Isle of Nines

Part 2.

The aftermath of the “death of God” was proclaimed by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900). It dismantled the supremacy of Christianity in Western Europe. We do not find ourselves here by mistake but as a matter of survival. Remnants of Christian philosophy continue to permeate our culture and systems of justice. Despite this, we have chosen to abandon the paternalistic oversight of the Church. We were liberated but we were orphaned. This left a void that, grandiose collectivist ideologies sought to fill. Thus socialism and fascism promised secular salvation through state power and Utopian promises. Yet, these ideologies collapsed under the weight of the devastation they caused, leaving countless lives lost in their wake. Within the span of a century, we found ourselves orphaned once again.

The Religious Imperative

This existential crisis may have prompted André Malraux’s poignant remark. He said that “the twenty-first century will either be religious or will not be at all.” The verdict on our current century is still pending. Nevertheless, the tension between spirituality and secularism is palpable in our time. Could we have known that we would arrived at this juncture? The demise of secularist ideologies like socialism and fascism resuscitated existentialist philosophy and individualism.

Individualism, with its affirmative and hopeful spirit, echoes the ancient idea that humanity was created in the image of God. In this new age, defining the individual becomes imperative. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) proposed a profound concept. He argued that the individual becomes an object when seen by another. In Being and Nothingness (1943), Sartre describes the “gaze of the Other.” When someone else looks at me, they define me from the outside. I become aware of myself as an object in their world. This external gaze can shape our individual identity but also confine it. The paradox is that we need others to define our identity. At the same time, we risk becoming merely what they perceive us to be. In the absence of a divine Other, we are left with the human gaze, which is often predisposed to judgment or competition. 

This shift marks a radical departure from defining ourselves in relation to tradition; instead, we now compare ourselves to one another. A Homo deus endlessly reflected in countless other homo dei! Consequently, we have internalized ideals of success, relativizing them in the process.

 The aspiration of modern humanity has become a relentless pursuit to surpass oneself, chasing an internal projection of an unattainable ideal. We have embraced this paradigm as a form of liberation and the ultimate assertion of freedom. Yet, the definition of the self has become self-referential and perpetually unsatisfactory, trapping us in a cycle of striving and discontent. 

Consumerism as a hollow striving

This dissatisfaction manifests vividly in consumerism. We seek to fill the void through endless acquisition by buying the latest smartphones, designer clothes, or home furnishings. This effort is a futile bid for identity and status. Social media amplifies this. It turns the “gaze of the Other” into a global spectacle of curated perfection. Likes and followers become proxies for worth. This only deepens the alienation. 

Nietzsche’s vision of the Übermensch, the overman who rises above nihilism, promised a triumphant individualism. This overman forges new values in a godless world. However, in our era, this ideal has collapsed under the weight of unfulfilled expectations.

 As Tyler Durden in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (1996) declares,

“We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

Drowning in furniture catalogs and credit card debt, we embody the hollow striving: life is a catalog of possessions that promise fulfillment but deliver emptiness. 

“We’re consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty—these things don’t concern us. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that every problem has a solution you can buy.”

 Just as the Other objectifies us, consumerism reduces individuals to walking advertisements, chasing an elusive “ideal self” that forever slips away.  Therefore, true liberation demands rejecting this cycle, not perpetuating it through more consumption, lest we risk to collapse in chaos.