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.