Dregs of Yore

Part I: Zarathustra’s Prologue, Thus Spake Zarathustra “Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man?... Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm. Once were ye apes, and even yet man is more of an ape than any of the apes. Even the wisest among you is only a disharmony and hybrid of plant and phantom.” In his first discourse to men, Zarathustra lays out the existential burden that lies heavy upon Man’s shoulders. Man does not exist as a stationary point living out a small span of time in actions that will be forgotten with the passing of a few generations. Of course, some men do live that way. But the ‘overman’ acts out the mythological fragment of the hero transformed and reborn through his frequent journeys into the Chaos. Simply put, man exists to transcend himself. The evolution of man from apes has not only been a biological journey, but also a spiritual one.  It is a moral responsibility to take on the task of...

Book IV, The Joyful Wisdom “There is a certain climax in life, at which, notwithstanding all our freedom, and however much we may have denied all directing reason and goodness in the beautiful chaos of existence, we are once more in great danger of intellectual bondage, and have to face our hardest test.” Drunk with the modern ideas of our time, we are given to fits of “intellectuality” every now and then. Although we may have understood the limits of reason and goodness, and acknowledged the intellect of instinct, we fall prey to the objective voice in us that constantly tries its best to outcry the other voices. The objective voice seems to have turned arrogant, and rightly so, for it is our most favourite pet, beloved more than the other voices whom it has silenced. We must give reason its due; being a captive of the unconscious is a sign of neurosis, according to good old Jung. But let us not not be a captive of objectivity either, that we might force-fit the subjective into an obj...

Author’s Note: This is a study of the great masterpiece of Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, by a very young, very inexperienced person, who claims to know no more of Nietzsche than the three other books of his she has read. Keeping in mind my tendency to disagree with myself on other great works I have dared to offer my thoughts on, I am unsure as to whether, even I will agree to whatever I have to say at this moment about this great piece of literature after a second reading of the same. Nevertheless, I feel it is better to take aim than not, all things considered. Having said that, I will begin by picking out some of the best lines in each part of the book, and try to do justice through my very naive interpretations that may as well come crashing down by the time I finish the book. Part I: Zarathustra’s Prologue “I would fain bestow and distribute, until the wise have once more become joyous in their folly, and the poor happy in their riches. Therefore must I descend into the deep:...

Book V, We Fearless Ones, The Joyful Wisdom "The most important of more recent events—that "God is dead," that the belief in the Christian God has become unworthy of belief—already begins to cast its first shadows over Europe. To the few at least whose eye, whose suspecting glance, is strong enough and subtle enough for this drama, some sun seems to have set, some old, profound confidence seems to have changed into doubt: our old world must seem to them daily more darksome, distrustful, strange and "old."” Though one will come across the condescending modern reader (with or without the occasional nihilistic tilt) who brands Nietzsche’s stance about religion, or more specifically, Christianity, as the ultimate atheistic one, such a reader does him an immense disservice, for his views are far too nuanced for that kind of careless summarising. That being said, there is no doubt that Nietzsche was a harsh critic of Christianity, especially as it came to be practise...