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Civilization #54: The German Will to Power

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Okay, good morning. So today um we will

do Germany and thus conclude um our

discussion of the four great

civilizations that are fighting for

global dominance. Uh we previously did

Britain, America, Tuesday we did Russia,

today we do Germany. So to recap

um Russian civilization is very distinct

from American uh sorry Anglo-American

civilization and German civilization is

also distinct as well. We're going to

focus on the idea of unity of will in

German civilization today. Um, we don't

know much about German civilization

because they were defeated in World War

II and because the Anglo-Americans

control the history um of the world um

we tend to think Anglo-American

civilization is superior to German and

Russian civilization. But what I will

show you today is that in many respects

uh the most advanced civilization that

humans have ever created is actually the

German civilization. Okay. So,

um, if you look at a map today in

Europe, there's a really interesting

fact that may surprise you. The green is

Russia. Okay? It's the largest country

in the world. Over here are the Baltic

nations. And over here is a place called

Kalanagrad. It's actually

Russian. Okay? So, the question then is

how did this come to pass? How was it

that you've got this colony of Russians

far away from the motherland? And the

answer is this. Because historically

this was not Russian. Historically this

was a place called Connburg which was

part of a nation that no longer exists

called Prussia. And for a couple hundred

years, Prussia was the strongest

military, the most advanced civilization

uh in the world. And now it's

disappeared and it's been replaced by

Poland. Okay. And parts of Barus

um and uh West Prussia has has now

become part of Germany. Okay. But um

Prussia is no longer

um it's extinct. And the reason why is

that in World War II the the allies who

won the war, the Soviet Union, the

British and Americans decided to destroy

Prussia. And the rationale was that um

Prussia is a militaristic society that

is hellbent on world domination.

And by eliminating pressure we can now

bring peace to the world. Um the problem

though is that um Connisburg which is now

now

Kalanagrad was really the center of

civilization for a few decades. This is

Connisburg before in 1800s. As you can

see it's a beautiful uh port city uh by

the Baltic Sea.

Um and it was really the apex of human

civilization. And then of course World

War II happened and then after World War

II um Kalan Kinsburg was destroyed.

Okay. It was turned into rubble and

today it's like this Kalanagrad okay a

very Soviet uh stale uh city with no

character with no culture with no

civilization. All right. And that's the

intent to turn uh to destroy Connisburg

which is which was for the longest time

the heart and soul of German

civilization. Um it is true that Kisburg

and Prussia were extremely powerful was

extremely powerful military uh nation

and as you can see uh this is from

Wikipedia by the way. Okay. Um as you

can see there are many great generals

and officers who are from Connorsburg.

Okay, we're talking about the city.

We're not we're not talking about the

the nation pressure. We're just talking

about the city of Connisburg. But you

also see that

um there are many intellectuals, writers

who come from Connisburg. Okay. And the

most famous of these intellectuals is

Emanuel Kot which which we who we will

discuss next class. He basically changed

the course of western history with his

philosophy. So Kisburg was the

birthplace of Emanuel Kant. So how is it

that the man who is most responsible for

the enlightenment

uh happens to be born in the military

signation? Okay, that's that's a

question. But not only Emanuel K uh but

you have also many other great thinkers

including Hannah Ratat who is a Jewish

philosopher and who is considered one of

the greatest um political philosophers

of the 20th century. She's also from Connisburg.

Connisburg.

um scientists just an amazing uh group

of scientists as well as uh mathematicians.

mathematicians.

Okay. And then of course you have

musicians and artists. So the

contribution of Kisburg to world

civilization cannot be uh

overstated. Um and there are quite a

there are quite a few Jews who lived in

Connisburg. Connisburg for the longest

time was considered one of the most

tolerant cities in Germany for Jews. Um

I we let's now look at Nobel Prize

winners in the sciences physics,

chemistry and medicine. Um as you can

see in 1925 the majority were actually

from Germany. Okay, Germany had the best

scientists in the world. 1933 same

thing. You got to 1950, same

thing. And in fact, by

1975, Germany is still dominant. The

United States is catching up. It's only

by about 2000 when the United States

starts to take over overtake Germany. So

again, the question then is how is it

possible for a militaristic nation

hellbent on world domination? How are

they able to produce so many great

Um, and this is a very famous quote from

Motier that captures the prejudice of

the West against Prussia. Where some

states have an army, the Prussian army

has a state. Okay. Uh, this is pretty

insulting to Prussian culture. Um, we've

looked at many civilizations that are

militaristic. Okay. Including the

Romans, Spartans, Aztecs, Macedonians,

andQing Chinese among others. They're

extremely successful militar militarily,

but guess what? They were not creative.

In fact, they were

anti-creative. So, how is it possible

for the Persians to be both creative and

militaristic? And the answer is because

the Western prejudice against Prussia is

wrong. They were not a militaristic

nation bent on world domination. They

were first and foremost a creative

humanistic society that was forced into

milit military confrontation of its

neighbors because of its geographic location.

location.

Okay. Um so let's go back to the history

of the Holy Roman Empire. As we

discussed in uh a previous class, the

Holy Roman Empire was confederation of

German citystates and there were like

thousands and thousands of them that

were in competition with each other.

Okay. over time because of competition

from uh the more powerful states like

France uh Poland, Lutherania, Russia,

Sweden, these citystates were now forced

to gel together. The most successful of

of these city states is Prussia. Okay?

And for the longest time, Prussia was a

vassal state of the Polish Lutherania

Commonwealth uh or the Swedes. Okay? But

by but by by about the year 1700 it

started to come into its own for the

leadership uh for great military

leadership. Okay. And it start to spread

out. Um and as you can see it's

spreading out really quickly because of

its military victories and because of

its high culture. Um, by the 19th

century, Prussia has dedicated itself to

uniting all of Germany and it starts a

series of wars that allow for the

unification of all the German people.

The first is something called the DOS

Prussian war. Then they fight against

the Austrian Hungary Empire, which is a

successor to the Holy Roman Empire, and

they defeat the Austrians really

quickly. Then they move on to France

which is the dominant power of this time

and they defeat France thus allowing for

the complete unification of Germany

under Prussian leadership. Okay. So how

was Prussia able to be so successful?

Well, as we discussed last class, there

are certain characteristics about these

city states that go on to unify a

nation. Okay. And the three major ones

that that Moscow and Prussia share is

open cooperative competition. They're

surrounded by enemies and they're forced

to be innovative, open and tolerant in

order to uh succeed. They're forced to

be unified uh advantaged by

disadvantage. Okay, so Prussia and

Moscow had limited resources which

forces them to focus on human capital on

making sure the citizens citizens were

well educated and the citizens were um

hardworking and vaselich. Okay. So

again, Moscow was under the vaselage uh

of the m of the Mongols and Prussia for

the longest time was under the vaselage

of the Swedes, the uh uh Poles, the

Lithuanians and as a result they're

always engaged in a process of

reflection and resilience. Okay? And

that's really the secret to the success

of Prussia. All right? At the same time,

the thing to remember about the

Prussians that differentiates them from

from the Muscovites is because Prussia

is situated within Europe. It has a very

different attitude towards humans than

the Muscovites. Okay? The Muscovites

because of their Mongolian heritage,

they tend to oppress their subjects.

Whereas the Prussians are much more

democratic. They're much more

progressive. They're much more open.

Okay. So this is Fedic the Great who is

considered uh the great nation builder

of Prussia for his military victories.

What is often ignored is his social

economic political reforms. He really is

the first enlightenment

uh despot. Okay. He's heavily influenced

by Emanuel Quad. They fought very highly

of each other. Um and he was he was very

intent on making Prussia the first

enlightened state of Europe. Okay. So

look let's look at the few things he

did. He radically reformed the Prussian

judicial system so that you had rule of

law so that everyone had recourse to

justice. No matter even if you were poor

you could still sue. um he abolished

torture in the military and this was

revolutionary at this time because it

was always assumed that you kept your

soldiers in check by scaring them. Okay.

