Summary Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra (excerpts) praxeology.net
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One Line
Zarathustra, a herald of the lightning, encourages people to strive for the Overman and reject the Last Man while critiquing the state, its idolatry, and its lies.
Key Points
- Zarathustra spoke of the Overman, encouraging a life of poverty and away from state idolatry.
- The state is seen as a cold and evil force, as it speaks lies and has stolen from its people.
- The Self creates respect and contempt, pleasure and pain, and is the ruler of the mind.
- Those who despise the body are encouraged to accept life as suffering and let it pass away.
- Zarathustra appeals to the people's pride and encourages them to strive for greatness.
- Zarathustra proclaims the Overman as an ideal that mankind should strive to surpass.
Summaries
329 word summary
Zarathustra arrived at a town where people had gathered to watch a tightrope walker. He introduced the Overman, an ideal that mankind should strive to surpass. Zarathustra proclaimed himself a herald of the lightning, proclaiming the coming of the Overman. He urged people to reject the notion of otherworldly hopes and to remain true to the earth. Zarathustra questioned why they didn't understand him and proclaimed that one must first batter their ears to learn to hear with their eyes.
He then spoke of the Last Man, a being content with mediocrity who does not strive for greatness. Zarathustra warned that those who do not strive for the Overman will become a laughing-stock and a thing of shame. He appealed to their pride by reminding them of their culture and urged them to have chaos within themselves to give birth to a dancing star and to set a goal and plant the seed of their highest hope.
Zarathustra spoke of the mind as an instrument of the body and acknowledged that the body is their entirety, and the soul is merely a name for something about the body. He sought companions who could help him create new values on new law-tablets, rather than dead ones or herds. After sleeping, Zarathustra awoke to a new truth: he needed living companions to follow him. Spiritually consumptive people preach renunciation of life, but Zarathustra speaks to them saying they are angry with life due to unconscious envy. The Self creates respect and contempt, pleasure and pain, and is the ruler of the mind. The state is seen as an evil force, as it speaks lies and has stolen from its people. Those who preach death should not be pitied, but accepted.
Zarathustra encourages a life of poverty away from the state and its idolatry of the superfluous, as it lies and entices people. Everything in it is false. The sign of the state is the confusion of tongues of good and evil.
892 word summary
Click here to proceed to page 2. Zarathustra spoke of the Overman and the possibility of a free life for great souls. He encouraged a life of poverty, away from the state and its idolatry of the superfluous. The state is a death-horse jingling with divine honors and it seeks to seduce the all-too-many. It lies and entices them, and swallows them up. The state was created for the superfluous and its sign is the confusion of tongues of good and evil. Everything in it is false. The state is seen as an evil force by many, as it speaks lies and has stolen from its people. Every people has its own language of good and evil, and its own laws and customs. Those who seek to control the many and call it 'state' are destroyers, while creators are those who create people and give them faith and love. The state is the coldest of monsters, claiming to be the people, but it brings death to peoples. Those who preach death are everywhere and those who believe in life should not wait for it to pass away. They should not pity those who are bound by life, but accept that life is suffering and let it pass away. The only ones refuted are those who see only one side of existence, such as those who meet a sick man, an old man, or a corpse. We should not awaken these dead ones, but accept their wish to be dead. There are those who are spiritually consumptive, preaching renunciation of life and wearing yellow or black. The earth is full of those to whom renunciation of life must be preached. Zarathustra speaks to the despisers of the body, saying they are angry with life and the earth due to an unconscious envy. The Self creates respect and contempt, pleasure and pain, and is the ruler of the mind. Behind thoughts and feelings is the Self, which seeks with the eyes of the senses and listens with the ears of the mind. The greater thing than saying "I" is the body with its great wisdom. An instrument of the body, the mind, is a small reflection of the great wisdom of the body. The awakened one acknowledges that the body is their entirety, and the soul is merely a name for something about the body. To those who despise the body, Zarathustra speaks, saying that he will sing his song to those who have ears for the unheard and will join with creators, reapers, and rejoicers. He seeks companions who can help him create new values on new law-tablets. After sleeping, Zarathustra awakens to a new truth: he needs living companions to follow him, not dead ones or herds. Now people look at Zarathustra and laugh, but their laughter is cold. Zarathustra speaks to them as he does to goatherds in the mountains, yet they don't understand him. He begins his first discourse, which is also called "The Prologue," but the people interrupt him, clamoring for him to make them into "Last Men." Zarathustra becomes sad and reflects on the Last Men: they have their small pleasures and are clever, but they are content with mediocrity and don't strive for greatness. They no longer feel love, create, or long for something bigger.
Zarathustra appeals to their pride by reminding them of their culture, which distinguishes them from goatherds. He tells them they must have chaos within themselves to give birth to a dancing star, and they must set a goal and plant the seed of their highest hope. He speaks to them of the most contemptible thing: the Last Man. Must one first batter their ears to learn to hear with their eyes? Zarathustra questioned the people, wondering why they didn't understand him. He proclaimed himself a herald of the lightning, proclaiming the coming of the Overman. He loves those who are heavy drops out of the dark cloud that lowers over man, those of a free spirit and free heart, who forget themselves and all things are in them, and those who love their God and justify the future ones. He loves those who scatter golden words and do more than they promise, who make their virtue their inclination and destiny, who reserve no share of spirit for themselves, and who labor and invent to build the house of the Overman. Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Overman, a dangerous crossing and wayfaring. Someone in the crowd interrupted Zarathustra, telling him it was time to see the tightrope walker perform. Zarathustra then proclaimed that he was teaching them the Overman - a being of lightning and madness which transcends sin and moderation. He urged them to reject the notion of otherworldly hopes and to remain true to the earth. Zarathustra then declared that even the wisest among them are a confusion of plant and phantom, but that he was not asking them to become either. All beings have created something beyond themselves, but mankind has evolved from worm to man. Zarathustra arrived at a town where people had gathered to watch a tightrope walker's performance. He spoke to them, introducing the Overman - an ideal that mankind should surpass. He warned that those who do not strive for this goal will become a laughing-stock and a thing of shame.