The Michael Kuhlman Show

Michael Kuhlman

Philosophy for people who think for themselves. Deep dives on Nietzsche, Jung, Plotinus, and the Western esoteric tradition. Book breakdowns, history, and the occasional take on what's happening right now. No hot takes, no clickbait - just long-form thinking out loud. Hosted by Michael Kuhlman. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelKuhlman Substack: https://substack.com/@michaelkuhlman?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page Support the show: https://donate.stripe.com/cNibJ16dR8rs9jLgSb1gs05 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/michaelkuhlman

  1. Evil Nietzsche - The Heel, The Hammer, The Viking | Birth of Tragedy Part II

    May 20

    Evil Nietzsche - The Heel, The Hammer, The Viking | Birth of Tragedy Part II

    Nobody reads anymore. But lucky for you I like to read to people. This is Part II of my Birth of Tragedy essay series on Substack. If you'd rather sit back and listen than read the essay on your phone, this one is for you. A few lines from the piece: "Nietzsche was actually a pretty decent guy in real life. But in his writing he constantly plays the heel." "First you hate him, then you laugh at him, then his work starts to click and you see his genius." "I read Nietzsche to discover what he means by 'evil'." "His bedridden, half-blind ass would have been a delicious Viking victim." "You must embrace the fact Nietzsche is, in a real sense, evil." "Strip the gold out, because there is some gold." We get into Nietzsche's method of constructing opponents just to destroy them, the villain origin story hiding inside his prose, the Viking thought experiment that exposes the whole project, and why you can still love the guy while calling him wrong. Read the written version on Substack: https://michaelkuhlman.substack.com/p/part-ii-evil-nietzsche-the-birth If this series is doing something for you, here are a few ways to keep it going: Become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/c/michaelkuhlman Or hit the Join button below this video to become a channel member. You get perks, I get to keep making this stuff. Drop a comment with your take on Evil Nietzsche. I read them. And please share to help the show grow.

    20 min
  2. Thus Spoke Zarathustra Ep. 15 - Noontide and Gathering of the Higher Men | Nietzsche's Mystic Hour

    Apr 28

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra Ep. 15 - Noontide and Gathering of the Higher Men | Nietzsche's Mystic Hour

    Nobody reads anymore. But lucky for you I like to read to people. Episode 15 takes us into one of the strangest and most beautiful moments in the entire book - and then drops us straight into the chaos that follows. We start with "At Noon" - Zarathustra lies down under an old gnarled tree, and time stops. The world becomes perfect for an instant. He tastes eternity not as an afterlife or a doctrine, but as the depth of this moment, fully inhabited. This is Nietzsche's version of mystical experience translated into his own vocabulary. No God, no heaven, just the noontide stillness where existence justifies itself. Then the bell rings. Zarathustra wakes up, and the cry of distress comes back. The higher men have found his cave. In "The Greeting," every figure from Part Four shows up at once - the two kings, the conscientious of spirit, the magician, the old pope, the ugliest man, the voluntary beggar, the shadow. They hail Zarathustra as their teacher. Their savior. The one they've been waiting for. But it's a trap. Each of these men has broken from the herd. Each has done real work. But none of them is the goal. They are bridges, not destinations - and if Zarathustra accepts their worship, he becomes exactly what he set out to destroy. Pity is his final sin, and these men are walking temptations. We unpack: Why "At Noon" is Nietzsche's mystical core - eternity as depth, not durationThe Jungian read on the higher men as partial integrations of the SelfWhy Zarathustra's warmth toward them is also his greatest dangerHow this chapter sets up the catastrophe of Part Four's final movementZarathustra wanted disciples who don't need him. Instead he got a cave full of men who do. If this work means something to you, the best way to support it is to become a paid member here on YouTube or join the Patreon - that's where the deeper stuff lives. 🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/michaelkuhlman 🎯 Become a channel member: hit the Join button below 💬 Drop a comment with what hit hardest, and share this with one person who would understand Nietzsche's darkness #Nietzsche #ThusSpokeZarathustra #Jung #Philosophy #Zarathustra #DepthPsychology #PhilosophyPodcast #PartFour

    1h 7m
  3. Thus Spoke Zarathustra Ep. 11 - The Weight You Were Taught to Carry

    Mar 26

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra Ep. 11 - The Weight You Were Taught to Carry

    In Episode 11 of Thus Spoke Zara, we tackle two of the heaviest and most ambitious chapters in all of Thus Spoke Zarathustra — "The Spirit of Gravity" and "Old and New Tablets." These chapters are Zarathustra at his most confrontational and his most visionary. The Spirit of Gravity is the great enemy — the force that tells you life is heavy, meaning is fixed, and your values were decided for you before you were born. Zarathustra calls this the devil, the great drag on the human spirit, and he has one answer: learn to laugh. Then in "Old and New Tablets," Nietzsche delivers what might be the single most dense chapter in the entire book — a sweeping manifesto where Zarathustra sits among the broken fragments of old moral law and begins inscribing new ones. This is Nietzsche's direct assault on pity, on equality as moral doctrine, on the "good and just" who mistake their comfort for virtue. Key themes covered in this episode: The Spirit of Gravity as Zarathustra's arch-nemesis — why Nietzsche frames heaviness itself as the enemy of creative life"My foot is a cloven foot" — Zarathustra's radical claim that the path to yourself is the path no one else can walkWhy laughter is positioned as the ultimate weapon against dogmaOld and New Tablets as Nietzsche's anti-Moses moment — smashing inherited morality and writing new values from the mountaintopThe critique of pity as a disguised form of contempt"Man must become better AND more evil" — what Nietzsche actually means by this and why most people get it wrongThe Overman as creator, not inheritor — why Zarathustra insists that no value is worth keeping unless you've earned it through struggleHow these two chapters set up the emotional and philosophical climax of Part ThreeThis is Nietzsche at full power — poetic, ruthless, and building toward something. If you've been following along, this is where the book starts demanding something from you. 🎙️ Support the show and get early access to episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/michaelkuhlman

    1h 17m

Ratings & Reviews

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About

Philosophy for people who think for themselves. Deep dives on Nietzsche, Jung, Plotinus, and the Western esoteric tradition. Book breakdowns, history, and the occasional take on what's happening right now. No hot takes, no clickbait - just long-form thinking out loud. Hosted by Michael Kuhlman. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelKuhlman Substack: https://substack.com/@michaelkuhlman?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page Support the show: https://donate.stripe.com/cNibJ16dR8rs9jLgSb1gs05 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/michaelkuhlman