Um you estab he established religious

tolerance. Remember at this time in

Europe there's a huge uh war going on

between the Catholics and the

Protestants and he was tolerant towards

both the Catholics and the Protestants

and even and even to a certain extent to

the Jews as well. Okay. And over time,

Kisburg, which is the uh heart and

center of the Persian uh nation, um

becomes really um one it has one of the

largest Jewish settlements in Europe.

Okay, about 5,000 at at that point. He

grants basic form of freedom of speech.

Um and he and the most important thing

is that in 1763 he establishes a public

school system that becomes a source for

Persia's future greatness. And to put

this in context, okay, it's only over

100 years later when Britain and France

does this. Japan and America will copy

just basically steal the Prussian

education system. Okay.

Okay.

Um in

1806, Prussia is defeated by Napoleon.

Okay, we discussed this and as a result,

Prussia becomes a vassal state to

Napoleon. And at this point, what the

Persians do is what they've always done,

which is engage in a deep process of

reflection. And they decide that in

order to defeat France, they must be

like France. Remember, this is the

French Revolution. And there's a spread

of liberalism throughout France because

of the revolution. So the Prussians

decided to copy the most important

reforms of the French Revolution, which

include the abolishment of surfom. Now

peasants can become landowners. Um they

destroy monopolies to encourage free

market competition. They open civil

service to the middle class before it's

only available to the

nobility. Um and the most important

thing is the reforms of a man named

William von Humbult. He creates the

modern research university. Um so so he

founded something called the Berlin

University. And so he conceptualized the

research university where before you sat

in class and you listened to lectures

and you memorize what the professor told

you but now you're encouraged to do your

own research to write a thesis. Okay,

which is what we do today. Um the most

important reform he did was to

conceptualize public education as a

meritocracy as an opportunity for the

middle class uh to grow. Okay, to grow

the middle class and to to give the

middle class a greater uh economic role

in society. And these reforms in only a

few years will allow Prussia to defeat

Napoleon and establish itself as a great power

power

again. Um this is Carl von Clauswich and

he is considered the greatest military

strategist of all time. He's Prussian.

He uh he was an officer in the Prussian

military and he thought very deeply

about the

no sorry the wars of Napoleon. Why is it

that the Napoleon and the French were so

great? And his conclusion is because

they were to because they were able to

mobilize the resources of society for

total war. Okay. And his conclusion is

that in the future as a nation, if you

want to win militarily, then you must

engage your citizens. Okay? You must

increase the morale of your citizens.

you must make them want to want to die

for your nation. All

right. Um 1848 is one of the most

important years in human history. And

the reason why is in 1848, okay, these

red spots, these are all re

revolutionary hot spots. Okay. So after

Napoleon was defeated in 1815,

um the European powers led by Murd of

the Austrian Hungary Empire, he sits

everyone down and decides first of all

how to ensure uh no wars like like that

of Napoleon arise again in Europe. How

to create peace, but also most

importantly how to

maintain the feudal structure of Europe.

Okay. and he and they were very

successful at that until 1848 when the

middle class when the workers rebelled

in 17 different places. You will notice

that in England in Britain there was no

revolution. There were no rebellions.

And the reason why is because Britain at

this point had colonies overseas, right?

Canada, New Zealand, Australia. Um and

so these people who were upset about the

e economic um status in Britain could

migrate elsewhere but these other places

didn't have any colonies. There was no

pressure valve for social discontent and

so these revolutions start to take

place. A lot of these revolutions were

suppressed violently. And you would

think that Prussia because it is a

military dictatorship, it would suppress

the uh re the middle class um liberals

violently. But that's not what happened.

Okay, let's see what happened. So this

is from Wikipedia. What happened was

that there were public demonstrations uh

because um people wanted more political

reforms, right? uh and the army killed

certain people and now people are really

really angry. So they erect barricades.

They're they're getting ready for civil

war. Okay, this is another French

revolution. And at this point uh the

emperor um Frederick William, what he

does is he goes and reassures the public

that they will negotiate a peace. And

what he does to calm the public is the

king also approve arming the citizens.

He gives guns to the citizens to ensure

that the citizens citizens will feel

safe negotiating with the army. Okay.

But not only that, but when the crowds

of people went to the

king, the king basically agreed to all

their demands including parliamentary

elections, a constitution and freedom of

press. Also, he promised everyone that

Prussia was to be merged forth with into

Germany because not only is there

liberal socialist sentiments at this

point, there's also nationalist

sentiments. People want to feel united

as a German people. Okay? And then what

calms people down is the king attends a

funeral for those citizens who died uh

during the rebellion. Okay? And they wore

wore

Okay, he and his ministers wore the

revolutionary tri color of black, red,

and gold, which is by the way the the

flag of Germany right now. Okay, so he's

showing tremendous respect to his

people. Okay, and that's just the

Prussian attitude. Again, the the

historical image of Prussians is very

stern, very austere, very dictatorial.

Okay. But if you look at their behavior,

they're very respectful of their people

because they understand that in this

world where they're surrounded by

enemies, they're a central power with

France, Russia,

um um all around them, they need to stay

united as a people.

Okay. Um this is Otto von Bismar, the

most famous uh Prussian in world

history. He is the founder of something

called the second reich. The holy roman

empire was the first reich and the

unified Germany is the uh second reich.

So he's really the founder of uh modern

day Germany. He's known as the iron

chancellor because uh he gave a speech

in which he said that the position of

pressure in Germany will not be

determined by its liberalism but by its

power. Okay. Okay. So he's rejecting the

idea of liberalism, of free speech, of

openness, of negotiation, of

institutions, and he's focusing on the

military. Persia must concentrate its

strength and hold it for the favorable

moment which has already come and gone

several times. Since the treaties of

Vienna, our frontiers have been

illdesigned for a healthy body politic.

Not through speeches and majority

decisions will the great questions of

the day be decided. That was a great

mistake of 1848 and 1849 but by iron and

blood okay for violence and sacrifice.

So if you so when you read the speech

you understand that he's repudiating the

liberalism of King Frederick Wilham.

Okay. He's saying that nope the armies

have gone in and killed all the

demonstrators. Okay. So that's what he's

saying and that's why he has a

reputation for being the iron

chancellor, a man of violence, a man of

sternness. Okay. But he was extremely

pragmatic man and his ambition was to

have a unified Germany in which people

were content. Okay. Um and so this is

another speech he made same man but

completely different tone. And so he

says the real grievance of the worker is

the insecurity of his existence. He is

not sure that he will always have work.

He's not sure that if he that he will

always be healthy and he perceives that

he will one day be old and unfit to

work. Okay. So he's sympathizing with

the plight of the factory worker. He

understands that um it's wrong for

workers to lose their hand at work and

not be compensated. It's wrong for

workers to get sick and their entire

family to go into poverty. It's w it's

wrong for kids who are six years old to

go to factories to work. It's wrong for

managers to beat the crap out of other

factory workers. So what they will do is

institute the first welfare state, the

first socialist state in the world.

Okay, look at this. They have health

insurance. They have accident insurance.

So if you get if you get injured in at

work then the state will come in and uh

give you money. They have a pension.

They protect workers uh from abuse. They

have children protection act which means

work children are not allowed to go work

in factories. Okay. So in other words in

the year 1800 to 1900 if you could be a

citizen of anywhere in the world you

would definitely want to be a citizen of Germany.

Germany.

Okay. At this point in Britain, in

France, in America, workers are being

exploited everywhere. But in Germany,

workers are g are being given rights.

And because they're they're being

because they're giving being given

rights, they want to fight for their

country. They want to die for the

country. And this makes Germany the most

powerful nation in the world at this

time. Okay? And when that happens in

Europe, when you become a

hedgeimon, guess who gets scared at you?

Guess who's now going to plot to get rid

of you? Britain,

right? All right. So, um, at the same

time, I don't want to say that Germany

is a liberal democracy at this point.

It's not. Why? Because as these

industrial reforms are happening, there

are more groups that are discontent.

Okay? And they pose a problem to German

unity. Okay? And these groups are

obviously the Catholics. A third of

Germany now is Catholic because Prussia

has united all of Germany, right? For

the longest time, the Holy Roman Empire

was Catholic. So a third of all the

people um is Catholic.

