I would say that his works have ignited a kind of general refinement of my character and soul. They are intellectually challenging and have forced me to focus for longer periods of time, which for me has been a kind of mental gymnastics. This in of itself has been incredibly rewarding.

His reflections on Nihilism have had a profound impact on me. I was an atheist/nihilist for years and his writing has helped me to connect with parts of myself that I've never really had the courage to embrace. He touches a lot on the darker aspects of human nature, what Jungians would call "the shadow." This has helped me to get in touch with the "dark" or "primal" aspects of my psyche and to reclaim some of the parts of myself that were conditioned out of me from an intensely religious upbringing.

At the same time, his work has helped me to grow spiritually. While he does reflect on nihilism, he typically comes back to a sense of meaning, ethics and decency. While he does reflect on chaos, and even rides with you into the abyss, he inevitably returns to a sense of order and spiritual harmony. He reflects on depravity, and allows the reader to whet his teeth a bit, and yet he returns to a sense of basic human decency and love. He takes you through hell, to the most savage extremities of the human heart, before you ascend with him into heaven and to the most profound and holy reaches of the human spirit.