Will to Joy: Nietzsche for Life

Jimmy Burke
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Not advice, but technique. Not guidance, but tools. Not opinion, but evidence. Through the practical application of the extraordinary teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Joy Podcast is the high road to self-overcoming and transcendence. Take the first step on an extraordinary journey! https://linktr.ee/willtojoy  Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1foCRmNEpujmJBEzMUMsU4?si=UpO_6FQbTAO0IjSeXHgweg  (Formerly the Becoming Übermensch podcast)

  1. Nietzsche at Christmas — A Will to Joy Special

    DEC 16

    Nietzsche at Christmas — A Will to Joy Special

    "Message the show" Joy, peace on earth, and good will to all men: Christmas is supposed to be a Christian festival. But what might it mean after the death of God? In this special end-of-year episode of The Will to Joy, we explore Nietzsche’s surprising relationship with Christmas — from his childhood enchantment with the festive season, through intimate Christmases with the Wagners, to his darkest and loneliest winters marked by estrangement, illness, and radical self-overcoming. Drawing on Nietzsche’s letters, notebooks, and major works (The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil), this episode asks what remains of joy, peace, and generosity once Christian metaphysics has collapsed. Why did Nietzsche continue to value festivals? What role do communal celebrations play in culture after God’s death? And why did he believe that joy needs no justification? We examine Christmas through a Nietzschean lens: Dionysian ecstasy and deindividuation, war and repose, otium and overwork, generosity without phoney morality, and joy as the unmistakable signal of life ascending. Along the way, we confront Nietzsche’s critiques of peace, pity, altruism, and slave morality — and recover a harder, more honest, more life-affirming vision of cheerfulness as overflow rather than consolation. The episode concludes with a Nietzschean Christmas tale that touches on the role and function of celebration in human culture. A Christmas episode for atheists, skeptics, and anyone interested in joy without illusion, generosity without guilt, and affirmation without God. Raise a cup of good cheer — and prepare for a New Year of self-overcoming. Music recommendations: It's a Big Country by Davitt Sigerson Spotify YouTube Apple Other music credits: Nacht Silent - Vienna Boys Choir Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    39 min
  2. 29. Afterword: Nietzsche, Sex, Power.

    NOV 24

    29. Afterword: Nietzsche, Sex, Power.

    "Message the show" In this special wrap-up episode, I take you back through the journey of The Will to Joy’s first season—what we explored, what we uncovered, and how far this project has already evolved. From the human condition in all its frustration and striving, to the three-part exposition of will to power, this episode closes one chapter and opens the next. I also look ahead to what’s coming: – the future of the podcast – the launch of my forthcoming book Nietzsche. Sex. Power. A Manifesto of Ascending Life (2026) – and the direction this entire movement is heading We'll reflect on the new ideas that have emerged in the process—my interpretation of will to power, the “economy of bodies” we all inhabit, and our practical, evolutionary approach to Nietzsche that you won’t find anywhere else. I speak openly about the reality of creating this work: leaving my job, burning my bridges, and committing fully to this project—and how you can play a part in bringing the next phase to life by joining me as a De Profundis member. To close, I offer a compact but incisive exercise drawn from Nietzsche’s idea of “giving style” to one’s character—an uncompromising method for discovering the values you actually live by, beyond your self-image or good intentions. If you’ve followed this season, you’re here at the beginning of something. Consider this your invitation to continue the ascent. Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    33 min
  3. 28. Will to Power - Nietzsche’s theory of everything and what it means for you. Season finale, Part 3

