3.
"I beseech you, my brothers, remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! They are poison-mixers, whether they know it or not.
"They are despisers of life, themselves the decaying and poisoned, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them!
"Once the sin against God was the greatest sin; but God died, and those sinners died with him. To sin against the earth is the most dreadful sin, and to esteem the entrails of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth" (10)!
"They are despisers of life, themselves the decaying and poisoned, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them!
"Once the sin against God was the greatest sin; but God died, and those sinners died with him. To sin against the earth is the most dreadful sin, and to esteem the entrails of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth" (10)!
"What is ape to man? A laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment. And just the same shall man be to the Ubermensch: a laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment" (9).
"The Ubermensch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Ubermensch shall be the meaning of the earth" (9)!
"Where is the lightning to lick you with its tongue? Where is the frenzy with which you should be inoculated?
"Behold, I teach you the Ubermensch: he is that lightning, he is that frenzy" (11)!
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This chapter almost made my head explode! I realized that this is going to be much more difficult than originally anticipated and that this book is so deeply rooted in metaphor that I honestly get lost.
This is Z's first encounter with the people he is so excited to share his knowledge with, and they completely misunderstand him. After dropping all kinds of knowledge bombs, they misread his sermon instead as an introduction for the visual stimulus they are about to experience, that of a tightrope walker. Consume! Consume! Consume! Mindless, base, animalistic impulse to numb our minds in favor of reflection, thought. How shortsighted we can be to the knowledge that surrounds us!
How shortsighted we can be to the knowledge that surrounds us! Ponder that a moment... I'll wait...
When I initially read this chapter (years ago), I thought of the Ubermensch as the next step in evolution, an actual super-man. Now, I read this passage as what man could be. Z is telling us to wake up and actualize our potential, a thought I can undoubtedly resonate with in so many ways. I always want to be a better person. Do people talk about earnestness anymore? I feel like it's far too undervalued these days.
I believe we have much more potential than we actualize. The source? On a practical level, I think technology is crippling at times. I've been guilty of traipsing through the day, scouring social media like some drug-addled junkie on a mission for another high. What is the high? What am I waiting for? What am I hoping will come from my keeping up to date on the story people are telling about their lives. Note that I didn't say what is actually going on but, rather, the story they are portraying to the imagined audience that is the internet. It is interesting what our lives can look like when we get to select what we wish to share and what we do not.
More than social media, technology in general often keeps us from productivity, from experience, from living. Everything is so accessible to us in our culture. There is no more room for mystery and creativity. The answers to everything are just a Google search away resting (if you're like me) always within reaching distance of your smart phone. So much entertainment to keep us distracted. How many shows do you follow? How many Netflix series have you binged through?
Again, I'm guilty of most of this, but I do wonder what I could achieve and experience without so much distraction in my life. Ask yourself what are your biggest distractions, and then ask if you believe they're worth it? Mine? Social media, TV shows, video games, and alcohol. Some of those are more "worthwhile" than others, but which ones I will leave to mystery.
Here I've gone on this rant and now this post is no longer what I thought it would be when I set out. I did mean to talk about the opening quote and idea of how staying true to the earth is an idea our culture wrestles with. It is related to what I discussed above but has its own points worth discussing. Who has the time?! Perhaps that is the point! Perhaps that is part of the fun, part of the adventure! Leaving some things to mystery and setting off on a journey without knowing exactly where you'll end up.
There is some Romantic poet who has something meaningful to say about keeping an active, engaged mind, but, alas! after searching for as long as I was willing to search, I was unable to find it. If you figure out what it is throw it my way!
Be engaged,
-Josh
-Josh
