#Eternal Recurrence

[dionysian-mystery]

Wikipedia / Image from pinterest / Machiavelli / George Santayana / Thucydides / Image from pinterest / Abba - Waterloo / J. M. Barrie - Peter Pan / Fibonacci spiral / Catherynne M. Valente

[vintage-tigre]

[shisasan]

The way eclipsed nights stir something deep and forbidden, the pull of moon magic has no equal.

🜍 ⟡ ⟢

[margueritestjusts]

Pathologic: The Marble Nest is so Nietzschean it makes me sick. I believe Dankovsky’s time loop perfectly encapsulates what Nietzsche was referring to whenever he discussed the eternal return. How so, you might ask? Let me explain.

Concepts similar to the eternal return predate Nietzsche, most notably with the concept of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth, influenced by the karmic cycle) in Hinduism and Buddhism, but the eternal return holds significant weight in Nietzsche's philosophy given that not only is he oft called a nihilist (although that label is not apt), but also given that Nietzsche was a staunch determinist. The first time Nietzsche mentions the eternal return is in The Gay Science, where he presents it to the reader as a thought experiment:

“What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' … Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?” (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, p. 273-274, tr. Walter Kaufmann).

Essentially, the eternal return is the belief that time itself is an infinite loop. Everything will repeat, and every event will play out in the same way for all of eternity. While Pathologic as a whole does tend to take more from absurdism and the Theatre of the Absurd (for time loops specifically? See: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), I think the eternal return holds special weight for Dankovsky in The Marble Nest; he willingly chooses (depending on which ending you chose) to repeat the same day over and over again, not only because he is stubborn and refuses to die, but because he wants to still find a way to keep everyone safe and keep the plague out of the Stone Yard. Despite this, however, the events of the DLC are set to repeat in the exact same way, no matter how many times you try, in vain, to change the outcome. The plague will still come, and you will still choose whether or not you will finally die or not.

And I find it fascinating that the Executor sees Dankovsky's death as being, essentially, mercy. It is implied that when we are playing the DLC, this is not the first time Dankovsky has continued to repeat the time loop. How long has he been doing it for? That, we don't know, but the Executor believes that not only is Dankovsky agitating for continuing to deny death, but that it is also causing him suffering. By choosing to go with the Executor, Dankovsky will finally escape the samsara of his deathbed-induced, delirious time loop. By the end of the DLC, he has come to grapple with death and really, what the hell he's doing. By choosing to go with the Executor now, I believe Dankovsky is, well... not necessarily more at peace with death, but has ultimately come to accept his own mortality in the wake of the plague spreading to the Stone Yard. What would the point of his death be if he just didn't learn anything? That is why the game chastizes you when you choose to die during the first conversation, after all.

On the other hand, there's the choice to repeat the day once again. Would Daniil Dankovsky, bachelor of medicine and famed thanaticist, truly choose to just accept his death? No. Dankovsky would not. Not the man who claimed he would destroy Death itself. That's why he came to this town in the first place, was it not? He will choose to repeat the day, to try in vain to save this town no matter what, and no matter how many times he must relive this day once again.

[zara2148]

MegOp but with the Devilman concept of eternal recurrence. I.e. all versions are canon but not in the standard multiversal sense, more like each is a timeline stacked on top of each other like endless circles of hell, important events repeating infinitely with some changes.

... This would imply some things about Primus as a deity. Benevolence undone by a need for doomed yaoi.

[awakingdreamaway]

Eternal Recurrence l Rustin Cohle

~ L⋆.𖦹ׂ ⋆˙

[imall4frogs]

“That everything recurs is the closest approximation of a world of becoming to a world of being.”

—Friedrich Nietzsche

—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—

No. Form-as-being and phenomena-as-becoming are irreconcilable. We cannot conceive the ideal, ultimate form of dirt—nonsensical! It’s reasonable to assume that Nietzsche knew this. So what was the old boy talking about when he said this? Does he really think that every amalgam of matter and energy in our universe must endlessly, cyclically recur?

Maybe. In a note from 1886, Nietzsche writes simply that the “law of the conservation of energy demands eternal recurrence.” So Friedrich may have mistakenly posited eternal recurrence as an objective principle, but we do not need to make such an error. All we need to do is understand that entropy precludes eternal recurrence because energy disperses—the watch runs down. So does “eternal recurrence” still hold any value?

Yes. When approached as a hypothetical the idea of eternal recurrence reveals its value as a psychological touchstone. If you knew that your life would repeat in precisely the same manner and sequence forever, would you feel exalted or damned? Every triumph, embarrassment, pleasure, fear, pain—all of it without any change! Would you want to change any of it?

When approached this way the notion of eternal recurrence will reveal to an earnest seeker any points in her life that she cannot accept. The child that grew distant, the compromised career, the divorce—any possible source of regret or resentment will suddenly stand-out in stark contrast to any conscious narrative the seeker might have woven. Nietzsche’s notion of eternal recurrence invites us to attempt a radical form of acceptance. Can one accept herself and her fate completely? No lights. No illusions. If so, then a seeker may finally find sure footing on the bedrock of reality, and trudge forward to a happy destiny.

[father-of-the-void]

Time is a flat circle. Everything we have done or will do, we will do over and over and over again - forever.

— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Amor Fati

Amor fati is a Latin phrase meaning “love of fate”, and it's most famously associated with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Rather than merely accepting the events of your life—especially the painful or uncontrollable ones—amor fati calls for embracing them wholeheartedly, as if you had chosen them yourself.