Bismar, his biggest failure, his biggest

mistake was his his attempt to suppress

the Catholics. Okay? He basically said,

"Listen, we're not going to fund you

anymore. And if you insist on swearing

loyalty to the Pope, then we will put

you in prison. You now have destroy

loyalty to Germany." And so the priests

all went to prison. Okay? And this is a

disaster for Bismar. And ultimately he

had to compromise and relent. Okay? So

the Catholics were a huge problem. Then

you had the liberals. Okay? So you may

have heard the term liberalism,

socialism, communism. There's a huge

difference between these three terms,

guys. Okay? So, so let me explain what

the differences are. Liberalism means

more political rights for the middle

class, right? Freedom of speech, freedom

of assembly, voting power. Why? Because

the middle class have economic power and

they want to transform that into

political power. Okay? The socialists

want democracy for all. They understand

uh that um for democracy to really

happen, you need to provide worker

protection. You need to create class

consciousness. You need to let workers

have unions. Okay? So that's socialism.

Then you have communism which is more

radical. Basically communists believe

wealth should be redistributed. Okay? We

should get rid of private property and

redistribute wealth for more equality in

society. Also, communism is an

international movement. Okay. Um, you

also have Polish nationalists. A lot of

people in Germany at this time are

Poles. They're Slavic people who have

their own language, have their own

ethnic identity and ultimately they they

will form Poland. Okay? And at this time

they're a huge problem for the German

state and they are suppressed as well.

Then you have people called the

anarchists. Um, the anarchists are

people who believe that we don't need

government. We don't need authority.

People just should just be allowed to do

whatever they want to do. People are

self-organizing and as a result uh

government is bad. Okay. So, you have

all these different political groups and

they're all very powerful and they all

pose a problem to German unity and as a

result they are persecuted one by one.

Um this is important because

um at the end of World War I when

Germany has surrendered they will

reflect on why they lost and one

conclusion that they had was because of

all these political divisions. Okay,

there are too many divisions within

society. Therefore we we we need to

suppress this division and create one

political entity. And this is what

allows for the rise of course of Hitler

and the Nazis. Okay. So this is

important to understand.

All right. World War I again when if

Germany is too powerful, Britain is

forced into action. Britain cannot allow

for hegeimon to be dominant in Europe.

Britain went into action against

Napoleon when Napoleon was a hedgeimon.

Now they're going into action against

Germany because Germany is too powerful.

Okay? And World War I, no one expected

this, but World War I was a catastrophe.

Okay? millions of people died and it was

an alliance of Britain, France and

Russia basically against Germany. I mean

Germany did have the Ottoman Empire and

the Austria Hungary Empire as allies but

they were not effective. It was really

Germany versus the world. And what's

amazing is Germany was able to um create

a stalemate or even at there was

actually sometimes when Germany was

about to win. Okay. And of course when

that happens, if Germany is going to win

this war, it forces the Americans into

action. Okay, why? Well, first of all,

the Americans think like the British.

The Americans and British do not want a

European power to merge to unite the

heartland. Okay, to unite Asia and

Europe because then it negates naval

trade. Okay, does that make sense?

Second reason is the Americans actually

lend a lot of money to the British.

Okay, something called a land lease

policy. So if Britain lost the war, then

all that money is gone. Okay. So, Brit

America comes in to save Britain. Okay.

But even at this point, this is really

important. Even at this point, Germany,

it was not clear Germany was going to

lose the war. Okay. Russia was knocked

out of the war. France was divided.

Britain was not affect was not that um

effectual. So, it's not clear at this

point. Um Germany was going to lose.

Okay. Chances are Germany was going to

lose, but Germany had not lost yet. And

if Germany could mobilize all its

resources, then Germany could withstand

this this onslaught. But then something

happened that was very important that

changed the mind the calculus of these

German generals. The 1917 Russian

Revolution. Why did the re revolution

happen? Because Char Nicholas was too

focused on the war and he neglected the

the um political divisions at home.

Okay? And this allowed for a revolution

to happen. So the German generals who

are in control of Germany at this point

they're scared to death of what's

happening in Germany because remember at

this point in history the nation with

the strongest working class the

politarian is actually Germany not

Russia okay so as a result um the ger

this man name is Paul von Hindenberg

he's very important he's now head of the

German military as well as head of the

German nation and he forced the German

government to surrender to the allies.

Okay. And this led to the 1919 Treaty of

Versaille. The Treaty of Versaille had

many stipulations that were unfair to

the Germans. Okay? So the Germans had to

pay a lot of debt. Uh they had they

could no longer rearm. They had to

reduce the military. They lost a a lot

of land to France. Okay. But the worst

thing that the allies did um in this

negotiation was it forced

Germany to emit complete guilt for

starting the war. That was completely

unfair. Okay, this war happened for many

reasons. Everyone was involved. Everyone

had a certain blame. But Germany had to

take all the blame.

Okay. And as a result, the government

did not want to sign this um uh treaty

because obviously this is going to piss

off all your people. But the army forced

the government to sign the treaty. Okay?

And the thinking of the army at this

point is listen, we've been in in the

situation before. Okay? We lost

Napoleon, right? And so we just paid off

a lot of debt to Napoleon and then

rebuilt. Okay? And then when we rebuilt,

we made we made the nation stronger.

We're resilient. So we'll do we'll do

we'll do the same thing here. Okay?

We'll just surrender, accept all the

terms, then we'll start to rebuild and

unify the nation and take take revenge

against everyone. Okay? And that that

was like the thinking of the military.

Okay? Very simple strategy,

right? Um the Wymer Republic is what

follows after the war. And the warmer

republic is um 10 years of

hyperinflation, social discontent,

complete chaos. Okay? And when a nation

suffers economically, politically,

culturally, what it often does is it

engages in a deep process of reflection.

It goes back into the past and thinks

about how to rebuild itself. Okay. So

some philosophers that are very

important uh for thinkers of how to

unify Germany um are are like Arthur

Sharpenheimer. Okay. Arthur Sharenheim

is very very important philosopher. All

right. His conception of the world is

that the underlying force of the world

is the will. Okay. Desire and the will

manif manifests itself itself physically

in us in bodies. Okay. Do you understand

the idea? Okay. So the under underlying

force of the universe is the will desire

and then the will will physically

manifest in our bodies and then our

bodies will seek to do what the will

wants which is to procreate right to

have sex to have children to eat food.

Okay. Now the great um the great the

paradox of this situation is before our

the manifestation in our bodies the will

was just one right there's no

differentiation but once the will

manifest it itself in our bodies there's

now differentiation okay there's multip

multip multiplicity and as such we see

the world through our own perspective

for our own selfish perspective which

leads to conflict you understand it is

because We've forgotten that we are just

one. That leads to conflict and

suffering. Okay. So his great solution

to this is compassion. As humans, we

must first and foremost be compassionate

towards each other and remind ourselves

that we are just one people. Okay? And

we can do that through the apprec

appreciation of art because art is a

great unifier, right? Art is is a thing

that allows us to contemplate the

wholeness and the harmony of the world.

And then he says that there are some of

us who should engage in self-denial who

who should become like monks who should

deny who should deny the world because

the world is inherently evil. Right? So

when you refuse to have children, when

you refuse to struggle to suffer, then

you achieve enlightenment. Okay? And I

and and this is easy for us to

understand because this is a very

Buddhist ideology. Okay? So he's

basically taking Buddhism and Hinduism

from India and he's making it more

secular. He's trying to remove the

religious aspects of it and make it into

a logical system. Okay, does that make

sense? All right. So he says life has no

intrinsic worth but is kept in motion

merely by desire and illusion. And as

such if you can remove the desire from

your life, you achieve nirvana. You

achieve enlightenment. Okay. Um this is

really important passage. Okay. Music is

thus by no means like the other arts.

The copy of the ideas but the copy of

the will itself whose objectivity the

ideas are. This is why the effect of

music is so much more powerful and

penetrating than that of the other arts.

