Nietzsche and the Mysticism of Apotheosis
Journal for Continental Philosophy of Religion May 16, 2024 Brett Carollo
Friedrich Nietzsche was a mystic whose post-1882 thought expresses his mystical experiences. Drawing on his notes, letters, and published writings, the author shows that Nietzsche had at least two major mystical experiences that generated all the central motifs of his later philosophy. Apparent tensions in his teachings, especially between the superman and the eternal recurrence, dissolve when understood as products of a mystical epistemology derived from an intuitive source beyond ordinary dualities. This intuitive mysticism, which Nietzsche considered the real purpose of all philosophy, is a type called apotheosis, based on the individual ego's identification with a unity underlying all reality.