It is not resignation or stoic endurance, but an active affirmation:

“My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati... that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.” — Nietzsche

Core Ideas

Radical Acceptance Amor fati is the opposite of resistance. It asks us to say “yes” to life, even to suffering, loss, and injustice—not by approving of them morally, but by acknowledging that they are part of the totality of existence.

Beyond Regret or Bitterness Instead of wishing things had gone differently, amor fati transforms past misfortunes into necessary threads of your story—without which you wouldn’t be who you are.

Eternal Recurrence Nietzsche ties amor fati to his concept of the eternal return: if you had to live your life over and over again, would you still embrace it? Amor fati says: yes, every time.

Empowerment Through Surrender While fate seems to imply helplessness, amor fati transforms powerlessness into freedom by aligning the will with what is. You become invulnerable to despair when you cease wishing the world were otherwise.

Connections to Other Philosophies

Stoicism The Stoics, like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, advocated accepting fate (fatum) and focusing only on what we can control. Amor fati goes a step further—not just accepting, but loving fate.

Existentialism Where some existentialists see the universe as absurd or indifferent, amor fati is an existential yes: life has no inherent meaning, so let’s choose to affirm it anyway.

Buddhism There's a similarity to non-attachment in Buddhist thought, though amor fati has a more passionate flavor—rather than detaching from life, it invites a fierce intimacy with it.

Why It Matters

In a world obsessed with control, comfort, and endless optimization, amor fati offers a radical reorientation:

What if the goal isn’t to avoid pain, but to be transformed by it?

To love your fate is not to abandon dreams or growth, but to root yourself so deeply in the present that even failure becomes sacred. It’s about finding beauty in the broken, meaning in the meaningless, and peace in the irreversible.

[arxnek]

Zephyr

18x24, graphite on paper

does this remind you of anything/make you feel anything? or does it at least look cool hehe

*click and zoom!! there’s a lot going on here and tumblr might not wanna show good quality photos ☹️

[tilbageidanmark]

"Life is not for the faint of heart"

[philosophicalconservatism]

Do you see history fundamentally moving in a linear or cyclical direction?

The belief that human history is necessarily linear or that it is necessarily cyclical conflicts with the notion of human beings as free will agents who determine their own destiny. So I do not embrace either one. The first belief (historicism) is in my opinion the more dangerous of the two. It is no accident that the ideas of the philosopher GWF Hegel serve as the framework of the most popular system of Socialism in existence: Marxism. The idea of inevitable linear historical progress gives man a passive role in his own story, and with a passive role comes a passive attitude, which is precisely what the authoritarian desires. A society that believes that its destiny is the product of greater forces has no reason to protect or to design its destiny. And when the people do not pilot their own society the state will do so (and not “history”).

The view that history is necessarily cyclical (Nietzsche) is one that I believe is based in despair, and it is once again inconsistent with the idea of human self determination. Now to be clear, I am not claiming that history cannot turn out to be either cyclical or linear, I am saying that it is not necessarily so. I believe that cycles can be broken (even though that can be deeply challenging) and I believe that progress is not inevitable.

[shisasan]

The world is not always divided into light and darkness, but rather an ever-shifting twilight where morality bends to the hands that wield it. For one person’s justice can be another’s defiance, one’s mercy another’s betrayal.

🜍 ⟡ ⟢

[ashcloud-on-venus]

the sense of doom when reading about eternal recurrence.

[henrykathman]

The Eternal Recurrence of Adventure Time

With the conclusion of season 1 of Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, this video seeks to explore the show's relationship with the philosophical concept of Eternal Recurrence, the notion that everything stays, right where we left it. But does everything truly stay without changing? Come along with me to find out!

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Storyboards drawn by Evan Kisner

Additional voices by @LauraCrone as the Narrator Matt Crowly of @Videokind as Ivan Osokin @WensleydaleCheddar as the Magician

Music by Molly Noise 'In the Boathouse' from the Goncharov Soundtrack by Stella's Silver Screen 'Betty's Wish', 'Egress', 'Inside a Crown' from Ambient Time by Opus Science Collective

Works Cited

“Adventure Time: Distant Bands (the Music of Adventure Time).” Lost Extras, YouTube, 4 Apr. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U2mCTDzOpg&pp=ygUmYWR2ZW50dXJlIHRpbWUgYmVoaW5kIHRoZSBzY2VuZXMgbXVzaWM%3D. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Ouspensky, P. D. Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. 1915. Dead Authors Society, 2018, archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.241089/page/n71/mode/2up. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

Porphyry. The Life of Pythagoras. Edited by Patrick Rousell , Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, 1920.

“Pyotr Demyanovich Uspensky.” Wikipedia Russia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Oct. 2005, ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9. Accessed 15 Dec. 2023.

Ward, Pendleton. “Adventure Time - a behind the Scenes Featurette by Pendleton Ward (2012).” Other Files: The Final Season, Youtube, 2012, youtu.be/Ymc9TrSTz7o?si=SOS1kEnFwRAv2kUm. Accessed 7 Dec. 2016.

Other Recommendations

Thomas, Paul. "“Everything Stays”: The Eternal Return and Amor Fati in the Adventure Time Miniseries Stakes." (2021).

@uncivilizedelk "The Meaning of Finn's Journey in "The Hall of Egress" (Adventure Time)" Mar 13, 2016

[non-conventionnel]

What are karma, eternal recurrence, reincarnation, and free will? What is the human consciousness? What were the Buddha’s teachings and how did his teachings influence the spiritual formation of Jesus?