Eternal Recurrence and The Cay Science 231of the heroes who even put the doctrine of eternal recurrence to prac-
tical use. As eady as his notebooks from the summer of 1881, we find
reflections on this notion.
Nietzsche certainly understood the idea of eternal recurrence as a
propositional truth, but he also applied it as a pragmatic, autosuggestive
aid in structuring our lives. In this way, he succeeded in putting an exis-
tential flame under "cold" knowledge. The fact that every moment
recurs should lend the here and now the dignity of the eternal. We
should always be asking ourselves while engaged in any activity: "Is this
something I want to be doing coundess times?" (9,496). Nietzsche, who
had wished to transcend the strictures of "Thou shalt" was now preach-
ing a new "Thou shalt," namely that one should live each moment in
such a way that it can recur without occasioning horror. Ever the music
enthusiast, he called for a da capo of life. "Let us etch the image of eter-
nity onto our own lives! This thought embodies more than all religions,
which taught us to disdain life as something ephemeral and to look
toward an unspecified otberMe" (9,503). Just as Kant wished to reinforce
moral imperatives by rendering them unconditional, "as if" a God had
imposed them, Nietzsche also braced his imperative of an ecstatic and
intensive here and now with the argument that we should live "as if"
every moment were eternal because it recurs eternally.
All the ecstasy, all the bliss, all the ascensions of feeling, all the hunger
for intensity previously projected into the beyond would now be con-
centrated in the immediate life of the here and now. The doctrine of
eternal recurrence was designed to function by preserving the powers of
transcendence for immanence or, as Zarathustra proclaimed, remaining
"faithful to the earth" (4,15; ZFirst Part, Prologue § 3). In The Gay Science,
written a few months after the inspiration, Nietzsche used rich imagery
to conjure up this bliss in the here and now, which opened up the per-
spective of eternal recurrence to him. He would remove any oppressive
or deadening aspects from the image of the.circling course of time by
coupling it with the great Heraclitean cosmic game. This game is, of
course, based on repetition, but Nietzsche gave it a playful twist. For