Zarathustra's Prologue Analysis

all right so we've already acknowledged that although Nietzsche's practical teaching which is largely ethical in nature is existentialist in its essence it does not arise from the existential starting point that we find in the existentialist proper like Kierkegaard or Sartre because for those existentialists the human condition is either characterized by one or the other of the following situations either God simply does not exist and thus there is no design no plan for the universe and therefore no place Harvard opted in advance for Humanity which leaves us feeling abandoned as it were to discover a meaning on our own or even if there is a super transcendental meeting of human existence and essence we are not currently in a position to know what that is as Kierkegaard and establish an objective scientific approach to knowledge even knowledge of ourselves will at best be an approximation of the truth but our longing for meaning the heart's desire to belong to justify its own submarine is an inward concern that is infinite and insatiable thus an infinite desire that dwells within me can never be satisfied by a mere approximation of the truth and so for Kierkegaard there is more truth in subjectivity then there could ever be in objectivity and so he urges us to become subjective that is to embrace the uncertainty regarding the meaning of existence because it is that very uncertainty that retains the mystery of human existence and the fulness and genders passion passion that makes possible the leap of faith and so paradoxically perhaps it is only because when it comes to the ultimate questions that plague us as human beings that we are condemned to ignorant that we can be passionate and therefore faithful in the first place but Nietzsche does not begin by saying that we cannot make a statement about the real inner nature of the world a metaphysical proposition because for Nietzsche humanity like everything else men existence is will power and the will to power is essentially each us most fundamental metaphysical principle of creation it is the force that drives the universe forward it is the pressure that gave rise to the Big Bang and the consequent expansion of the universe it is will to power that gives rise to all life forms to nature and ultimately in an attempt to render itself ever more powerful it creates human reason and human reason is indeed powerful and has given rise to technologies that have allowed us to dominate near but of course when the will to power becomes rational it becomes self-aware and thus the will to power as it is instantiated in the human being gives rise to a personal will our individual subjective will which seeks out in meaning that could justify our existence because existence is laden with suffering and as Viktor Frankl famously proposes it is far from being the truth and human beings are unwilling to suffer we are simply unwilling to suffer pointlessly but if you give me something to live for which would perhaps at the same time be something I am willing to die for having provided me with a lie I can bear almost any now we've seen that Nietzsche diagnoses a sort of illness a parasite that has invaded humanity and it is a moral parasite and it has attached itself to human beings with such tenacity and has become so convincing that it is taken for granted namely that to be a good person means to be on egoistic or self-sacrificing this is the meaning of Christian values that to be saved one must lay down one's power put other people first develop virtues like empathy patience but of course these very values are contrary to the will to power itself which seeks only to enhance its own power but because power always gets concentrated in the minority in the upper class the ruling class what in the genealogy of morals need to reverse to as the master morality and higher minded aristocratic Knightly mentality which celebrates its own strength its own abundance of health power dominance and engages only in those activities which serve to enhance that power while the rest of us who are also essentially will to power meaning we share that very same drive to dominate to control to assert ourselves cannot exert that will in a genuinely active way because to take up arms in hand-to-hand combat against the aristocratic class would be suicidal and so what the will to power does in the masses in the slave mentality is to change the terms of the game it reverses the table of values and instead of simply feeling its own strength as good it first identifies the dominant class the predatory waters the oppressors those in power as evil and thus by default anything which is opposite of the strong predatory dominant must be good and this tactic was so successful that it has become pandemic if you ask anybody to describe the characteristics of a good person they will say something like a good person does things for others even puts others first even to the point of laying one's life down for the sake of another but this value system is diametrically opposed to the will to power itself which is the very thing which has brought us out of the wilderness and into civilization making possible the human greatness that once was but Zarathustra is really sort of the embodiment of Nietzsche himself because what he sees about him