Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher,
cultural critic, composer, poet, and philologist and his work has had a profound influence
on modern intellectual history. Nietzsche was one of the main precursors of
existentialism and he believed that there are no absolute rules for human life, no absolute
values, no certainties on which to rely and he famously said that “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”. In other words, we have to live like there
is nothing else beyond life. Nietzsche’s philosophy is about reaffirming
life, calling for a radical, naturalistic rethinking of the nature of human existence,
knowledge, and morality. After the death of God, we need to take control
of our own destiny by molding ourselves into something greater, into “Superhumans”
- the most used English translation of the word “Übermensch” in German. In Nietzsche’s view, the Superhuman is not
necessarily physically strong or super smart, but it is psychologically superior. Superhumans are those free spirits who have
mastery over their emotions, who take joy in simply existing and who create above all
else. As well as this, they are able to confront
the dragon, which is a multicultural symbol, representing the strength of the culture and
values of a society. A free spirit, a superhuman, is the one who
can defend the influence of the dragon, the one who can create their own values, breaking
the chains of society and culture in which they were raised. In his book “Thus Spake Zarathustra”,
Nietzsche lays out the three metamorphoses that the individual must go through to become
a Superhuman. Using allegorical imagery, he describes the
metamorphoses as the camel, the lion, and finally the child, which is why in this video
we are going to explore these 3 metamorphoses to better understand how we can all become
superhuman, according to the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. 1. Camel metamorphosis
Nietzsche says “What is difficult? asks the spirit that would bear much, and kneels
down like a camel wanting to be well loaded. What is most difficult, O heroes, asks the
spirit that would bear much, that I may take it upon myself and exult in my strength?” The Camel is the first metamorphosis of the
spirit. The Camel represents a strong spirit, capable
of taking heavy burdens and travelling long distances in lonely deserts, surviving a harsh
life. Not many people can undertake this journey
and even fewer do. Usually, most prefer having a comfortable
life, without stress or hard work. By avoiding risk, they follow the standard
template for living; the local societal rules and moral codes, and, sometimes, they break
the rules when it is convenient for them, without having too much moral integrity. A camel, by contrast, is different. The camel takes societal rules and moral codes
very seriously, trying to become a person of moral values, a role model, a person of
integrity and honor. In Nietzsche’s allegory, the societal rules
and moral codes are represented by a golden dragon. These rules and codes can be religious or
humanistic values or ideas like “every man is created equal”, care and empathy towards
others, the right of everyone to have an opinion, condemning violence, taxing the rich or, on
more mundane level, societal norms such as: You’re supposed be polite
You’re supposed to go to college You’re supposed to get a real job
You’re supposed to have children and start a family
In other words, a camel is what would be referred to today as good citizenship, or being a “decent
human being”, a person who wants to take these most respected values extremely seriously
and embodies them in all of their actions and words. It follows the deep roots of all the more
general values driving society as a whole. So to become a camel, you must know your dragon. The dragon represents everything that you
admire, the values which have been implanted by your parents or by society as being ‘good’. But why would anyone undertake such a pursuit? Why would anyone follow the dragon? Well, the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund
Freud, whose work was greatly influenced by Nietzsche, has an answer for this. The dragon is the Superego, which is part
of Freud's structural model of the psyche. Formed at about the age of 5 the dragon represents
a personality component which makes us behave morally in life. It is where all the unwritten rules of what
it means to be a good person are, all the moral values that our parents and society
taught us. When we obey these rules, when we obey the
dragon, we feel a sense of price and accomplishment and when we don’t, we feel guilty and ashamed. A camel is an individual who goes to extremes,
trying to follow and obey as much as possible the dragon, going on a path which it thinks
leads to the highest rewards in terms of pride and accomplishments. Unfortunately, most people fail to reach the
camel stage, they do not live up to their ideals. They don’t have clear role models or a clear
set of values in life. They follow the new trends in society, indulging
themselves in comforting, but meaningless life, empty of strong values. To differentiate yourself from the herd, to
stop being a sheep following random shepards, you have to start carrying true values in