    NOV 18

    28. Will to Power - Nietzsche’s theory of everything and what it means for you. Season finale, Part 3

    "Message the show" Welcome to the third and final part of the Will to Joy Season Finale.  This episode is going to be the most momentous. We wrestle with will to power as it relates to you and to your life. You'll be faced with the most consequential question—that of the value of your own existence. We track Nietzsche’s break from Schopenhauer’s pessimism, the shift from “will to life” to “will to power,” and the emergence of Dionysus as the figure who dissolves all boundaries: between desire and fulfilment, self and world, necessity and freedom. This isn’t Greek mythology; it’s the psychological architecture of your instincts, your ambitions, and the drives you pretend not to have. Along the way, we daly with determinism, deflate guilt and regret, and contend with Nietzsche’s most severe test. Your answer shapes the person you are right now and will become—not through choice, but through necessity. This episode explores the exquisite tension between total acceptance of reality and the irrepressible urge to strive, to overcome, to expand, to change the world. It shows how these opposites form a single dynamic—the Dionysian duality at the heart of life itself. If you engage wholeheartedly, you’ll come away with a new way of seeing your suffering, your desires, your past, and your future. The depths of Nietzschean thought we'll explore are not just philosophy; they offer an initiation.  Some lessons, properly learned, cannot be unlearned.  Some truths can be integrated only by those strong enough to bear them. In the end, joy is the only goal that justifies itself. Music: Kate Bush, Nocturn YouTube Spotify Apple Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    1h 9m
  4. 27. Will to Power - Nietzsche’s theory of everything and what it means for you. Season finale, Part 2

    NOV 14

    27. Will to Power - Nietzsche’s theory of everything and what it means for you. Season finale, Part 2

    "Message the show" Dionysus wants to make you stronger, more evil, more profound – and more beautiful.  In this second part of the season finale, we follow that cosmic pied piper into the heart of Nietzsche’s most explosive idea: the will to power. Last time, we dismantled the myth of free will and showed that selection is the basic logic of reality – from molecules to memes. Now we pick up those threads and begin to trace their connection to Nietzsche’s patron deity. We explore Dionysus as the living symbol of a world without metaphysical safety nets: no God, no higher justice, no ultimate meaning – just an inexhaustible flux that delights both in creation and destruction. Greek tragedy, ecstasy, ego-death, joy in suffering: Dionysus is the world drunk on itself. From there, we denude “will” and “power” and subject them to a thorough examination. Is a tree’s striving for light a kind of love? Does a rock “want” to fall? What if your own wanting is just a late, conscious complication of a more basic cosmic tendency? We track will from galaxies to genes to nervous systems, and power from brute survival to your everyday ambitions.  Ultimately, we're going to expose will to power as the very machinery of existence.  Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    59 min
  5. 26. Will to Power - Nietzsche’s theory of everything and what it means for you. Season finale, Part 1

    NOV 13

    26. Will to Power - Nietzsche’s theory of everything and what it means for you. Season finale, Part 1

    "Message the show" Free will is the sacred cow of our modern civilisation. Everyone believes they have it but no one can justify this belief.  In our season finale of The Will to Joy, we put that belief on the chopping block. I start by offering up a simple challenge: demonstrate free will. When that inevitably fails we follow the chain of consequences and travel into the deepest strata of Nietzsche’s philosophy. This is the first part of a three part episode and it's most ambitious episode I’ve made: an odyssey from the birth of the solar system through the blind mechanics of evolution, the rise of consciousness, the illusion of choice, the social need for moral responsibility, and the psychological tricks that keep the myth of autonomy alive. Only then do can we get to the heart of it: Nietzsche’s will to power as a total theory of becoming — metaphysical, biological, psychological, and spiritual. This isn’t a motivational gloss or a “Nietzsche for beginners” pamphlet. It’s a rigorous survey of the architecture of will to power. You’ll see why free will is a noble lie, why our institutions depend on it, why our minds fall for the illusion, and why Nietzsche thought its abandonment is the real beginning of freedom. If you’re ready for a tour that runs from volcanic hellscapes to the chemistry of life, from memes to morality, from fumbling deliberation to Dionysus himself — lock the door. Pour a drink. Settle in. Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    47 min
  6. 25. On his master's business - Nietzsche, masters, and slaves