For they speak only of shadows but it

speaks of the thing itself. Okay, this

is really important. So how do we know

the will? How can we access the will?

It's through music. Okay, because the

music is a perfect encapsulation of

desire. Right? It is the perfect

expression of

emotions. And so through music we can

rediscover the unity of the world, the

unity of the will. And why why is this

important? Because it

inspires Richard Wagner. Okay. Richard

Wagner is the most famous musician in

Germany. He's really the national poet

of Germany. He's a genius. And his great

insight is that all art can can be

combined into one. Okay? And this is

before movies, right? This is this

before cinema. So you can put in music,

paintings, theater,

uh poetry, philosophy, everything

together to create one total art that

will inspire and unite the people. And

this is why he spends 30 years to create

something called the ring trilogy. Okay?

And this is held every year at the Bay

Roof Festival. He he creates his own

opera house in order to stage a play and

it's 15 hours. Okay, it's it's four

parts, 15 hours and it's the inspiration

for the Lord of the Rings movies. I'm

sure you you've seen Lord of the Rings,

right? It's a very similar plot. Okay?

And the plot um very simple. It's 15

hours. Sorry, it's not a simple plot,

but I I'll I'll put it in very simple

terms. It's 15 hours, four parts. Okay?

So um there are people called the Ryan

maidens. Okay, these are these are river

goddesses who control the river rine and

they have a lot of gold. Uh there's a

dwarf, an evil dwarf who steals all this

gold and with all this gold he crafts a

ring to control the world, okay, to rule

the world. And this is this is important

because it's actually taking

Sharpenheimer's philosophy, right?

Desire is a source of evil in the world

and turn it into a metaphor. The ring is

desire. The ring is what represents evil

and suffering in the world. And because

we all seek the ring, we cause misery.

All right. Okay. So, um this is what

this how it starts. Now, up in the sky,

there's a god named Waton. Okay. Uh this

is so Wagner is using a lot of Norse

mythology that that we learned before

from the Vikings, right? Warton is

another name for Odin. And Walton and

the gods want to create a palace for

themselves called Vajala. Okay? And they

hire a giant to build this Vahala. Okay?

And they sign a contract with him. But

the giants want payment first. Okay? So

Wen and the gods steal this ring from

the dwarf. Okay? And they give it to the

giant. But then the dwarf places a curse

on this ring. And the curse is um that

the gods will see the the end the end of

days Ragnarok every day. Okay. So the

gods are haunted. And so um the gods are

like we need to destroy this ring

otherwise we're always going to be

haunted. We we won't we won't be able to

sleep. Okay. And so they need to kill

the giant and get the ring back. But

they they have a contract with this

giant. So Odin a warton

conspires to uh give birth to a great

hero who's half human, half god, but

he's not fully god who will now go kill

the giant and get the ring back. Okay,

that's a that that that's his great um

idea. Um so so he gives birth to twins,

Sigi and Sigman. They're separated at

birth. Uh they're twins and then they

run into each other and they fall in

love with each other. Remember they're

they're twins. Okay. Uh, Celindi is

already married and so Sigman is

determined to kill her husband Hundig

and marry Celinde. Okay. And this is all

part of Wharton's plan. He's really

happy. But then his wife Fria says to

him, "Um, no, no, no, no, no. They

broken the incest law. Okay, they're not

allowed to have sess with each other."

And so you have to kill Sigman. And

Wharton um doesn't really have a choice

in the matter. He has to he has to agree

to the death of uh Sigman. Okay. So he

sends his daughter a Valkyrie named

Bhindi to go make sure that Sigman uh is

killed against Hundin. But Brunhindi

when she arrives she sees the love between

between

Sande and um sorry Syundai and Sig

Sigman and she wants to save Sigman and

defy Wharton's orders. Wharton hears

about this and punishes Bhandi and kills

Sig uh Sigman.

Okay. And what he does by punishing

Bhindi is he sentences her to eternal

sleep surrounded by a wall of flames.

Only the greatest hero in the world, the

hero who is capable of killing a giant

and uh retrieving the ring can save her.

And this hero is named Sigfrey who's the

son of Sigman. Okay, this is act three.

Now Sigman saves her um kills the giant

and uh now has retrieved the ring but

because he has a ring now everyone

around him is now conspiring to kill him

and um get the ring for themselves.

Okay, the problem of desire which causes

misery. So in the end what happens is

that um Sigf freed is killed. Bhindi

learns of this um treachery and then she

kills those who killed him and

then what she does is she sacrificed

herself in the flames and throws the

ring back to the river maidens. Okay.

And then what happens and this this is

the ending is the river maidens destroy

the ring. But when they destroy the ring

they destroy everything. Okay. Destroy

Valhalla as well. The gods are

destroyed. Vahala is destroyed. the

entire world is destroyed. Okay? And

this goes back to the shop and hire idea

that the source of the world is desire.

Okay? When you destroy desire, you

destroy the world. But when you do that,

you allow for a new beginning. Okay? So

that's the uh national epic of Germany,

the ring cycle. And again, this is put

on every year at Beirut. It's four

nights um and it's 15 hours in total.

There are some um theaters that put on

15 hours straight. Okay. And the Germans

love this. All right. So, I'm going to

play for you some music

from this opera. And this is the most

famous part called The Ride of the Vakaras.

Vakaras. [Music]

Okay. As you can see, it's very

powerful, right? It represents the unity

of the will. So as people are watching

this, they become united as one. Time,

space, collapse, past, present, [Music]

[Music]

collapse. This is meant to depict the

will, the unity of the will. [Music]

[Music]

Okay, that's it. Great. Now, let's move

on. Okay, so um building on top of

Wagner and uh Shopenheimer is Frederick

Niti. Okay, who's considered one of the

greatest German philosophers of all

time. Okay, and he and he um makes

certain corrections to the philosophy of

Sharpenheimimer and the music of Wagner. All right.

All right.

Um here are the three major differences

between Sharpenheimer and Nichi. You can

see that Shermanheimer, he's a

pessimistic Plato. Okay? Whereas Nichi,

he's an optimistic Aristotle. So Nichi's

main complaint is this. Okay?

Shopenhire's conception is the source of

everything is desire and from desire

desire manifests itself in physical

bodies in order to obtain what it wants.

Okay, and that's true. That makes

sense. And then Sharpen's solution is

then we must deny this desire. Okay, we

must negate this desire and then we will

bring peace to the world.

So for Nichi this is confusing because

um wait a minute

here the desire the will manifest itself

in physical

bodies why would it do that what's the

logic of that okay and sharp number say

well because god is evil because god

wants us to suffer and then nichi is

like okay

um first of all if go if if go if god is

evil what's the point of resisting him

right if it brings us enjoyment ment to

seek desire, then what's wrong with

it? Is it possible that God is good

and that God lets desire manifest itself

in our in us in order for us to pursue our

our

desire. Okay, so this is one of the

major differences for

Shenheimer. We are just biological uh

beings that have a will to life. We want

to procreate. But for Nichi, it's the

will to power. Okay, this is a very

really famous phrase from Nichi. The

will to power, the will to expand

ourselves. Okay? The will to achieve our fullest

fullest

desires. Okay? Not just to procreate,

but to impose our will on reality

itself. That's the true purpose of life.

That's why God created us to become gods

ourselves. Otherwise, this makes no

sense. How do we go from desire to

bodies? It only makes sense if the

bodies can amplify our desire and help

us achieve our desire. Okay, the will to

power. This is a really important

concept. Sharpenheimer believes that

multiplicity is conflict. The fact that

we this will manifest self in our bodies

can only lead to conflict because we're

all fighting for um scarce resources.

For example, uh the ability to

procreate. Okay. But for Nichi,

multiplicity is creativity. It's because

there's conflict that you have action.

And action leads to innovation. And

innovation by itself is progress.

Okay? And so for Shenheimimer, the ideal

person, the superman is the

compassionate monk, the person who feels

sympathy for the world and as such

engages in a process of self-denial, self-negation.

self-negation.