is not a celebration of the human triumph of greatness of strength abundance completeness but rather complacency suffering and even a celebration of suffering because it has convinced itself that only those who suffer who lay themselves down who put themselves last will in the next world come first be saved okay so we turn to Sarah Dutra and we know that he has been living in the mountains for a decade with the company only of his animals the serpent and the eagle and during these 10 years he has an epiphany he awakens to a solution and does their a construct that ascended the mountain as ashes as a broken man a despairing man now returns and begins his down-going and he'll hear that expression again and again in the prologue it says everything struck thus sareth easter begins his down-going and he tells us that he loves the down goers and it will teach us this very down going so what does he mean by that well certainly one interpretation what seems to me to be the meaning of this downgoing is a return to the earth a return to this life rather than seeking our salvation our meaning in the heavens in another world instead of looking above for self-justification we must seek to go down to return to the earth from which we came and to find the meaning of the earth in the earth itself in human existence itself and so I don't think it's unfair to characterize Nietzsche's life law obsession as the quest to justify human existence this question is what if anything can justify the continuation of humanity at all for if we look at nature what is the right of a species to continue to pass on its lineage is nothing but the ability to do so the power to do so the will to that power and some each in the mouth of Zarathustra tells us he is returning to the world to teach humanity the meaning of its own existence the meaning of the earth and he tells us that the meaning of the earth is the Superman the over man there were men which literally means the one who passes over but that which we surpassed is nothing but ourselves the Superman is the person who seeks a constant self surpassing the one who seeks to become more and he was earlier and so therapies drug really is heralded announcing the coming of this Superman who will be the meaning of the earth the will to power is the metaphysical basis of everything and so let us be this very will to power and so Nietzsche has Arab instra descend the mountain and here I read from the prologue section one when Zahra third straw was 30 years old he left his home and the lake of his home and went into the mountains there he enjoyed his spirit and his solitude and for 10 years did not weary of it but at last his heart change and rising one morning with the rosy dawn he went before the Sun and speak thus unto it thou great star what would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shyness what is he saying to the son of course this is a metaphor because you cannot speak to the Sun but he is suggesting that the Sun anthropomorphic we speaking finds its own justification for its ongoing burning illumination in providing that illumination that warmth that principle of growth to those who receive it okay and so what sarin booster is saying is that he has grown weary of his own wisdom and he needs arms outstretched to receive it from him he needs to share this list of which he has found he needs disciples he wants to teach others the Superman and so he says to the son bless me then now tranquil high that canst behold even the greatest happiness without Envy what does it mean for Zarathustra to braise the Sun as a being that can behold even the greatest happiness without feeling Envy although we don't like to admit this when we see others basking in happiness more triumphant or joyous when we ourselves are somber broken despairing we feel Envy even jealousy perhaps even hatred resentment of those who have what we want and so he esteems the Sun because it shines upon all and does not withhold its blessings even from those and body the greatest happiness to be able to witness something complete and happy triumphant successful great even while healing one's own insignificance but not succumbing to feelings of resentment requires a greatness of spirit so is there a Giustra he sends the mountain he comes upon an old man and the old man says no stranger to me is this launderer many years ago passkey by xerath booster he was called but he had altered and speaking to Zahra Minister he says then thou Harry's dying ashes into the mountains wilt thou now carry thy fire into the valleys barest thou not the incendiaries dude what is the incendiaries dude it's ironic that and they'll got a theater department should be putting out the arsonist right now what is the danger that an arsonist faces yes being consumed by the very fire that he says so do you have beer sarah feenstra that you yourself may be consumed by the very fire which you intend to in jindo and always there is this undeniable parallel to the story of John the Baptist and Christ as John the Baptist Herald of the coming of the Savior so does that reduce truck Herald coming of the over man the one who will save us but Sarah boost Rose messages the over man is you no one else can save you and the old man continues to question he observes altered is arrogance draw a child have Zarathustra