Who here has read this amazing book? I am halfway through this book and Neitzsche sure has got alot of things right. What do you think of it all?
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Thus spoke zarathustra (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dan
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Here is a little taste
Nietzsche: From Thus Spake Zarathustra
One of the most controversial works of 19th-century philosophy, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-1885) articulated German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s theory of the Übermensch, a term translated as “Superman” or “Overman.” The Superman was an individual who overcame what Nietzsche termed the “slave morality” of traditional values, and lived according to his own morality. Nietzsche also advanced his idea that “God is dead,” or that traditional morality was no longer relevant in people’s lives. In this passage, the sage Zarathustra came down from the mountain where he had spent the last ten years alone to preach to the people.
From Thus Spake Zarathustra
By Friedrich Nietzsche
Zarathustra's Prologue
3
When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest of the towns lying against the forest, he found in that very place many people assembled in the market square: for it had been announced that a tightrope walker would be appearing. And Zarathustra spoke thus to the people:
I teach you the Superman. Man is something that should be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?
All creatures hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and do you want to be the ebb of this great tide, and return to the animals rather than overcome man?
What is the ape to men? A laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment. And just so shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment.
You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now man is more of an ape than any ape.
But he who is the wisest among you, he also is only a discord and hybrid of plant and of ghost. But do I bid you become ghosts or plants?
Behold, I teach you the Superman.
The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman shall be the meaning of the earth!
I entreat you, my brothers, remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of superterrestrial hopes! They are poisoners, whether they know it or not.
They are despisers of life, atrophying and self-poisoned men, of whom the earth is weary: so let them be gone!
Once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy, but God died, and thereupon these blasphemers died too. To blaspheme the earth is now the most dreadful offence, and to esteem the bowels of the Inscrutable more highly than the meaning of the earth.
Once the soul looked contemptuously upon the body: and then this contempt was the supreme good—the soul wanted the body lean, monstrous, famished. So the soul thought to escape from the body and from the earth.
Oh, this soul was itself lean, monstrous, and famished: and cruelty was the delight of this soul!
But tell me, my brothers: What does your body say about your soul? Is your soul not poverty and dirt and a miserable ease?
In truth, man is a polluted river. One must be a sea, to receive a polluted river and not be defiled.
Behold, I teach you the Superman: he is this sea, in him your great contempt can go under.
What is the greatest thing you can experience? It is the hour of the great contempt. The hour in which even your happiness grows loathsome to you, and your reason and your virtue also.
The hour when you say: 'What good is my happiness? It is poverty and dirt and a miserable ease. But my happiness should justify existence itself!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my reason? Does it long for knowledge as the lion for its food? It is poverty and dirt and a miserable ease!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my virtue? It has not yet driven me mad! How tired I am of my good and my evil! It is all poverty and dirt and a miserable ease!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my justice? I do not see that I am fire and hot coals. But the just man is fire and hot coals!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my pity? Is not pity the cross upon which he who loves man is nailed? But my pity is no crucifixion!'
Have you ever spoken thus? Have you ever cried thus? Ah, that I had heard you crying thus!
It is not your sin, but your moderation that cries to heaven, your very meanness in sinning cries to heaven!
Where is the lightning to lick you with its tongue? Where is the madness, with which you should be cleansed?
Behold, I teach you the Superman: he is this lightning, he is this madness!
When Zarathustra had spoken thus, one of the people cried: 'Now we have heard enough of the tight-rope walker; let us see him, too!' And all the people laughed at Zarathustra. But the tight-rope walker, who thought that the words applied to him, set to work.
4
But Zarathustra looked at the people and marvelled. Then he spoke thus:
Man is a rope, fastened between animal and Superman—a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous going-across, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and staying-still.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal; what can be loved in man is that he is a going-across and a down-going.
I love those who do not know how to live except their lives be a down-going, for they are those who are going across.
I love the great despisers, for they are the great venerators and arrows of longing for the other bank.
I love those who do not first seek beyond the stars for reasons to go down and to be sacrifices: but who sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth may one day belong to the Superman.
I love him who lives for knowledge and who wants knowledge that one day the Superman may live. And thus he wills his own downfall.
