their cultural wheel. And the reason I'm making this video on morality, and this is more of a raw part here, is because I see whatever we have as our moral foundation and at the center of our cultural wheel, we slowly become akin to whatever we venerate. We become like. And so this is bringing up the question of what do we venerate and what should we put at the center and the foundation of our culture if we want to reproduce a Renaissance, if we want to reproduce a rebirth of classical values and advancement. So thanks for watching this video on aspects of Nietzsche's thought around aristocracy, hero morality, and his critique of democracy. So much more videos coming on cultural philosophy on.

personal philosophy in the Warriors way here at Wisdom Warriors. So subscribe for more. Also, a lot of this talk around the Greeks around arete and Excellence comes from my book The Psychology of Slaying Dragons, coming out later in the summer. If you want to get notified about that release date, link in the description to sign up for the email newsletter. Well, I will be blasting out an early copy. And if you're watching this in the future, a great way to support me would be buying my book on Amazon. Thanks for watching. I'll see you at the next video. Peace.

Nietzsche's Radical view on Aristocracy and Ancient Greece

Nietzsche's Radical view on Aristocracy and Ancient Greece

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