He refuses to procreate. He refuses to

struggle. He refuses to eat. Okay, the

monk. But for Ni, the ideal is the uber

mush, the ubermans. The ubberman is hard

to translate. We usually translate it as

superman. But you can also translate as

overman. Okay, the person above

humanity, the person above history. So

the ideal the paragon uh the example

that Nichi uses is Napoleon, right? Who

is Napoleon? Napoleon is an indiv

individual who can step outside of

history to control history to manipulate

history. That's what the uber branch is.

Okay? We we ourselves are always

controlled by social forces, right? We

don't want to piss off our classmates.

We want to please our teachers and our

parents. So therefore, we are slaves to

public opinion. But Nichi says to be an

uber munch, you have to

ignore public opinion. You have to

ignore community consensus and just

focus on what is right to you to look

deep into yourself and figure out what

is right for you and only you. Okay,

that's the uber munch and for him the

ideal example of course is Napoleon.

Okay, and why is this important? Because these

these

ideas in the context of warmer republic

will lead to the rise of the Nazis and

Hitler. Okay, because Hitler is

promising himself to be the next

Napoleon, right? That's Hitler's promise

to the German people. I will be your

Napoleon. I will unite you. I will lead

you to victory against all enemies.

enemies.

Right? Okay. Does that make sense, guys?

Are are you guys following this? All

right. So, let's look at a couple

passages from Nichi. Okay. Nichi is a

very brilliant philosopher. So, he's

very complicated. He's very complex. Um

and he he can at times be very

contradictory. Okay. All right. So let's

read a passage from the ge gology of

morals which is is which is his most

famous book. We can no longer conceal

from ourselves precisely what this will

under direction of the aesthetic ideal

expresses which is hatred of anything

human, animal or material. Abhorance of

the senses of reason itself. Fear of

happiness and beauty. The desire to

escape from all illusion. Change growth

death. wishing even from desire itself.

All this means let us have the courage

to confront it. A wish for oblivion, an

aversion to life, a reputation reput

reputation of everything vital to

existence. But it is and remains a will

and to say at the end that which I said

at the beginning, men will desire

oblivion rather than not desire at all.

We are desire. Okay. It's it's really a

question of how we manifest our

desire. In today's society, in the

Christian Buddhist world worldview, it's

important to negate our desire. But when

we negate our desire, we negate what our

desire could lead us to, which is truth

and beauty and creativity and progress

and innovation. Okay? And when we negate

ourselves, we're not returning back to

unity. We are only embracing oblivion.

Okay, that's a problem with

Christianity. It's all it's turning us

into slaves. That's a problem with

modernity. That's a problem with

society. We are all being forced to become

become

slaves. Okay, does that make

sense? All right, let's go on. To call

the tamement animal improving it sounds

to ears almost like a joke. He who knows

what goes on in menageries doubts very

much whether an animal is improved in

such places. It is certainly weakened.

It is made less dangerous and by means

of the depressing influence of fear,

pain, wounds and hunger, it is converted

into a sick animal. And the same holds

good of the tame man whom the priest has

improved. Okay, this is a great

metaphor. How can we understand the

impact of society on people? Well,

society is a zoo. Okay, we're all cage

animals. You think about it. Okay, what

is school then? School is a zoo. Okay,

before you were allowed to run around

and explore the world and learn things

for yourself, right? And as such, you

mastered the world around you. You could

hunt, you could farm, you could kill

people, you could build alliances, you

could write plays. But in school, what

do we ask you to do? We ask you to come

to school. We we ask you to come to

class on time, take notes, take tests,

and then we give you a piece of paper,

right? We turn you into cage animals.

So, you lose the capacity to think for yourself.

yourself.

Right? That's what school is. So there's

nothing wrong with what Nichi is saying.

Okay? This is a brilliant metaphor to

capture the essence of modernity.

Okay? Society, education, it's all meant

to degrade your capacity to think for

yourself in order to make you more

obedient to power.

Okay. All right.

So um if you take Shenheimer, Wagner and

Nichi together, you combine them, what

you get is a rejection of Christianity

and a return to

paganism. Okay? So let's look at the

differences. In the Christian worldview,

there is a God. If there's a God,

there's a there is a framework of good

and evil. So you must do good and you

must avoid evil. Okay? But in the pagan

worldview, there is no god. There's mo

there's many gods but the gods

themselves have no power over fate and

as a result it is up to you to define

good and evil. It's up to you to act and

to find meaning in the world. Okay. So

going back to school the metaphor right

today we have grades and therefore

you're focused on getting grades. But if

we have no grades we have no teachers

then you have to go learn for yourself.

You have to you would have to go figure

out your own education. What's amazing

about this idea is you would want to

because Nichi says we are first and

foremost desire. We desire to grow. So

if if we left you alone and said no

grades, no school, no test. It does not

mean that you will stop learning. It

just means that you will learn what you

want to learn. Okay. All right. Second

difference. Christianity demands faith,

obedience to God. Paganism demands

action. Okay. You seek meaning for

yourself through action. The last

difference is Christianity focus on

individual free

will. Okay? Which just means you are

free to obey the powerful. But in the

pagan um mindset, it's about unity of

will. Okay? If we if we want to act, we

can only do so by working

together. All right? We will find a

leader to lead us. But the leader only

represents the unity of will. Okay?

Okay, does that make sense? So during

the warmer republic with the rise of

Nazism, you now have a rejection of

Christianity and return to paganism as a

solution to the national humiliation of

Germany. All right. And this is what

leads to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Okay.

This man is Paul von Hinderberg. The

very the same man who ordered the

surrender of Germany in 1933. He is

president of Germany, the leader. and he

appoints Adolf Hitler the chancellor of

uh Germany. Okay. Then the question then

is why would he do that, right? Yeah. I

mean like why would the head of the army

the head of the nation make Adolf Hitler

uh chancellor? And the reason is this.

Adolf Hitler was a German spy. He was a

German sorry sorry he was a spy for the

German army. Okay. So this is really

important. Let me explain this. This is

from Wikipedia guys. Okay? So I'm not

I'm not making this up. It says very

clearly as an intelligence agent of the

army, Hitler's job was to influence

other soldiers into infiltrate the

German workers party. Okay. The Nazi

party, National Socialist. Okay. So why

why is this happening? So remember the

German army surrendered because they

were afraid of revolution back at home.

Who was leading the revolution? the

extreme left and extreme right. Okay.

What's the difference between extreme

left and extreme right? Both are

populist. They all they all believe in

workers rights. The left believe in

international solidarity. Okay.

Specifically with Russia, the Soviet

Union and other workers in the world.

The right are nationalists. They believe

in German unity. Okay. So the army is

like okay right now the most powerful

group in Germany are the socialists,

right? the left, we need to support the

right. So Hitler goes into the Nazi

party, the German workers party and he

helps to finance it. Okay, Hitler is

giving money to these guys and because

he's such a charismatic speaker, he

eventually becomes their leader. But at

this point in history, okay, this is

really important. This is a really small

group of people. They're extreme,

they're violent, but they are a

minority. The majority are the

socialists. Okay, this is something that

you're not taught in school, but this is

very important to remember. It is the

army that finances the building of the

Nazi party in order to dampen the

influence of the socialists. Okay?

Because remember the army now is still

dedicated to uh avenging the national

humiliation of World War I.

Okay? All right. So, uh this is Carol

Quickley and he wrote a long book called

Tragedy and Hope. Okay. And he explains

in oh so sorry Kerrywigley he is a

professor. He was a professor at

Georgetown University in Washington DC.

He was Bill Clinton's teacher. Okay. He

was Bill Clinton's uh teacher. Um and

he's a a widely respected scholar. And

in his book he explains how Hitler was

able to rise and take over the

leadership of Germany. Um he explains at

this point in history that Germany is

threatened by two opposing forces. The

first force of course is communism.

right? The Soviet Union that's a huge

menace to Germany. But another menace

that's even actually even more menacing

is capitalism. Okay? Because at this

point in history, what's happening is

the international capitalists are trying

to create a central banking system in

order to control the entire global

economy. Okay? He writes about this.

