I've been reading Thus Spoke Zarathusta by Friedrich Nietzsche (fun fact, it's pronounced knee-cha, not knee-chee) and I've had some personal insights and reactions that I'd thought I'd share.
First, a small disclaimer: I'm not a philosophy expert (although I was a philosophy major for about two seconds several years ago). Second: this isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a thorough summary or synopsis of the book. I may get things wrong, etc. Third: like the book itself, my musing are mostly personal. I have no clue about what Nietzsche may or may not have actually meant - although I think this may to some extent be true even of philosophers who have studied Nietzsche in-depth.
Okay, away we go.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is separated into four parts. As of this writing I'm half way through the book at the very beginning of the third part.
The book centers around a man who (duh) is named Zarathustra who is a sort of strange, Christ-like antithesis figure that nevertheless is Christ-like. His way of looking at the world is one that sees having ones life and goals planted firmly in the Earth as more admirable than aiming for some heavenly goal that he does not believe to exist. Nietzsche was pretty strongly anti-religion, so fair warning.
The book is essentially one of parables and riddles, with Nietzsche himself admitting that it is an intensely personal work:
There is in this book an incredible amount of personal experience and suffering that is comprehensible only to me.. (Introduction, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, trans. by Graham Parkes - Oxford University Press)
The story begins with Zarathustra abandoning his lake home to seek further solitude in the mountains for ten years. When this time is done he decides that he is 'overburdened with [his] wisdom: like the bee that has gathered too much honey, [he] need[s] hands outstretched to receive it.' (9, Parkes)
So he decides to leave the mountain and go amongst humans to teach them. This is said to be the beginning of Zarathustra's 'going under' (9, Parkes). The idea of 'going under' continues, but I haven't quite gotten a grasp on it, I confess. It might mean simply 'downfall', but keep in mind that Zarathustra is translated from German, so there might not be an exact translation of what Nietzsche meant.
When he comes down to the nearest town, he sees a crowd of people gathered around because it's been said that a rope dancer is going to give a demonstration on a rope suspended between two buildings. Here he attempts to teach with his famous first words to the gathered people 'I teach to you the Overhuman. The human is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome it?'(13, Parkes)
He goes on at grandiose length about the Overhuman and his mission to teach it to the people. After going on for some time he is disappointed in the response from the other humans, though. Then the part I found interesting happens. The rope dancer begins his demonstration.
Zarathustra then points his finger to the metaphor about to take place: 'The human is a rope fastened between beast and Overhuman - a rope over an abyss.'(13, Parkes) In other words, the human can almost be considered a sort of missing link between what comes before what came before us and will come after us. A primitive being that, much like we see the ape as being, is merely a means to an end - the Overhuman. Nietzsche makes this quite clear: 'What is the ape for the human being? A laughingstock or a painful cause for shame. And the human will be just that for the Overhuman: a laughingstock or a painful cause for shame.'(11, Parkes)
While the rope dancer dances, Zarathustra continues to speak of the Overhuman and of the antithesis of the Overhuman - the last human: 'So I will speak to them of what is most despicable: the last human.' (15, Parkes) The last human is worth mentioning because it embodies everything that Zarathustra (and probably Nietzsche) finds most abhorrent about people. Basically, the last human is a human that no longer strives for greatness or seeks to grow:
The time will come when the human will no longer shoot the arrow of its yearning beyond the human, and the string of its bow will have forgotten how to whir! (15, Parkes)
But what happens next is what really sticks with me. When the rope dancer is about half way across the rope 'a motley fellow, looking like a jester' (17, Parkes) comes after him on the rope and teases him:
'On you go, lame-foot,' he cried in a terrifying voice. 'On you go, you lazy beast smuggler, paleface! Else I shall tickle you with my heel! What are you doing here between towers? You belong in the tower, and should be locked up; you are blocking the way for one who is better than you!
The jester then jumps over the rope dancer's head and continues across the rope. The man, seeing this, loses his balance and falls to his death.
What is it that Nietzsche is trying to say here? And, more importantly (to me), how do I interpret these events. Does the jester represent the mercilessness of people who attempt to destroy the rope dancers of the world, tripping them up at their most vulnerable, when they take a risk in life or make an attempt at greatness?
Or is this jester the superior man, a metaphor for the Overhuman or the movement toward it at all costs and with no mercy for those who are 'inferior' or unable to cross the rope?
I don't think the latter is the case. In the first place why would Nietzsche go with the jester symbolism if he was meant to represent the movement toward the Overhuman. Rather, I would expect someone who was genuinely superior to have jumped over the rope dancer without the teasing, continuing across without malice at the very least.
Nietzsche's meaning, however, remains just on the wrong side of inscrutable. But this book has been worth the read and worth the effort. I totally recommend it. Let's pick this up in the next part. Until then.
Info Sources: Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford, New York.
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