life, you have to follow your dragon. To discover your personal dragon, make two
lists: a list of everything you consider good and bad in life, based on what your parents
and society taught you, and a list of everyone you admire - leaders, artists, scientists,
athletes and so on, then try to find a common ground between them. As an example, you may realise that you admire
Nelson Mandela and what you consider good is respecting human rights, great leadership,
equality, diplomacy, confidence and so on. In that case, to become a camel and to follow
your dragon would mean for you to acquire deep knowledge of what good leadership means,
human rights and to learn to be a confident public speaker. Everyone has their own dragons and so the
camel metamorphosis is different for each of us. But the Camel is not the end phase and has
some limitations. Although it has faith in its capabilities,
the Camel doesn’t question the values and obligations imposed upon it. It is a “nice guy” that does not ruffle
feathers. The Camel only proves his strength and power
by conforming to the subconscious rules he lives and thinks by, in other words, the Camel
is a great player in the “Matrix”, following the game’s rules in an excellent way. Winning quest after quest in the “Matrix”,
the Camel explores, experiences and learns, but ultimately it will always be a prisoner
of that Matrix, no matter how successfully it plays the game. Some can live their entire lives as successful
camels, living in this self-imposed jail. However, some camels can wake up and understand
the meaninglessness of their lives, how meaningless it is to live according to somebody else’s
values. Thus, they can start their own transformation,
becoming lions and breaking free from the Matrix. 2. Lion metamorphosis
Nietzsche asks us “Who is the great dragon whom the spirit will no longer call Lord and
God? “Thou shalt” is the name of the great
dragon. But the spirit of the lion says, “I will.” If the camel follows its ideal, the lion tries
to destroy this ideal, it confronts the dragon. For every “thou shalt”, or “you shall”,
the lion says no, standing against tradition and against any values that are imposed upon
it. The lion destroys the things that the camel
loves so much. But by destroying them, it destroys something
inside itself. This can be a relationship that is oppressive
or limits one’s freedom or leaving a particularly good job, because it requires compromising
one’s integrity and life principles. Both the camel and the lion are reactions
to ideal values, one positive and the other negative. The transformation of the camel into a lion
is essential, otherwise the camel will be ruined by its own quest. Saying yes to everything, no matter how noble,
will destroy the camel’s spirit in the end. The same is true in our real lives, if we
do everything for others trying to be the best role model and we do not do anything
for ourselves, we will succumb and be crushed. Each of us is unique and this uniqueness cannot
be expressed if you just follow the voices of other people ordering you in your head,
telling you what is good and what is bad. You need to find your own meaning, your own
individual mission in life, independent of your environment. To break free and to create your own values
and meaning in life, you have to undergo this transformation, you have to go through this
rebellious phase, like the lion in its attempt to gain its freedom. In Nietzsche’s allegory, the lion, finding
himself alone in the desert, encounters the dragon. The dragon is seductive, it sparkles with
golden scales and on each scale glitters a “thou shalt”. The thousands of scales represent thousands
of years of the “thou shalts” that have come before us, the centuries of codes of
how you ought to think and act. There are layers upon layers of moral codes,
formed in the entire history of humanity. But the dragon is the enemy of true self-mastery
and the lion wants to engage the dragon in mortal combat, rebelling against any “Thou
Shalt”, refusing any oppression. The lion is the person committed to their
own freedom, committed to expressing their individuality in its fullest, and “Thou
Shalt” is a barrier to achieving this. When confronted by the dragon, the lion says
“I will!” But the dragon replies that all values are
already created, each one forming a part of its golden scales, and the lion doesn’t
need to create new values; in fact, it is forbidden. Ultimately, the dragon says, “there shall
be no more ‘I will’.” This lion cannot take it. The lion must then fight the dragon to win
its freedom. During the fight, the lion roars the “sacred
No”, which means a rejection of all the values that came before the lion.When the
lion rages the sacred “No” to every “Thou Shalt”, this is the start of its freedom. The lion represents self consciousness, aware
of its independent power. Nietzsche went through the lion phase when
he started to fight those people who disapproved of his life choices, including his family. As a consequence, he became stateless, jobless
and godless, but he gained the power to start to live his life on his own terms. He talked about the lion metamorphosis from
his own experience, being convinced that to become a real free spirit, he must fight against
anyone who tries to limit his freedom. To be able to transform your camel into a
