DON'T LOOK UP
Philosophy Now|August/September 2022
Dylan Skurka marvels at the human capacity to ignore existential threats.
Dylan Skurka
DON'T LOOK UP

One morning in the marketplace, as the townspeople are enjoying what they think is the beginning of a day like any other, a dishevelled man holding a lantern appears out of nowhere. "I seek God! I seek God!" he begins to scream indiscriminately at both no one and everyone. Soon enough, a crowd forms around this spectacle of a person, and once they understand what's happening, the townspeople can't help but burst into laughter at the ridiculous sight of someone crazy enough to be out looking for God with a lantern. The madman, getting more and more impatient about not being taken seriously, finally snaps back at his audience: "Where is God? I will tell you. We have killed him and I!"

Dumbstruck, the townspeople aren't laughing anymore, and now just stand there in a daze. Fed up with his failed efforts to be heard, the madman finally smashes his lantern on the ground in one last fit of rage, and leaves, issuing the townspeople a last cryptic warning:

"I have come too early; my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves." (The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882)

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