This year was more or less a perennial loop. Now, I walk through fragmented reminiscence of my unhurried slump into exhausted stupor.Gone are the days when I was enshrouded by the mist of queasiness for I was pervaded by a
languor. However, the need to succumb to ennui was drawn to an end; all thanks to the wisest of the counselors, the most patient of the teachers, the savior to my rescue, “vivlío” (Greek translation of book), which allowed me to encounter alterity and to encounter myself afresh amidst all my plunging into the chaos.
“A book for all and none.” This oracle motif was what sparked my interest , followed by a vow to devote myself to go through “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, religiously. To my mind, this book lies somewhere between being a paragon and a complete meltdown. What intrigued me the most was that the substances of the opus meant at least one more thing than it meant. If nothing else, it is an unorthodoxy to the conventional status quo. The infamous quotation “God is dead” proclaims secularity, and for all those who accepts it, they’re held up as an object of ridicule for their mealy-mouthed excuses and sanctimony “for god to be dead, one must’ve accepted God, initially.” Piffling worries about Hell and Heaven and unproven imaginings are nothing but a logjam for one to reach the highest of one’s potential for one’s body is all that one has . Moreover, one cannot expect sanguinity and thus cannot celebrate to the fullest if they’re captivated by the constraints. This already contests the ethos of Christianity- from calling the priests “enemies” to this one line , “I give no alms because I’m not poor enough. “where it emphasizes on giving without any pity and how it looks down upon the conditioned ideas including pitying on weak mankind which gives a man just enough to feel bad about himself, creating resentment on the man’s part.
As per my understanding, the cynosure was how it accentuates constant struggling, striving, and overcoming to become the ideal “superior” being/ ubermensch- the trans valuation of all values; overcoming of oneself. Ubermensch exists for banishing weakness either through the strengthening of the weak or the death of those who cannot be strengthened, which correlates with Darwinism. However, the whole idea of transmutation is a process, it’s never rigid. There is this cyclical process of the events of the past happening again and again, which is presumably based on this view called eternal recurrence. In order to grow to an ubermensch and to reach one's potential, he has to be accountable for all of his past and future actions. The will to power begins with our visceral liberty- to everything and everyone that surrounds us. What have you truly loved upto now?what has elevated your soul? what has mastered it and at the same time delighted it? These are the laws of fundamental self. Perhaps, it is a reason why Zarathustra had this proclivity towards mountains; the call for retreat, from everything else but himself.
The ethos, as per my comprehension, lies on how it defines “existence” as something that is beyond one’s meek submission to authority or religious pieties. After all, the ferreting of the much coveted belongingness, which is often deluded with outwardness, is nugatory until one realizes it is found nowhere else, but within oneself.
“O Zarathustra your fruits are ripe, but you are not ripe for your fruits.” Indubitably, it is full-fledged with profundity, yet the paucity in the utter grip is glaringly visible among the readers, including me. It was a trip, nonetheless, fabricating a mess of wonderfully confused thoughts, the bandwidth of which oscillates to me,now as well. In a nutshell, the very ethos that it imparts are in realizing humans write scriptures, not Gods and to go and live, now and forever.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra!
-Shreela Gurung
