I was reading a blog written by a philosophy student at The University of London. It was about the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his idea of the Apollonian and Dionysian. Apollo and Dionysus are sons of the Greek God Zeus.
Apollo is the god of reason and rationality. He’s calm, wise, and logically superior, like a psychologically mature confident grown-up being, whereas Dionysus is diametrically the opposite of Apollo. He’s about chaos, emotions, instincts, and impulses. He’s passionate about sensuality, madness, and wine!
Nietzsche says these two modes of gods set the tone for Greek culture, in fact, it applies to all of us. We are all a mix of Dionysus and Apollo. Half logical, reasoning human and half frenzied, impulse-loving, dancing beast!
Nietzsche also says that the diversity and inclusiveness of Greek culture started deteriorating when they positioned Apollo as superior to Dionysus, especially during the time of philosophers like Socrates, and the act of totally ignoring Dionysus gradually drove them crazy. Nietzsche advises that the idea of acknowledging and accepting the Dionysian in all of us brings real psychological balance from a being to society.
Let us find our Apollonian and Dionysian parts…let’s watch who is dominant and when.
Today, my gratitude is to the student who wrote well about the topic and enlightened me.
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