Thing-in-itself
Friedrich had been having trouble with finding ground underfoot lately, so in a last attempt to restore some sanity he called up an old friend for advice.
BUDDHA: Yes, this is Buddhahood?
NIETZSCHE: Language, sensations, concepts—at most, these are useful metaphors.
BUDDHA: Amazing—yes go on, please.
NIETZSCHE: Words -
BUDDHA: Thank you.
NIETZSCHE: Words—they provide relations. But to mistake language—a human product—with what is...is nothing short of anthropocentrism.
BUDDHA: Yes.
NIETZSCHE: Concepts arise from the equation of ultimately unequal things. This is where human hubris lives.
BUDDHA: Mmm. Very good. I can sense you are close. But like the forms, you're busy pointing! May I ask, have you ever tried observing?
NIETZSCHE: All perception starts out as nerve stimuli, but at this instance, it—whatever it is—has already left the thing in itself and turned into representation.
BUDDHA: Have you tried observing this moment? And...this?
NIETZSCHE: The distinction between the general—such as time—and individual instance—such as now—is also dogmatic. If it originates from the nature of things, we cannot know. Nonetheless, I shall do as you ask and observe with my own mind's eye.
BUDDHA: And?
Ans so they were. Not forms, nor conepts. Monistic, eternal—one and forever.