become an awakened one to Siragusa what wilt thou do in the land of the sleepers as in the sea asked thou lived in solitude and in hath borne thee up alas wilt thou now go ashore a last will thou again drag thy body thyself and zarathustra answered i love mankind this is why i am going down because i love mankind and want to teach it the sense the meaning of his own existence and the st. hild man named preacher said well did it die go into the forest in the desert for the same reason because I loved men Bower - well had found them - imperfect now I love God men I do not know man is a pain - imperfect for me soul of man would be fatal to me since the old man okay so sarah feenstra answered what's big eyed of love I am bringing gifts unto them unto the men and the Saints says give them nothing take rather part of their load and carry it along with them that will be most agreeable unto them if only it be agreeable unto thee so that the Saint is saying don't bring them gifts help them to carry their load disburdened them if however that will give unto them give them no more that and house and let them also beg for it so the Saint is saying just give them charity a pittance and make them beg for it make them realize that they are reliant on of this charity and sarah feenstra says no I give no alms I am NOT poor enough for that now that's a strange thing to say how can one not be poor enough to give all because of course giving I almost means giving to charity which would suggest that you must have something to give so what does there at least throw me by saying I am NOT poor enough to give all it means I am NOT torrid up in spirit to pity humanity rather I seek to raise them up to teach them that they need they stand in need of no Ollie's they simply need to know them themselves and then there a booster asks and what do it the saint in the forest and the same answer I make him and sing them and in making hymns I laughed and weak and bumble thus do I praise God well when Zarathustra had heard these words he bowed to the saint and said what should I have to give me let me rather hurry lest night eight walked away from me and thus they parted from one another the old man and Zarathustra laughing like schoolboys as if they have both acknowledged the stance of the other perhaps simply our laughing heads the capriciousness of our decisions but what is there a booster mean that I have better leave less I take something away from you what is it that Zarathustra might take closer yeah take away his faith tear down his temple take away the thing that has allowed the saint to live with himself the idea that this salvation lies in singing hymns to God was there a new stir up to teach him the Superman perhaps he knows as we spell the duty of the same ironically because this is not characteristic of the older man letting the old Saint be is almost principle but in all actuality sariputra and as you say doesn't have time okay he knows that the end is coming and he must make haste to redeem humanity reports so number three which they refused to arrived in the nearest town would you join the forest he found many people assembled in the marketplace where it had been announced that a rope dancer who given performance and Sarah Shuster escaped thus unto the people I teach you the Superman Man is something that is to be surpassed what has he done to surpass man calling us to move beyond mankind as it currently exists all beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves okay what's he speaking up here this sounds like evolutionary theory Darwinism right all beings that currently exist do exist because they created something or adapted in some way made themselves capable and worthy of continuation but what has Humanity done to surpass itself so all beings so far have created something beyond themselves and ye want to be the app of that great time and would rather go back to the beasts been surpassed man so again he is suggesting that we are devolving were degenerating we're moving backwards we've set our own evolutionary path in Reverse what is the eight to man a laughing stuff a thing of shame and just the same shall man be to the Superman a laughingstock a thing of shame ye have made your way from the worm to man and much within you is still worth once were e8 and even yet math is more of a name than any like that how can man be more than 8 than any of you isn't it because humanity is capable of so much more and yet he continues to live like the eighth it finds its banana and is completely content there's nothing lowly or shameful that innate rejoices in its banana because it's capable of little more but we have become more of an ape than the Apes themselves because we have learned to content ourselves with our various gods whether it be happiness or intoxication we create an idea of happiness for ourselves and as Arethusa says we blink we'll fly to the greatness of which we are actually capable but we settle for the idea that we are too far gone to imperfect to fall in to save ourselves that we must wait to Savior in fact only of God can possibly save us so he says the Superman is the meaning of the earth so let your will say the Superman shall be the meaning of the earth I conjure you my brethren remain true to the earth again now going and believe not those who speak unto