I love him who works and invents that he may build a house for the Superman and prepare earth, animals, and plants for him: for thus he wills his own downfall.
I love him who loves his virtue: for virtue is will to downfall and an arrow of longing.
I love him who keeps back no drop of spirit for himself, but wants to be the spirit of his virtue entirely: thus he steps as spirit over the bridge.
I love him who makes a predilection and a fate of his virtue: thus for his virtue's sake he will live or not live.
I love him who does not want too many virtues. One virtue is more virtue than two, because it is more of a knot for fate to cling to.
I love him whose soul is lavish, who neither wants nor returns thanks: for he always gives and will not preserve himself.
I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour and who then asks: Am I then a cheat?—for he wants to perish.
I love him who throws golden words in advance of his deeds and always performs more than he promised: for he wills his own downfall.
I love him who justifies the men of the future and redeems the men of the past: for he wants to perish by the men of the present.
I love him who chastises his God because he loves his God: for he must perish by the anger of his God.
I love him whose soul is deep even in its ability to be wounded, and whom even a little thing can destroy: thus he is glad to go over the bridge.
I love him whose soul is overfull, so that he forgets himself and all things are in him: thus all things become his downfall.
I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus his head is only the bowels of his heart, but his heart drives him to his downfall.
I love all those who are like heavy drops falling singly from the dark cloud that hangs over mankind: they prophesy the coming of the lightning and as prophets they perish.
Behold, I am a prophet of the lightning and a heavy drop from the cloud: but this lightning is called Superman.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Translated by Hollingdale, R. J. Penguin Books.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Nietzsche: From Thus Spake Zarathustra
One of the most controversial works of 19th-century philosophy, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-1885) articulated German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s theory of the Übermensch, a term translated as “Superman” or “Overman.” The Superman was an individual who overcame what Nietzsche termed the “slave morality” of traditional values, and lived according to his own morality. Nietzsche also advanced his idea that “God is dead,” or that traditional morality was no longer relevant in people’s lives. In this passage, the sage Zarathustra came down from the mountain where he had spent the last ten years alone to preach to the people.
From Thus Spake Zarathustra
By Friedrich Nietzsche
Zarathustra's Prologue
3
When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest of the towns lying against the forest, he found in that very place many people assembled in the market square: for it had been announced that a tightrope walker would be appearing. And Zarathustra spoke thus to the people:
I teach you the Superman. Man is something that should be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?
All creatures hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and do you want to be the ebb of this great tide, and return to the animals rather than overcome man?
What is the ape to men? A laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment. And just so shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment.
You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now man is more of an ape than any ape.
But he who is the wisest among you, he also is only a discord and hybrid of plant and of ghost. But do I bid you become ghosts or plants?
Behold, I teach you the Superman.
The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman shall be the meaning of the earth!
I entreat you, my brothers, remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of superterrestrial hopes! They are poisoners, whether they know it or not.
They are despisers of life, atrophying and self-poisoned men, of whom the earth is weary: so let them be gone!
Once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy, but God died, and thereupon these blasphemers died too. To blaspheme the earth is now the most dreadful offence, and to esteem the bowels of the Inscrutable more highly than the meaning of the earth.
Once the soul looked contemptuously upon the body: and then this contempt was the supreme good—the soul wanted the body lean, monstrous, famished. So the soul thought to escape from the body and from the earth.
Oh, this soul was itself lean, monstrous, and famished: and cruelty was the delight of this soul!
But tell me, my brothers: What does your body say about your soul? Is your soul not poverty and dirt and a miserable ease?
In truth, man is a polluted river. One must be a sea, to receive a polluted river and not be defiled.
Behold, I teach you the Superman: he is this sea, in him your great contempt can go under.
What is the greatest thing you can experience? It is the hour of the great contempt. The hour in which even your happiness grows loathsome to you, and your reason and your virtue also.
The hour when you say: 'What good is my happiness? It is poverty and dirt and a miserable ease. But my happiness should justify existence itself!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my reason? Does it long for knowledge as the lion for its food? It is poverty and dirt and a miserable ease!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my virtue? It has not yet driven me mad! How tired I am of my good and my evil! It is all poverty and dirt and a miserable ease!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my justice? I do not see that I am fire and hot coals. But the just man is fire and hot coals!'
