Birthday of German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche 15th October is the birthday of the famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. A man of extraordinary intellect, Nietzsche’s work as a&nbsp;philosopher has had a phenomenal impact on modern intellectual history. In his short life of 55 years, he produced revolutionary pieces of work that influenced generations of philosophers to come notably Camus, Heidegger, Jung, Sartre, Weber and Yeats. Whilst his provocative ideas courted much controversy, his concept of Übermensch (Over Man) was misrepresented by his sister to fit with her German nationalistic ideology and came to be usurped by the Nazis. Nietzsche is wrongly criticised as a predecessor to Nazism since he has infact criticized anti-Semitism and pan-Germanism.&nbsp; “God is Dead” is Nietzsche’s best-known remarks. Osho has spoken extensively on Nietzsche in His discourses. Osho says Friedrich Nietzsche, according to me, is one of the greatest seers of the Western world; his eyes really go penetrating to the very root of a problem. But because others could not see it -- their eyes were not so penetrating, nor was their intelligence so sharp – Nietzsche lived alone, abandoned, isolated, unloved, unrespected. Osho explains Nietzsche’s famous quote "Man is just a bridge between two eternities, the eternity of nature and the eternity of God." Osho says Nietzsche has many insights to reveal. His statement is very significant. He is saying that man is a bridge, a means to go beyond. Man is in the middle – half nature and half God – tense like a rope stretched between two eternities. Man is divided - sometimes moving towards nature, sometimes moving towards God - a constant trembling and wavering. Become settled. And either way will do. Chuang Tzu is in favour of moving backwards and being settled again in nature. Buddha is in favour of moving ahead, becoming settled in God. Either go back, or go to the very end, but don't stay on the bridge.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="width:100%;height:1px;background:#00000036;margin:10px 0;"></div></div>My sannyasins are not my followers. I am not a mediator between you, and the ultimate. My function is to help you to be directly connected to the universe -- just to give you a deep understanding of your own being and how to relax with the whole. Sannyas is relaxation into the whole, disappearing into the whole, surrendering towards the whole. The true master never stands between anybody and the ultimate. It is only the pseudo teacher who tries to pretend to be the vehicle of god, to be the messenger of God, to be the prophet of god, to be the son of God, this and that, and tries to dominate people psychologically, spiritually. It is exploitation. My sannyasins are not part of any religion. I impart to you a kind of religiousness, but not any ideology. I don't give you any knowledge, any doctrine, any philosophy. I simply help you to become silent, so silent that you can hear the still, small voice within -- and that is the voice of god. And once you have started hearing your own inner voice, you are on the right track. Then my function is fulfilled. Then I can say goodbye to you. The greatest pleasure of the real master is to make the disciple a master of his own being. Friedrich Nietzsche has said something immensely beautiful. He was a madman, but sometimes mad people have insights into reality far deeper than the so-called sane. The so-called sane live very superficially. They live a life of respectability. They become Rotarians, Lions, mayors, presidents, prime ministers, they do all kinds of stupid things; just to remain respectable, they are ready to compromise for anything if it gives respect. They follow the dictates of stupid priests, because that is the only way to pretend to be moral, holy: they go to church every Sunday and really religiously, without any fall. However, their church-going has nothing to do with religion. Again, that too is a kind of club -- a religious club -- another kind of Rotary club, no difference in it, a formality, but it gives respectability. The so-called sane are after money, power, prestige. People like Nietzsche are mad, but because they are mad, because they have not compromised, they can have a few glimpses of the ultimate -- only glimpses, because they are not Buddhas. Buddha is also mad, but with a method. Nietzsche is simply mad without any method -- that's the difference. If he had known about meditation then he would have been a Buddha, an awakened one. Madness plus meditation is equal to Buddhahood. But if meditation is missing, even then one has the capacity to see a little bit, from here and there, about truth. Nietzsche says 'The darkest day in humanity's life will be the day when people will stop surpassing themselves.' -- and this he wrote when he was mad, imprisoned in a madhouse, just one year before he died. Let me repeat, his statement is significant - The gloomiest, the darkest day in humanity's life will be when man will stop surpassing himself. Man is the only animal who can surpass himself. No other animal can do it, no tree can do it. Nobody except man is capable of it. A rose is going to remain a rose -- it cannot surpass itself. A lion is going to remain a lion -- there is no way to surpass. But man has the capacity to go beyond himself. That's his special privilege, that's his dignity, his grandeur. And by surpassing himself man becomes divine. Man is a transitory stage. Below man is the world of animals, above man is the world of gods. And by gods I don't mean any metaphysical gods; I mean people who have become awakened, the Buddhas. They are the only gods, those who have attained to that ultimate transcendence beyond which there is nothing else, who have come to the very end of the journey. Below man are animals, absolutely unconscious above man are Buddhas, absolutely conscious; and man is just in between, a ladder, a bridge. Again, Friedrich Nietzsche says that 'Man is a bridge between two eternities.'&nbsp; Unconsciousness is eternal, vast, immense, consciousness is also eternal -- and man is a bridge. And one should not make a house on the bridge. It is not a place to make a house; it is only a place to be surpassed. One has to go beyond it. Hence only those few people who are constantly making efforts to transcend themselves are truly alive. The others are dead. A sannyasin has to learn the art of surpassing, transcending, going beyond. I call that art - Meditation. It helps you to go beyond your body, beyond your mind, beyond your heart, and beyond these three is the world of the gods, the world of the awakened ones, the enlightened ones, where dewdrops disappear into the vast ocean of reality, when all small egos disappear and one is part of the whole. And to be part of the whole is the only way to be holy. Source: Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link. Discourse series: <a href="/the-rebel-26">The Rebel, Chapter #26</a> Chapter title: Physician of the inner world 13 June 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium References: Osho has spoken on notable philosophers Aristotle, Berkeley, Confucius, Descartes, Feuerbach, Hegel, Heidegger, Heraclitus, Huxley, Jaspers, Kant, Kierkegaard, Marx, Moore, Nietzsche, Plato, Pythagoras, Russell, Sartre, Socrates, Wittgenstein and many others in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses: 1. What Is, Is, What Ain’t, Ain’t 2. One Seed Makes the Whole Earth Green 3. Sufis: People on the Path Vol.1-2 4. The Sun Rises in the Evening&nbsp; 5. The Empty Boat 6. Dang Dang Doko Dang 7. Beyond Psychology 8. Zarathustra, the laughing prophet 9. From Personality to Individuality 10. From Death to Deathlessness &nbsp;