you of super earthly hosts poisoners are they whether they know it or not they poison us because they convince us that we are incapable of our own justification despisers of life are they decaying ones and poisoned ones themselves of whom the earth is weary so away with them once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy but God died and therewith also those blasphemers to blaspheme the earth is now the dreadfulness sin and to rate the heart of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth there he sounds almost like that we break the idea of something unknowable above the very earth which nourishes us but you also my brethren tell me what the your body say about whose soul is your soul not poverty and pollution and wretched self-complacency verily a polluted stream is mass but one must be a sea to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure I teach you the Superman deep is that see in him and your great contempt be submerged right the will of the Superman is as the sea its greatness and absorb the pettiness of em of resentment hatred the spirits of revenge such things roll off the back of this Superman like water almond up and then he asked this and this is probably one of the most intelligent art what is the greatest thing and tells them it is the hour of great contentment the hour in which even your happiness happiness he cometh lo sub unto you and so also your reason and virtue now those of you who have taken my ethics course know that in that one sentence Nietzsche has repudiated the three major ethical traditions of the West the utilitarians say that happiness is the meaning of life the contents say that in his reason the ancient Greeks said it was virtue but Sara booster tells us the greatest thing you can experience is when these gods reveal themselves for what they really are complacency harvard's bill because we've told ourselves that unless we become happy virtuous rational according to some dubious definition are we worthy is our existence justified what is the greatest hour you can have the hour when you say what good is my happiness it is poverty and pollution and wretched self-complacency wait my happiness should justify existence itself isn't that what we tell ourselves everybody just wants to be happy we believe that if we can just be happy that our lives will have been meaningful and our suffering will have been justified the problem is it doesn't happiness is not enough the hour when he said what good is my reason dump it long for knowledge as the lion for his food here Kierkegaard passion no it is poverty pollution and some complacency the hour when he say what good is my virtue as yet it had not made me fashioned how weary I am of my good and my bad right are we not tired of this moralizing this good and bad are we not ready to move beyond good and evil towards something higher something greater something truly magnificent well when is there a mudra and the spoken one of the people called out we have now heard enough of the rope dancing it is now time for us to see him and all the people laughed and sariputra but the rope dancer thought these orders applied to him began his performance okay so the people are actually mockings everything strong they were all there to watch the performance of the rope dancer but they have now referred to zero booster about a physically puckum metaphorically as a rope dancer boasting of what he is capable of but challenging him to show us but the world dancer himself this course is cute okay so the rope dancer is about to begin his performance but sarah feenstra goes off he says that man is a road stretched between the animal and the Superman a rope over an abyss we are the world we are the connection the passage the transition from animal to Superman and we are roved over animal this what sort of abyss the abyss of nihilism of meaninglessness of nothingness what is great in math is that he is a bridge and not a goal what is lovable and man is that he is an over going ended down going what is great enough is our potential to become the Superman he says 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 I love him who labour it and invented that he may build the house for the Superman and prepare for him her animal and plant or thus seeketh his own downgoing so here now the downgoing seems to suggest exerting ourselves even to the point of our transformation into a new kind of being I love him who justify it the future ones and redeem it the past ones for is willing to succumb through the present but then he says hello I am a herald of the lightning and a heavy drop out of the cloud I am just and when Zarathustra had thus spoken these words he again moved upon people and was silent there they stand he said to his heart there they laugh they understand me not I am not the mouth for these ears because we are no longer capable of hearing these words they have something where up they are proud what do they call it that which makes them proud culture they call it it distinguishes them from the donors they dislike therefore to Europe contempt of themselves so I will appeal to their pride I will speak unto them of the most contemptible thing that however is the last man so here we have our dichotomy Superman versus last it is time for man to fix his goal it is time for man to plant