The hour when you say: 'What good is my pity? Is not pity the cross upon which he who loves man is nailed? But my pity is no crucifixion!'
Have you ever spoken thus? Have you ever cried thus? Ah, that I had heard you crying thus!
It is not your sin, but your moderation that cries to heaven, your very meanness in sinning cries to heaven!
Where is the lightning to lick you with its tongue? Where is the madness, with which you should be cleansed?
Behold, I teach you the Superman: he is this lightning, he is this madness!
When Zarathustra had spoken thus, one of the people cried: 'Now we have heard enough of the tight-rope walker; let us see him, too!' And all the people laughed at Zarathustra. But the tight-rope walker, who thought that the words applied to him, set to work.
4
But Zarathustra looked at the people and marvelled. Then he spoke thus:
Man is a rope, fastened between animal and Superman—a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous going-across, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and staying-still.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal; what can be loved in man is that he is a going-across and a down-going.
I love those who do not know how to live except their lives be a down-going, for they are those who are going across.
I love the great despisers, for they are the great venerators and arrows of longing for the other bank.
I love those who do not first seek beyond the stars for reasons to go down and to be sacrifices: but who sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth may one day belong to the Superman.
I love him who lives for knowledge and who wants knowledge that one day the Superman may live. And thus he wills his own downfall.
I love him who works and invents that he may build a house for the Superman and prepare earth, animals, and plants for him: for thus he wills his own downfall.
I love him who loves his virtue: for virtue is will to downfall and an arrow of longing.
I love him who keeps back no drop of spirit for himself, but wants to be the spirit of his virtue entirely: thus he steps as spirit over the bridge.
I love him who makes a predilection and a fate of his virtue: thus for his virtue's sake he will live or not live.
I love him who does not want too many virtues. One virtue is more virtue than two, because it is more of a knot for fate to cling to.
I love him whose soul is lavish, who neither wants nor returns thanks: for he always gives and will not preserve himself.
I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour and who then asks: Am I then a cheat?—for he wants to perish.
I love him who throws golden words in advance of his deeds and always performs more than he promised: for he wills his own downfall.
I love him who justifies the men of the future and redeems the men of the past: for he wants to perish by the men of the present.
I love him who chastises his God because he loves his God: for he must perish by the anger of his God.
I love him whose soul is deep even in its ability to be wounded, and whom even a little thing can destroy: thus he is glad to go over the bridge.
I love him whose soul is overfull, so that he forgets himself and all things are in him: thus all things become his downfall.
I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus his head is only the bowels of his heart, but his heart drives him to his downfall.
I love all those who are like heavy drops falling singly from the dark cloud that hangs over mankind: they prophesy the coming of the lightning and as prophets they perish.
Behold, I am a prophet of the lightning and a heavy drop from the cloud: but this lightning is called Superman.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Translated by Hollingdale, R. J. Penguin Books.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
++ [ originally posted by Dan ] ++
Neitzsche is the greatest mind ever IMO. Cant believe he was German
Neitzsche is the greatest mind ever IMO. Cant believe he was German
That is why the theories of Nietzsche have a bad name. Hitler used the parts about the Übermensch in a wrong way.
Today most of the analyst agree Nietzsche was not a Nazi, and would've been horrified by the way his wrightings have been used to defend the ugliest regime ever.
Classic. of course, Neitzsche is being totally sarcastic when he says i love them.
And @ geof, Yes Hitler did mis-interpret it. I think its extremely hard to understand what he fully meant, and i dont think neitzsche intended this to be knowledge common to the normal people. Alot of it is very cryptic, and one must be very neitzschian to understand alot of what he is talking about. The basic message is out there too.
I Also understand why he went crazy, he was years ahead of his time, perhaps even ahead of this time. You would go crazy when you knew all that kind of knowledge.
And @ geof, Yes Hitler did mis-interpret it. I think its extremely hard to understand what he fully meant, and i dont think neitzsche intended this to be knowledge common to the normal people. Alot of it is very cryptic, and one must be very neitzschian to understand alot of what he is talking about. The basic message is out there too.
I Also understand why he went crazy, he was years ahead of his time, perhaps even ahead of this time. You would go crazy when you knew all that kind of knowledge.