lion, you need to have the courage to break the chains of tradition, of religion, of society
and perhaps you even have to break up with several people in your life. As an exercise, make a list of everything
and everyone you think limits your freedom to be yourself. It can be an unfortunate unwritten rule at
your workplace, it could be your spouse who always tries to control and correct your behaviour,
it may be your friends who criticize you when you behave in a particular way. Once you’ve done this, try to think of possible
strategies of how to change that situation: maybe you can make a case in the team meeting
at work regarding the problems you are experiencing, perhaps you could have a serious talk with
your spouse in which you can discuss the issue, how it bothers you and how you would like
it to change, or you could find new friends who can appreciate you better. Lion metamorphosis doesn’t need to be a
violent and sudden reaction, it can be a smart, calm, but definitive one. The Superhuman, Nietzsche believed, was a
true individual, one who must build self-mastery on his or her own terms. However, while a lion can create freedom for
itself, it is still not capable of creating new values and here the final metamorphosis
comes into play – the child metamorphosis. 3. Child metamorphosis
To quote Nietzsche “For the game of creation, my brothers, a sacred “Yes” is needed:
the spirit now wills his own will, and he who had been lost to the world now conquers
his own”. In the final metamorphosis, the spirit becomes
the child, the creator. After complete destruction of imposed morals
and values, comes the creation of new values, new beginnings. The child doesn’t have any resentments,
they forget the past to create a new present and a brighter future. The child continuously creates their own new
values and lives by them. They will their own will and don’t impose
their values on anybody else. The child metamorphosis can be interpreted
by Nietzsche’s affinity for the philosophy of Heraclitus. Heraclitus imagined a universe where everything
is in an eternal state of becoming and that Time is a child playing, continuously creating
and destroying. Similarly, in Nietzsche’s view, a free spirit,
being a part of this nature, is like a child at play, in a state of permanent creation. To be a complete person, a free spirit and
a superhuman, you need to get in touch with the child you were when you were playing,
to love life beyond good and evil, creating your values and following your own rules of
playing this game of life. The child phase is the phase of pure creativity,
of being “in a flow state”, not having any restrictions regarding what is possible. For a child, everything is possible, they
give a “sacred YES” to life, they are like a self-propelling wheel, full of innocence
and forgetfulness, creating their own rules. After the lion uttered the “sacred No”,
the child comes to shout a “sacred YES” that affirms life. Nietzsche was saying that people who can become
more childlike are the storm clouds on which the Superhuman will thunder. The goal of life is to create and, ultimately,
to create the Superhuman. To reach the child phase, you should not seek
external answers and approval. You need to find the joy of life within, not
worrying about the societal traditions and moral codes. You need to be confident, affirmative, creative,
in a permanent state of flux, forever changing and developing. Don’t fixate on a specific identity, you
don’t need to talk, behave or dress in a certain way, you are the one who is choosing
how to talk, behave, and act in the world, and you can change your decisions as you please. As an exercise, try to think of those activities
in which you can experience “the flow state”, for example when you lead a team in a critical
project at work, time spent painting in the quietness of home, or times when you are with
engaging people and you feel like time is flying, or when you are deep in your work,
developing ideas and creating innovative solutions. After having a clear picture of how you behaved
in those activities, try to think what you can do to get yourself more into these states. Maybe the answer would be to stop being so
critical of yourself, to let go, to remove the people who do not let you reach these
states by imposing too many rules. Stop taking life too seriously, experiment
more, try new ways of behaving in the world and new ways to spend your time in order to
reach the flow state. If you are able to go through all of the 3
metamorphoses, the camel, embracing the greatest ideals which were created before you, then
the lion, gaining your freedom from these ideals, then finally the child, creating your
own ideals and your own unique meaning of life, then you can become a true free spirit,
and a Superhuman. Being a Superhuman is not only an individual
phenomenon, but also a collective one. The more people become superhuman, tapping
into their unlimited potential, the more the entire world will come alive and flourish. So, if you enjoyed this video, please do make
sure to check out the full Philosophies for Life channel and for more videos to help you
find success and happiness using ancient philosophical wisdom, don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much for watching.
