Nietzsche’s theory of eternal regression holds that even extremely harsh lives will regress into eternity. V.E. Frankl, who was interned in a Nazi concentration camp, was not a believer in the eternal return theory, but he said that the value of a person’s life is determined by the kind of “attitude” with which he lives his harsh life, a fate that cannot be changed. This is called “attitude value. If one lives with the best attitude toward the harsh life, that best “value” will return forever.
It is not, “This was life? Then, let’s do it again,
“Was this life? Then, forever.
What makes this eternal return possible is the critical importance of “attitude value” pointed out by Frankl. Whether or not “attitudinal value” is of decisive importance to you is not determined by the values of others/the world, but by your own values.
To live in such a way that you are compelled to wish to live repeatedly–that is the task.” (Naumann Edition of Nietzsche’s Complete Works, Vol. 12: The Posthumous Works)
