Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, XXXIV. SELF-SURPASSING
In a text to a friend this morning I wrote: Nietzsche dude. A paradox. A wonderful horrible man. A terrible genius.
Again, this idea of paradox being at the heart of reality. From a very different author and prophet, Eckhart Tolle, I heard a quote in one of his guided meditations recently, something like: “If it’s not a paradox then it is not the deepest truth.”
Can’t have a Nietzsche blog post without mentioning “God is dead.” Carl Jung observed that that was more of an observation than a proclamation or commandment. Still I wonder how much of WWII one can lay at Nietzsche’s feet with all his “Uber mench” talk, and the stuff about destroying the world before building it anew. Mostly I credit deviants who claim Nietzsche as their leader as having a shallow understanding of his ideas, picking and choosing this or that phrase like a Republican picks from the Bible.
Still…
“Hearken now unto my word, ye wisest ones! Test it seriously, whether I have crept into the heart of life itself, and into the roots of its heart!
Wherever I found a living thing, there found I Will to Power; and even in the will of the servant found I the will to be master.
That to the stronger the weaker shall serve—thereto persuadeth he his will who would be master over a still weaker one. That delight alone he is unwilling to forego.”
– Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Chapter 34: Self-Surpassing
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1998/1998-h/1998-h.htm#link2H_4_0040
https://books.google.com/books/about/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra.html?id=a9VxKgui0mEC