The Will to Power

Nietzche was a complicated man. He was a christian that deeply hated the large body of christianity. He was in constant emotional and physical pain from illness and isolation. Most of his latter work is incoherent and compares to high school trite and ranting. But one idea that he had always seems to stick out to me. The will to power.

In simple terms it means that the meaning of life is to gain power.
Indeed there is a basic instinct towards power. People flock to it, they idolize it and worship it. They pay everything they have for the smallest piece of it.
Power is something that defies explanation. You can get power with respect, money, love, leadership, unique skills, deception, chance, planning and a host of other ways. Yet the methods to attaining power tell us nothing of the primal nature of power itself. Some people just seem to radiate power. They have charisma, intelligence and something more. An X factor that cannot be defined. A sense of self? Ego? Maybe in part.

They dominate parties, they are the center of social circles, they win elections, gather followers, convert the wayward and a host of other things. Democracy has not changed the nature of power in the slightest. These people who wield "power" are the center of our human experiences. They are our kennedys and our rockfellers and they are the height of our human experience. They experience the greatest joys and the deepest sorrows. For a person who wields power there is inside the burning quest for more power. Power to control an idea or a thought or a belief. Fear and intimidation are power and so are hope and courage. Power is behind all things. All actions and thoughts... every emotion.

Everything is motivated by power. Rather that power be used for good, evil or both. My hat is off to Nietzche. The will to power is the start of a deeper question. Why is that the meaning of life? If we were beings of pure kindness without the desire to compete against each other then we would be little more then animals. No drive or ambition to accomplish anything.
If our world was not harsh but instead peaceful. If we had a perfect harmony with the world and adapted to it... we would not improve either. Without our desire for power we would do nothing and become nothing.

In that regard the only logical answer is that evil and power are needed for the ultimate good. That in order to ascend to the level we have to reach: god is pushing us to learn what is needed. Does god feel it to? Did he attain his power and wisdom as we do: By trial and error? Evil and good are flip sides of the same coin. But that coin is power.