"When you stare into the abyss, it stares back at you" - what did Nietzsche mean by this?

[ChandelierBoing]

[Anonymous]

... To be blunt, in context, human thought is recursive.

The correct quote from Beyond Good and Evil is actually, "When you stare into the abyss it stares back into you." The word 'into' is important.

Essentially a focus can become am obsession and obsessiveness can and often does undermine the entire value of the work. Remember that Nietchze spent all of his philosophical life trying to actually prove a positive thing (that life is what you make of it) but it is often read as a negative thing (that life is hopeless and bleak BECAUSE life is what you make of it) due to the breakdown and enlightenment that came to him when he questioned the whole of his existence in relation to the rest of the world. The literature itself basically explains that perspective is a problem (in the moral sense where this is popularly attributed) and that because thoughts are recursive (in a nutshell) morality etc. really stem from the same bases.

It is a very difficult thing to read and grasp and I doubt most people will read it despite the heavy misquote used often to talk about moving from one side of the morality spectrum to the other such as being so good at killing bad that you become a tyrant.

That's, functionally, wrong.

You don't "move" along the scale. To all the good citizens you're a hero. To the people you oppose you're the enemy. The moral high ground is lost when we exit the simplistic view of "sides".

It is a really fascinating critique of simplistic bilateral thinking.

[Alemon]

Contemplation becomes transformation.

Stolen from: www.google.co.nz/.../

[karahiri]

when you try to understand someone's darkness, you may start to empathize with their reasoning... and then, you too may start to harbor that darkness.

[ChandelierBoing]

I see thank you.
Is your name inspired from the Japanese term 'harakiri'?

[karahiri]

indeed it is.

[ThisDudeHere]

It means that, for instance, if you indulge yourself with fighting evil, eventually you yourself might become evil.

[Goochbreaker]

you are not just you... if you look deep enough. Ever heard the saying 'you are the universe experiencing itself through itself?'

[TheKing4991]

what you look for will also look for you