I have been reading Nietzsche again lately. He is sort of a guilty pleasure. I read him early of a morning with my coffee. This morning, I ran across this bon mot, “Intestinal morbidity.” He famously claimed at some point, “The spirit is like a stomach”. In his view, intestinal morbidity represents the failure to digest reality.
To Nietzsche, a healthy person can “swallow” even the most painful truths (the death of God, the cruelty of nature) and turn them into a strength. A morbid gut suffers from resentment. It’s a spirit that takes in experiences but can’t break them down. Instead of being converted into action, the experience sits and rots, poisoning the host with bitterness and envy. Here, I think, is the crux of the matter. Here is where I take my inspiration. It is better to live a life of gratitude than a life of resentment. But, to do this, it requires a life of intestinal fortitude.
Ghost Dog 
Nietzsche’s comparison is apt. I think of the human gut, which processes food and emotional experience. The intestines, small and large (colon) do most of the work of assimilation, separating healthy nutrients from waste.
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When we have moved beyond the unspeakable affecting us, we have become, as Pink Floyd sings, “comfortably numb.” Do you see gratitude as the action of strength then?
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That is a good question. I see gratitude as a positive action and a virtue. One could interpret it as strength. What do you think?
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Benn, I do see gratitude as a positive action and a virtue that can be interpreted as strength. If you have gratitude about some of the most heinous things, I commend you and anyone who can. Let me use an example: Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and all of their customers that ended up being photographed and videotaped and later blackmailed for money, state secrets, and various protections, committed crimes against humanity. With gratitude, I’m happy most weren’t killed — I saw most, as the Zorro Ranch is being bulldozed and concrete is being poured as I type — and I’m happy so many some of the ultra rich got some of their fortunes siphoned off. But how do you digest the evil that is being covered up, with virtually no accountability of the purveyors of it? Maxwell is demanding clemency, for godsakes.
I feel that staying in the gratitude zone to keep one’s mind at peace can easily turn into willing denial.
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Lisa, I see what you mean. There can be no gratitude for unspeakable acts of cruelty or evil. I think I misunderstood your question. So, let me reconsider my answer. The gratitude I was referring to is generally speaking, life can be tough and we can be dealt many blows, but if we remain positive and grateful for the good things in our lives we will be happier than if we live a life of resentment. This, I think is the central message of Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances”.
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And oh how we cling to that last quote.
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Dear Benn,
Whilst the spirit is like a stomach, the vicissitudes of life is like a series of gut punches.
No to intestinal morbidity.
Yes to intestinal fortitude.
A Nietzschean way of life is not for the faint-hearted. Only some of the wisest would (be able to) stomach it.
Happy Chinese New Year to you!
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle🦅
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Same to you, my friend!
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