“Of all that is written, I love only what a
person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that
blood is spirit.
It is no easy task to understand unfamiliar blood; I hate the reading idlers.
He who knoweth the reader, doeth nothing more for the reader. Another century of readers--and spirit itself will stink.
He who knoweth the reader, doeth nothing more for the reader. Another century of readers--and spirit itself will stink.
Every one being allowed to learn to read, ruineth in the long run not only
writing but also thinking.
Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it even becometh populace.
Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it even becometh populace.
He that writeth in blood and proverbs doth not want to be read, but learnt by
heart.
In the mountains the shortest way is from peak to peak, but for that route thou
must have long legs. Proverbs should be peaks, and those spoken to should be
big and tall.
The atmosphere rare and pure, danger near and the spirit full of a joyful
wickedness: thus are things well matched.
I want to have goblins about me, for I am courageous. The courage which scareth
away ghosts, createth for itself goblins--it wanteth to laugh.”
Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke
Zarathustra). A year after reading Nietzsche's book -- described by himself as
"the deepest ever written" -- I vaguely remember the chronological
order of the events and didactic messages of Zarathustra, though the
philosophical insights that I got while reading it remains a literary and
intellectual asset till date. Aptly said, it is "Ein Buch für Alle und
Keinen (A Book for All and None)." One either agrees or disagrees with his
startling revelation of his own thoughts and ideas on myriad of issues,
particularly related to eternal recurrence and morality of religion.
Of all great and evil things Nietzsche
wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, his thoughts on existentialism -- a complex
philosophical term that continues to confuse as well as bewitch me since I read
about it seven-eight years ago -- has been brilliantly conveyed through
Zarathustra, the protagonist of the book who has descended from his mountain
retreat to mankind. Here is a simply expressed streak of his existential
thoughts:
“But the worst enemy you can meet will
always be yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caverns and forests. Lonely
one, you are going the way to yourself! And your way goes past yourself, and
past your seven devils! You will be a heretic to yourself and witch and
soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and villain. You must be ready
to burn yourself in your own flame: how could you become new, if you had not
first become ashes?”
And this poetically sums up Zarathustra's
concept of Übermensch (superhuman, a self-mastered person), which one
constantly encounters while reading the book:
“I love those that know not how to live
except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers.
I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of
longing for the other shore.
I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and
being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the
Superman may hereafter arrive.
I love him who lives in order to know, and seeks to know in order that the
Superman may hereafter live.
Thus seeks he his own down-going.
I love him who labors and invents, that he may build the house for the
Superman, and prepare for him earth, animal, and plant: for thus seeks he his
own down-going.
I love him who loves his virtue: for virtue is the will to down-going, and an
arrow of longing.
I love him who reserves no share of spirit for himself, but wants to be wholly
the spirit of his virtue: thus walks he as spirit over the bridge.
I love him who makes his virtue his inclination and destiny: thus, for the sake
of his virtue, he is willing to live on, or live no more.
I love him who desires not too many virtues. One virtue is more of a virtue
than two, because it is more of a knot for one's destiny to cling to.
I love him whose soul is lavish, who wants no thanks and does not give back:
for he always bestows, and desires not to keep for himself.
I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favor, and who then asks:
"Am I a dishonest player?"--for he is willing to succumb.
I love him who scatters golden words in advance of his deeds, and always does
more than he promises: for he seeks his own down-going.
I love him who justifies the future ones, and redeems the past ones: for he is
willing to succumb through the present ones.
I love him who chastens his God, because he loves his God: for he must succumb
through the wrath of his God.
I love him whose soul is deep even in the wounding, and may succumb through a
small matter: thus goes he willingly over the bridge.
I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgets himself, and all things
that are in him: thus all things become his down-going.
I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus is his head only the
bowels of his heart; his heart, however, causes his down-going.
I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the dark cloud
that lowers over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and succumb as
heralds.”
And ultimately, "you know these things
as thoughts, but your thoughts are not your experiences, they are an echo and
after-effect of your experiences."
***
Suggested reading:
Nietzsche: The Darkness of Life
The Philosophy of Nietzsche: An
Introduction by Alain de Botton
Philosophy of Nietzsche (a comprehensive
145-page research book)
Nietzsche's Moral and Political Philosophy
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844—1900): life and
philosophy