Not Zappa but Zapffe



Peter Wessel Zapffe is a seldom mentioned philosopher from Norway.
Maybe his most known for his pessimism and for being a follower of  Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.

Maybe his so pessimistic about mens fate that tom manty want to read his books.

But there is a short essay that briefly summarize his ideas. But not only that he gives some advice how to make our burden a bit lighter.

Here it is:
The last Messiah

Is it worth reading it?
Maybe not. But he anyway he lived with this vision in 90 years. I guess he didn't call it pessimistic bit realistic
In fact it has much in common with the philosophy of Buddha.

Buddha says that life is suffering.
And Zapffe says that we all carry an inner despair.
Why? Because of consciousness of the world and self-consciousness.
In meditation you try to put the consciousness in standby.

Zapffe would call that to act like animal. Or a wanting to get back to nature.
Actually Zapffe liked to take long mountain walks.

And that could be a pause from the "life-will" like Schopenhauer called it.

Another way to take such a pause is to do what I do now, to write whatever you like that can make you concentrated so you forget about the underlying despair: to do a sublimation of it in Freud's words.

Bot of course, in Zapffe's world, the despair will come back as soon as I stop writing.


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