This is 1920s. The powers of financial

capitalism had another far-reaching aim.

nothing less than create a world system

of financial control in private hands

able to dominate the political system of

each country and the economy of the

world as a whole. Okay, this is really

important to understand.

1920s all these bankers in the world,

America, Britain, France, Germany,

they're getting together and they're

conspiring on how to create a global

financial system that can control the

world and create a feudal

system. Right? And guess what guys, you

don't know this, but they succeeded. The

system we have today is the one they

created. Okay? But but but I will

explain this later on in the course.

Okay? But this is something that the

Germans nationalists like Hitler didn't

want. Okay? So um Hitler, he's allowed

to rise and the Nazi party is becoming

more and more popular. But again, even

though they are popular, they're not as

popular as a socialist. Okay? So what

what happens now is the army and the

Nazi party get together and uh assume

power. Okay. So uh the first step for

Hitler in order to assume power is

something called the knight of the long

knives. Okay. This is really important

because the Nazi party is is an extreme

right-wing workers party. Right? So the

army orders Hitler to kill all their

leaders. And that's what and that's what

happened. This this is called the night

of the long knife. So the brown shirts

the extreme rightwing was eliminated by

the army and the Nazi party and now the

ar so so now the Nazi party and the army

are now symbiotic. Okay, they're relying

on each other. From now on the Nazi

party will ensure total unity of will at

home through suppression of people.

Okay? And the army will now go march and

conquer the world. Does that make sense

guys? That's the

plan. All right. So, Adolf Hitler is the

perfect man for the job assigned to him

by the army because he is a fantastic

speaker. Okay? He's very charismatic.

Um, we're going to listen to his voice

to so you you can appreciate how

What his speeches do is see they create

unit of will in Germany. Okay. Again the

goal is to rejuvenize the nation and re

reunite the German people. Right.

And so the unit of will creates the idea

of synchronosity. Remember synchronosity

is a secret to modern warfare.

Synchronosity means the the organization

and mobilization of your people into one

task. And this is represented by the

picture. If you can get people to stand

in line for a long time, you're going to

fight a war. Okay? And the people and

the nations that are really strong at

synchronosity of course are Germany and

Japan, right? Go to Germany, go on the

subway. Go to Japan, go on the subway.

No one is struggling against each other.

Okay? No one's pushing. Everyone, even

though it's crowded, people are standing

exactly where they should be standing

perfectly. That is the idea of

synchronosity. If you if your people can

do that, they can fight a war and win

the war. Okay? So this idea of unit of

right? They can set in line for a long

long time. All

right. All right. So we're going to look

at some speeches from Hitler from

Hitler. Okay. And we can see from his

his speeches he's trying to create unit

of will. He's trying to be the um the

superman who will unite his people like

Napoleon and carry them to victory

through faith in in themselves. Okay.

The unit of

will. If men wish to live then they are

forced to kill others. The entire

struggle for survival is a conquest of

the means of existence which in turn

results in elimination of others from

these same sources of substance. As long

as there are peoples on this earth,

there will be nations against nations

and they will be forced to protect their

vital rights in the same way as the

individual is forced to protect his

rights. One is either the hammer or the

anvil. We confess that it is our purpose

to prepare the German people again for

the role of the hammer. Okay? So he's

saying we must unite as a people. We

must have unity of will if we are if we

are to triumph against our enemies. All right. Nothing is possible unless one

right. Nothing is possible unless one will commands. A will which has to be

will commands. A will which has to be obeyed by others. beginning at the top

obeyed by others. beginning at the top and ending only at the very bottom. This

and ending only at the very bottom. This is the expression of an authoritarian

is the expression of an authoritarian state, not of a weak babbling democracy,

state, not of a weak babbling democracy, of an authoritarian state where everyone

of an authoritarian state where everyone is proud to obey because he knows I will

is proud to obey because he knows I will like likewise be obeyed when I must take

like likewise be obeyed when I must take command. All right. Hitler is not being

command. All right. Hitler is not being a dictator. He is trying to create union

a dictator. He is trying to create union of will. He is the leader. He's the

of will. He is the leader. He's the uberman's. But that's only because God

uberman's. But that's only because God demanded him to be so. Okay. He will

demanded him to be so. Okay. He will unite the u German people into a

unite the u German people into a hurricane into an ocean to crash itself

hurricane into an ocean to crash itself upon the

upon the world. In the course of my life, I have

world. In the course of my life, I have very often been a prophet and I have

very often been a prophet and I have usually been ridiculed for it. During

usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power, it

the time of my struggle for power, it was in the first instance the Jewish

was in the first instance the Jewish race which only received my prophecies

race which only received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would

with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the

one day take over the leadership of the state and with it that of the whole

state and with it that of the whole nation and that I would then among many

nation and that I would then among many other things settled the Jewish problem.

other things settled the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uporious, but I think

Their laughter was uporious, but I think that for some time now they have been

that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their

laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a

face. Today I will once more be a prophet. the national Jewish financers

prophet. the national Jewish financers in and outside Europe should succeed in

in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a

plunging the nations once more into a world war then the result will not be

world war then the result will not be the bulization of the earth and thus the

the bulization of the earth and thus the victory of jewelry the annihilation of

victory of jewelry the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe. Okay, so we

the Jewish race in Europe. Okay, so we don't actually have any concrete

don't actually have any concrete evidence for the holocaust. Okay, so one

evidence for the holocaust. Okay, so one piece of evidence for the Holocaust is

piece of evidence for the Holocaust is this speech by Hitler. But I want I want

this speech by Hitler. But I want I want to explain what what he is saying here.

to explain what what he is saying here. Okay. What he's saying is we the German

Okay. What he's saying is we the German nation want to be left alone. We want to

nation want to be left alone. We want to be united. We want to be

be united. We want to be unified. But the capitalists and the

unified. But the capitalists and the communists all seek to undermine us. And

communists all seek to undermine us. And who are the communists? And who are the

who are the communists? And who are the capitalists? The

capitalists? The Jews. Okay? It's the Jews who are a

Jews. Okay? It's the Jews who are a metaphor for a national elite group of

metaphor for a national elite group of individuals who are conspiring to

individuals who are conspiring to undermine the vitality and the strength

undermine the vitality and the strength of the German nation. All right. So

of the German nation. All right. So that's what he's saying here. All

that's what he's saying here. All right. U 1939 September 1st is the

right. U 1939 September 1st is the beginning of World War II. Okay. And so

beginning of World War II. Okay. And so he's going to explain why this is

he's going to explain why this is happening. As a national socialist and

happening. As a national socialist and as a German soldier, I enter the

as a German soldier, I enter the struggle of restored heart. My whole

struggle of restored heart. My whole life has been nothing but one struggle

life has been nothing but one struggle for my people for its restoration and

for my people for its restoration and for Germany. There is only one watch

for Germany. There is only one watch word for that struggle. Favor this

word for that struggle. Favor this people. One word I've never learned that

people. One word I've never learned that is surrender. Okay. So he's telling the

is surrender. Okay. So he's telling the people we're going to fight this war

people we're going to fight this war again. Why did we lose World War I?

again. Why did we lose World War I? Because we didn't have faith. We

Because we didn't have faith. We surrendered. If we all came together and

surrendered. If we all came together and we fought to the very better end, we

we fought to the very better end, we would we would have prevailed against

would we would have prevailed against our enemies. Okay. It is quite

our enemies. Okay. It is quite unimportant whether we ourselves live.

unimportant whether we ourselves live. But it's essential that our people shall

But it's essential that our people shall live that Germany shall live. The

live that Germany shall live. The sacrifice that is demanded of us is not

sacrifice that is demanded of us is not greater than the sacrifice that many

greater than the sacrifice that many generations have made. If we form a

generations have made. If we form a community closely bound together by

community closely bound together by vows, ready for anything, resolve never

vows, ready for anything, resolve never to surrender, and our will will master

to surrender, and our will will master every hardship and difficulty. Okay? It

every hardship and difficulty. Okay? It is the unity of will that matters. All

is the unity of will that matters. All right. 1942, November 8th. It's

right. 1942, November 8th. It's basically

basically um at a time in history when the Germans

um at a time in history when the Germans understand they've lost the war. The

understand they've lost the war. The Americans are now in are now in the war.