to the germ of his highest hope alas there cometh the time when man will no longer give birth to any star alas there cometh the time of the most despicable man who can no longer despise himself oh I show you the last man here is the last man what is the bomb what is creation what is long what is a star so ask it the last man because he's poor cotton all greatness they say we have discovered happiness and they blame one no longer becomes poor or rich both are too burdensome who still wants to rule he still wants to obey both are two birdies we want simply to familiarize everything we are surroundings have been familiar no Shepherd and one herd we are as a curve everyone wants the same everyone is equal and he will has other sentiments goes voluntarily into the madhouse right anyone who has delusions of grandeur recalling delusions and condemned them to the madhouse they are the friend do we catch the side or the pariahs of society the different ones the ones literally call it sick the abnormal the ones who have that slight chromosomal difference right the one that doesn't fit in but it is that slight difference that is our revolution the beginning of something new and here ended the first discourse of Zarathustra which is called the prologue for at this point the shouting and mirth of the multitude interrupted him and here's what they say give us this last Manos they're a booster they called out make us into this these last men they simply want to find happiness can be able to leap to stand by in idle attempt contentment and now do they look at me and laugh and while they laugh they hate - there is ice in there laughter okay but then however something happened which made every mouth mute and every I fix in the meantime of course the Rope dancer had commenced his performance he had come out in a little door and was going along the road which was stretched between two towers so that it hung above the marketplace and the people when he was just Midway across the little door opened once more and a broadly dressed fellow liked the food right now and went rapidly after the first one saying go on half-foot cried his frightful voice go on lazybones interloper sallow-faced less than tickly with my heel what dost thou hear between the towers in the tower is the place for thee thou should be locked up to one better than thyself now blocking the way and with every word he came nearer and nearer the first one when however he was but a step behind there happened to the frightful thing which made every mountain mute and every I fix he uttered a yell like a devil and jumped over the other who was in his way suggestive of overcoming surpassing the latter however when he saw his rival triumph lost at the same time his head and his footing on the rope he threw his Pole away and shut downward faster than it's like an eddy of arms and legs into the death the marketplace and the people were like the sea when the storm cometh on they all flew apart and a disorder especially where the body was about to fall there with there a booster however remained standing and just beside him felled the body badly injured and disfigured but not yet dead after a while consciousness returned to the shattered man and he saw there xerath who stood kneeling beside him what are they doing here said he at last I knew long ago that the devil would trip me up now he draggin me to hell will thou prevent him and Tara these verses on mine honour my friend there is nothing at all where of the speakers there is no devil and oh hell my soul will be dead even sooner than thy body fear therefore nothing anymore and the man looked up his trustfully if thou speaketh truth said eat I lose nothing when I lose my life right this is our thinking unless there's some afterlife I'm left unless there is some super meaning unless we have achieved whatever we deemed to be the Holy Grail our lives are worth nothing I am not much more than an animal with which has been taught to dance by blows and scanty fair share Luther says not at all thou has made danger thy calling there in there is nothing contemptible now thou perishes by thy calling therefore I will bury me with my own hands he does so okay but Zarathustra realizes that that these people in the marketplace were not the ears for his words he needs living companions not dead ones and so he sets out for ears that can hear okay before Zarathustra can teach us the Superman he must find those who are willing to let their temples crumble but isn't that just to get what Socrates have taught us so many years ago we have to be willing to detach from faith which gave us comfort was so long and if you were the pain of finding something new so I will put together a set of lecture notes for each of because there currently is tap and I will post yeah and certainly also watch by Nietzsche lecture the book called torta TV ality applause because of course he's after the same message but from a different perspective that's on you eventually the next quiz quiz number nine okay bye now or soon paving the path quizzes each will be number nine No

Channel: Michael B Brezinsky, Ph.D.

Views: 5,798

Rating: 4.9148936 out of 5

Keywords: Nietzsche, Overman, Last Man, Zarathustra, Will-To-Power

Id: ksRv3B0VIos

Length: 70min 55sec (4255 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 24 2014