God put the angels and the devils to a test. He set up a huge banquet hall with a wonderful feast. First He invited the devils to the feast. They were delighted until they found out that they couldn't bend their arms at the elbows! How were they to eat all the delicious food when their hands wouldn't go to their mouths? They tried eating off the plate, which was messy and undignified. They tried throwing the food in the air and catching it in their mouths. Nothing worked very well. After 15 minutes of this mayhem, God told them that time was up. They trooped out cursing Him.

Next, He invited the angels into the hall. A fresh feast was laid out,and the same thing happened - they couldn't bend their arms at the elbows. The angels all looked at each other and burst out laughing. "What a great game!" they said as they fed each other.

"In addition, this discussion of the mechanics of the Eternal Return begs the question: The why of the Eternal Return. What does it accomplish? Even, what does it will? At some point we must ask ourselves what implications this patently metaphysical theory has with the otherwise material nature of Nietzsche's philosophy.

"We can quickly see that the Eternal Return suffers from the same malady as does theological theories over the existence of God. Both are conjecture. Neither the Eternal Return, nor God, is provable in any empirical or logical system. So we must ask ourselves, how do we cope with the Eternal Return? Do we approach it from its metaphysical ramifications? Do we accept it on, of all things, faith? Or do we take another approach? We must remember that the real problem with the idea of the existence of God isn't that it is conjecture, but that the Will to Truth places the mantle of reality/doctrine over that conjecture. This is the fallacy inherent in all metaphysics. Metaphysics as a discipline is conjecture, and to discuss it as though it were fact, is, if nothing else, faulty rhetoric. If, however, when we approach the Eternal Return, we approach it as mythos rather than metaphysics, we find a qualitatively different concept waiting for us. (Here, I am admittedly defining mythos--in a binary with metaphysics--as those conjectures we admit are narratives which are unprovable, and un-disprovable, yet, still compel us.) We find then, that the significant question we must ask about the Eternal Return, isn't whether it is Truth, but how does it affirm life, or through it, how do we affirm life?"

"Depth psychology, existentialism and the human potential movement: the idea and practice of the liberation of the self involving a necessary opening to the hidden Dionysiac depths; the necessary break with the collective in its conventional, conformist and often cultural/moral mediocrity; individual empowerment through a healthily strong ego; the belief that deep societal change can only come about through personal transformation and individual growth in consciousness -- all this constitutes the best and deepest of the Nietzschean insights!

"In his book, Kundera discusses the issue of eternal return. He says that if the idea of an eternal return is valid, then human beings always carry the heaviest burden of all-"the weight of unbearable responsibility."(5) However, Kundera writes that our world is morally perverse-everything in this world is forgiven in advance, thus, everything is "cynically permitted."(4) If one knows that his actions will not carry consequences in the times to come, one acts recklessly, without any consideration. Kundera rightly notices that Hitler's actions were a direct result of the world's conviction that there is no eternal return. Therefore, Hitler was free to commit all his crimes without being punished for them. Sometimes the lightness of being allows a person to interpret that anything that happens to him has no weight, no permanent importance in his life, no significance. Thus, he is free to continue living free of burden, ignoring any occurrences."