Americans are now in are now in the war. The Americans are getting ready to

The Americans are getting ready to invade Europe. The German invasion of

invade Europe. The German invasion of the Soviet Union has failed. Okay?

the Soviet Union has failed. Okay? They're bogged down in the Soviet Union.

They're bogged down in the Soviet Union. Germany is uh

Germany is uh overstretched. The entire world has

overstretched. The entire world has allied it itself against Germany. Okay,

allied it itself against Germany. Okay, so the war is about to be lost. But but

so the war is about to be lost. But but let's look let's look at what Hitler has

let's look let's look at what Hitler has to say. It is with the same conviction

to say. It is with the same conviction that I now stand before you and has

that I now stand before you and has never left me either since the day on

never left me either since the day on which as an unknown man in the city, I

which as an unknown man in the city, I began to struggle first for the soul of

began to struggle first for the soul of the German people and then on beyond the

the German people and then on beyond the city for more and more followers. In the

city for more and more followers. In the beginning, I did not have much more to

beginning, I did not have much more to give than faith. The faith that if

give than faith. The faith that if anyone pursues a just aim, I will with

anyone pursues a just aim, I will with unchanging and undisturbed loyalty and

unchanging and undisturbed loyalty and never lets himself be diverted from it

never lets himself be diverted from it but puts everything into it, then others

but puts everything into it, then others will be found who are determined to be

will be found who are determined to be his followers and that from this host

his followers and that from this host and ever stronger faith must gradually

and ever stronger faith must gradually radiate to the whole people. Okay? So

radiate to the whole people. Okay? So this is unit of will. We reject reality.

this is unit of will. We reject reality. Reality does not matter because we

Reality does not matter because we impose our will on reality. As long as

impose our will on reality. As long as we have faith, as long as as long as we

we have faith, as long as as long as we have unit of will, we will triumph.

have unit of will, we will triumph. Okay. All

Okay. All right. So, let's go back to the

right. So, let's go back to the beginning. We were talking about

beginning. We were talking about Kalanagrad, right? Um, it is one of the

Kalanagrad, right? Um, it is one of the greatest

greatest injustices in human history that

injustices in human history that Connesburg, which

Connesburg, which was for the longest time uh the cradle

was for the longest time uh the cradle of human civilization, the epicenter of

of human civilization, the epicenter of the enlightenment, it is now completely

the enlightenment, it is now completely destroyed. Okay.

destroyed. Okay. Um

Um but um and this is a really this is idea

but um and this is a really this is idea from Wagner. Okay. Uh by destroying this

from Wagner. Okay. Uh by destroying this the world has cursed itself. Okay. Let

the world has cursed itself. Okay. Let me explain

me explain why. First of

why. First of all, the German question now is more

all, the German question now is more relevant than ever before. You've

relevant than ever before. You've destroyed Connisburg, but you have not

destroyed Connisburg, but you have not destroyed the desire for unity among the

destroyed the desire for unity among the German people. Okay. So this is a um

German people. Okay. So this is a um memory that will not

memory that will not fade. Okay. So will the Germans seek

fade. Okay. So will the Germans seek vengeance? Will another Hitler arise to

vengeance? Will another Hitler arise to unite the German people? Now what you

unite the German people? Now what you guys don't know is that the Prussians

guys don't know is that the Prussians were one of the main forces opposing

were one of the main forces opposing Hitler as well as inhibiting Hitler.

Hitler as well as inhibiting Hitler. Okay? Because Prussia had a very proud

Okay? Because Prussia had a very proud culture and it's very strongest part of

culture and it's very strongest part of uh Germany. But now that they destroyed

uh Germany. But now that they destroyed Prussia, if another Hitler rises,

Prussia, if another Hitler rises, there's really nothing to stop him.

there's really nothing to stop him. Okay, that's the first problem. Second

Okay, that's the first problem. Second question is,

question is, um, okay, let's go back to this map.

um, okay, let's go back to this map. Europe and Russia are about to go to war

Europe and Russia are about to go to war with each other,

with each other, right? Okay. Well, if you are Europe and

right? Okay. Well, if you are Europe and you go into Ukraine, you're going to be

you go into Ukraine, you're going to be slaughtered. Okay. But this is Kenrad,

slaughtered. Okay. But this is Kenrad, Russian territory. 500,000 Russians,

Russian territory. 500,000 Russians, right? You can blockade Kenrad. You

right? You can blockade Kenrad. You understand? So this could be the start

understand? So this could be the start of World War II right

of World War II right here. Does that make sense you guys? If

here. Does that make sense you guys? If the Europeans blockade clan and they

the Europeans blockade clan and they start try to starve the people, Putin

start try to starve the people, Putin would have no choice but to

would have no choice but to intervene.

intervene. Okay. But the main problem is this.

Okay. But the main problem is this. Kinsburg was one of the main

Kinsburg was one of the main intellectual, scientific and cultural

intellectual, scientific and cultural centers of Europe. That loss reduced the

centers of Europe. That loss reduced the innovative potential of humanity. All

innovative potential of humanity. All right. So what I will show you in next

right. So what I will show you in next class when we discuss Kant is science

class when we discuss Kant is science comes from

comes from philosophy. Okay. Culture leads to

philosophy. Okay. Culture leads to philosophy which leads to science which

philosophy which leads to science which leads to technology. You cannot have

leads to technology. You cannot have science independent of philosophy. When

science independent of philosophy. When you destroy a center of philosoph

you destroy a center of philosoph philosophical innovation you destroy a

philosophical innovation you destroy a center for something progress. Okay. So

center for something progress. Okay. So that this is something that we will

that this is something that we will discuss in depth next

discuss in depth next class as well. Um so when we look at

class as well. Um so when we look at Kant so that is uh Germany. Okay. Any

Kant so that is uh Germany. Okay. Any questions about what we've learned so

questions about what we've learned so far? Was this clear to you guys?

far? Was this clear to you guys? Okay. Any any questions?

Okay. Any any questions? How can Hitler be grown like that?

How can Hitler be grown like that? Excuse me. How can Hitler be grown like

Excuse me. How can Hitler be grown like that?

Yeah. Okay. So, um, where did Hitler come from, right? How did Hitler become

come from, right? How did Hitler become so charismatic?

so charismatic? Okay. Um, so there's a lot of randomness

Okay. Um, so there's a lot of randomness to life. Okay. There there's there's a

to life. Okay. There there's there's a lot of like randomness going on in life.

lot of like randomness going on in life. So, the army wanted to inhibit the

So, the army wanted to inhibit the growth of the socialist leftwing

growth of the socialist leftwing movement and it did so by financing

movement and it did so by financing these right-wing parties. The Nazi party

these right-wing parties. The Nazi party was just one of many parties that the

was just one of many parties that the army financed and supported. Okay. Um

army financed and supported. Okay. Um Hitler became a spy and he became part

Hitler became a spy and he became part of this movement and as such he became

of this movement and as such he became um he he became exposed to a lot of the

um he he became exposed to a lot of the ideas of the Nazi party. The Nazi party

ideas of the Nazi party. The Nazi party a lot of the ideas come from Nichi and

a lot of the ideas come from Nichi and Wagner and and others as well. Okay.