    SEP 26

    25. On his master's business - Nietzsche, masters, and slaves

    "Message the show" As Nietzsche writes, "he who cannot obey himself, will be commanded". The ability to obey oneself - to have an internal locus of authority rather than an external one - this is how, in our era of purported equality, a master is distinguished from a slave. But what about you? Who or what do you obey? And, in obeying, are you compromising yourself, or are you maintaining your own integrity, your own autonomy, your own authority? This episode in an extra recording from the Will to Joy library on Patreon. See the link below to become a member. It is published in lieu of the Will to Joy season finale which will be launched next week - look out for that!  Music credit: strings sbh nmr b2 37 AECE.wav by ERH -- https://freesound.org/s/60981/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    23 min
  7. 24. An Economy of Bodies: Nietzsche, Sex, and Beauty.

    SEP 9

    24. An Economy of Bodies: Nietzsche, Sex, and Beauty.

    "Message the show" Special Episode: An Economy of Bodies – Nietzsche, Sex, Beauty, and the Will to Power This week’s episode is something different. I’m sharing the recording of my presentation at the annual Friedrich Nietzsche Society conference at Queen's University in Belfast (6th September). My paper, An Economy of Bodies, brings Nietzsche’s philosophy into dialogue with evolutionary psychology and behavioural science to explore sex, beauty, culture, social status, destiny, and what Nietzsche calls “ascending life.” Though delivered in an academic setting, the ideas here cut straight into lived experience: why we find bodies beautiful, how our aesthetic sensibility shapes culture, and how power, desire, and valuation work at the most basic human level in our most primal impulses. I’ll be developing this work into a concise, practical guide soon, but for now, here’s the raw presentation that set the discussion in motion. Next episode will be our season finale released on the 26th September, slightly out of kilter with our regular schedule due to the Belfast conference. It's going to be a scorcher. Do not miss it!  Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    43 min
  8. 23. Wrestling with the Spirit of Gravity

    AUG 22

    23. Wrestling with the Spirit of Gravity

    "Message the show" Recorded on the rugged trails of the Lake District, with a stupidly heavy pack, sore knees, and a wild Nietzschean esprit! In this episode, I yomp alone through across 40 miles of peaks and silence, sleeping out, drinking from streams, and thinking deeply about beauty, power, shame, and the weight we carry—both physically and psychologically. Topics include: – The brutality and exhilaration of hiking peak-to-peak solo – Extracts from my upcoming paper: An Economy of Bodies — a Nietzschean genealogy of sex, beauty, and culture – Wild camping, solitude, thirst, and suffering as spiritual practices – Nietzsche’s “Spirit of Gravity”: what drags us down—prudence, shame, herd morality—and how to achieve escape velocity – Naked dancing under the crescent moon, and the politics of “cringe” – Why true confidence means an internal locus of authority This is not a travel diary. It’s a philosophical field recording. Wind rumbling the mic, scrambling on stone, a fire crackling in a remote bothy—and the sound of one man wrestling with the joyless forces of anti-life. Support the show If you value Will to Joy (formerly Becoming Übermensch) and you want more, please ensure its continued existence by supporting the show If you are interested in delving deeper into this work and are hungry for greater challenges, I also now have a Patreon. Become a De Profundis Member and access exclusive episodes and exercises. Thank you so much for supporting this project. Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you: 👉 Follow and connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook

    43 min
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Not advice, but technique. Not guidance, but tools. Not opinion, but evidence. Through the practical application of the extraordinary teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Joy Podcast is the high road to self-overcoming and transcendence. Take the first step on an extraordinary journey! https://linktr.ee/willtojoy  Here's a Spotify playlist of the tracks I recommend in series 1 of the Will to Joy podcast in the order I recommend them. Each invokes some variety of Dionysian feeling for me. I hope they can do something similar for you:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1foCRmNEpujmJBEzMUMsU4?si=UpO_6FQbTAO0IjSeXHgweg  (Formerly the Becoming Übermensch podcast)

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