Wagner and and others as well. Okay. Um and over time Hitler came to believe

Um and over time Hitler came to believe that he was the messiah. Okay, he was

that he was the messiah. Okay, he was the messiah dedicated

the messiah dedicated to restoring German

to restoring German unity. Okay. And

unity. Okay. And um I mean like this hard to understand

um I mean like this hard to understand but

but um human population is very diverse. So

um human population is very diverse. So you always have a subset of people who

you always have a subset of people who have these uh delusions of grander and

have these uh delusions of grander and if in a certain cir circumstances they

if in a certain cir circumstances they will be proven right. Okay that doesn't

will be proven right. Okay that doesn't make sense. Okay. So, another another

make sense. Okay. So, another another way of saying this is the army needed

way of saying this is the army needed someone to play the part of the Uber,

someone to play the part of the Uber, the superman who could unite the pe

the superman who could unite the pe German people and create national unity

German people and create national unity so that the army could seek its

so that the army could seek its vengeance against

vengeance against uh the rest of Europe and unite the

uh the rest of Europe and unite the German people. Okay? So, they're looking

German people. Okay? So, they're looking for this role. Um and then Hitler

for this role. Um and then Hitler auditioned for this role and he got the

auditioned for this role and he got the role. Okay. Does that make sense? Um and

role. Okay. Does that make sense? Um and this is important

this is important because

because um towards the end of the class we'll

um towards the end of the class we'll discuss Donald Trump and what what I

discuss Donald Trump and what what I will show you is um this is exactly what

will show you is um this is exactly what what happened with Donald Trump. Okay.

what happened with Donald Trump. Okay. So the German mil sorry the American

So the German mil sorry the American military needs an uber months to lead

military needs an uber months to lead America to war against Putin and there

America to war against Putin and there were and there are different people who

were and there are different people who audition Biden audition who was terrible

audition Biden audition who was terrible Harris audition who was terrible they

Harris audition who was terrible they picked Donald Trump. Okay so it's a very

picked Donald Trump. Okay so it's a very similar pattern. It's a very familiar

similar pattern. It's a very familiar pattern in human history. You can also

pattern in human history. You can also argue that Napoleon was the same way.

argue that Napoleon was the same way. Okay. And what makes these people um

Okay. And what makes these people um these people different from us Napoleon,

these people different from us Napoleon, Hitler, uh Julius Caesar, Trump is they

Hitler, uh Julius Caesar, Trump is they are the total expression of the Zion

are the total expression of the Zion will. You understand? They have actually

will. You understand? They have actually no compassion, no sympathy for anyone.

no compassion, no sympathy for anyone. They believe they are here on a divine

They believe they are here on a divine mission. They are complete. They are the

mission. They are complete. They are the will itself and they are then they must

will itself and they are then they must impose their will on others to save the

impose their will on others to save the world. Does that make sense? You look at

world. Does that make sense? You look at Donald Trump. Okay, if you want to

Donald Trump. Okay, if you want to understand Hitler, look at Donald Trump.

understand Hitler, look at Donald Trump. The guy's like almost 80. He doesn't

The guy's like almost 80. He doesn't sleep. Okay, he's off trying around the

sleep. Okay, he's off trying around the world all the time. The guy the guy in

world all the time. The guy the guy in his um when he was campaigning, he was

his um when he was campaigning, he was giving like three speeches a day, right?

giving like three speeches a day, right? He would get up in the morning at four

He would get up in the morning at four o'clock, fly somewhere, give a two-hour

o'clock, fly somewhere, give a two-hour speech, people loved him, then he would

speech, people loved him, then he would get on get on the plane, fly somewhere

get on get on the plane, fly somewhere else, and he would he could not stop

else, and he would he could not stop talking to reporters. Okay? He has

talking to reporters. Okay? He has tremendous energy that comes from the

tremendous energy that comes from the perfect expression of the will. You

perfect expression of the will. You understand? Donald Trump is all will,

understand? Donald Trump is all will, all desire, all ego, and no sympathy, no

all desire, all ego, and no sympathy, no empathy, no compassion. That's Hitler

empathy, no compassion. That's Hitler and Napoleon. But won't they won't their

and Napoleon. But won't they won't their citizen or their people you're like too

citizen or their people you're like too reckless, relentless or violent. Yeah,

reckless, relentless or violent. Yeah, that that that that's a great question.

that that that that's a great question. So, won't people rebel against us? Won't

So, won't people rebel against us? Won't people think this is reckless? And so,

people think this is reckless? And so, what

what Shopenheimimer and Nichi and others will

Shopenheimimer and Nichi and others will say is what we what we want first and

say is what we what we want first and foremost is a return to unity of will.

foremost is a return to unity of will. Right? In the very beginning, the will

Right? In the very beginning, the will was God. That's a big bang. And then the

was God. That's a big bang. And then the will expanded itself, right? And so we

will expanded itself, right? And so we find ourselves alone in an ocean of

find ourselves alone in an ocean of alienation. And what our hearts really

alienation. And what our hearts really aspire to is return to a union of will.

aspire to is return to a union of will. And so when someone says you can be part

And so when someone says you can be part of a movement to transform the world,

of a movement to transform the world, that's much more appealing to us

that's much more appealing to us psychologically than to say, oh, you

psychologically than to say, oh, you know what? um come to school, do your

know what? um come to school, do your homework, get good grades, do the SAT,

homework, get good grades, do the SAT, get into a top 50 American school,

get into a top 50 American school, become an accountant, and for 50 years

become an accountant, and for 50 years do something meaningless. Uh but make a

do something meaningless. Uh but make a lot of money and then you you will die h

lot of money and then you you will die h happy person like like seriously what

happy person like like seriously what like like there's no competition, right?

like like there's no competition, right? There's no competition. Donald Trump is

There's no competition. Donald Trump is saying to Americans, we will make

saying to Americans, we will make America great again. We will be a

America great again. We will be a civilization, a great civilization

civilization, a great civilization again. It will require sacrifice. It

again. It will require sacrifice. It will require my sacrifice, but it will

will require my sacrifice, but it will be worth it because we will make the

be worth it because we will make the world whole again.

world whole again. Right? Okay. So again, when you go back

Right? Okay. So again, when you go back to the Hitler speeches, from our

to the Hitler speeches, from our perspective, it's not that persuasive.

perspective, it's not that persuasive. Okay. But when you're in a crowd of

Okay. But when you're in a crowd of people and this man is speaking to you

people and this man is speaking to you with his voice, it's like Wagner, okay?

with his voice, it's like Wagner, okay? It's like going to a concert. The music

It's like going to a concert. The music fills you and it and it inspires your

fills you and it and it inspires your heart. Okay, it makes you want to be the

heart. Okay, it makes you want to be the Uberman. Okay, Hitler is just the

Uberman. Okay, Hitler is just the example, but he's saying you can you can

example, but he's saying you can you can you can also aspire to be the Uberman if

you can also aspire to be the Uberman if you are willing to sacrifice your life

you are willing to sacrifice your life for the unity of

for the unity of will. Okay, so this is really important.

will. Okay, so this is really important. This is far more appealing to people

This is far more appealing to people than the idea of materialism, right?

than the idea of materialism, right? This is religion, right? Hitler's

This is religion, right? Hitler's creating a new

creating a new religion and it's

religion and it's intoxicating, right? I mean like World

intoxicating, right? I mean like World War II, I mean I mean the fact that

War II, I mean I mean the fact that German the Germans were able to fight

German the Germans were able to fight for so long against entire world. I mean

for so long against entire world. I mean it's incredible. I mean like it was

it's incredible. I mean like it was America, Britain, France, Soviet Union

America, Britain, France, Soviet Union against the Germans and that the fact

against the Germans and that the fact that the Germans fought so bravely and

that the Germans fought so bravely and fought to the very bitter end. I mean it

fought to the very bitter end. I mean it just shows you the power of unit of

just shows you the power of unit of will. Okay. And what this also tells us

will. Okay. And what this also tells us is these things don't die. Okay. You can

is these things don't die. Okay. You can kill a civilization, you can destroy a

kill a civilization, you can destroy a city, you can massacre a people, but you

city, you can massacre a people, but you cannot destroy the desire for unity of

cannot destroy the desire for unity of will because that's what fundamentally

will because that's what fundamentally makes us human. Okay? Does that make

makes us human. Okay? Does that make sense? Okay. Great. Any more questions,

sense? Okay. Great. Any more questions, guys? But but but that's a great

guys? But but but that's a great question. Thank you.

Does this does that make make sense to you? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Great. Okay.

you? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Great. Okay. Any more questions,

guys? Okay. So, um next week we will do Kant. Okay. And Kant will lead us to

Kant. Okay. And Kant will lead us to Marx and Freud and uh modernity. Okay.

Marx and Freud and uh modernity. Okay. Okay.

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Civilization #54: The German Will to Power