Is Thus Spoke Zarathustra book about lifting? Definitely not. We can only speculate whether Nietzsche ever lifted any weights at all. (In a strictly physical sense, of course. Because there is no doubt that he otherwise lifted immense burdens.)
Three metamorphoses in the gym
This book is amazing in that it’s full of ideas. And that it is nearly limitless source of inspiration.
So, for example, I was thoroughly amazed to see Alex Bromley discussing Nietzsche’s ideas when it comes to… lifting weights.
There is something about this idea that for anyone to become qualified to tinker with anything and to come up with ways of betterment, one has to become proficient first.
There is simply no way of being able to (genuinely) advise on any matter without mastering the discipline first.
What Bromley suggests is that, before you can think about tweaking any workout plan, you should simply follow and stick to some well defined routine first (like a camel). Only after some time, once you gain a deeper understanding of the mechanics of your body, you’ll be allowed to question that what is written (like a lion). And only then, once you have mastered the knowledge specific to all this, you can move onto making a custom suggestions (like a child).
Of course, this by no means applies only to lifting weights. It’s just that the connection of Nietzsche and weight lifting is amusing.
I liked this idea so very much so that I must have built upon that and used it to feed it to ChatGPT to generate me an on-demand short video about the camel, lion and child in the gym.
For those interested, you see the result here:
Übermensch and death of God
Weight lifting aside, there are few concepts that sort of repeat in Nietzsche’s magnum opus. Übermensch, or superman, for instance.
This one is arguably known the best. I vaguely remember that we learned about this in high school (though the interpretation wildly differed from what I gathered from actually reading Zarathustra). Übermensch as a horizon, something to strive for, yet remaining mostly out of our grasp.
Second, the death of God. Which is another thing that is often prone to being misinterpreted in a way that Nietzsche was nihilistic. But it appears that Nietzsche only acknowledges that God is dead and further asks …so, now what? Instead of simply accepting that the void is all there is (nihilistic), he asks how do we fill up the void (anti-nihilistic).
It seems that the answer is just to live for the sake of it (hint of existentialism?) and that creative pursuits are strongly encouraged. Just to live life in spite of it, for the good and the bad (amor fati?). Maybe it has also something to do with the eternal recurrence? I don’t know, this one I didn’t fully grasp.
Earthly experience and the “ass-festival”
It is apparent that Nietzsche sort of despised faith (I don’t know if it was for real but it sure seemed so). I gather that his take was to refocus ourselves to here and now instead of after I die and in heaven.
“[…] teach I unto men: no longer to thrust one’s head into the sand of celestial things, but to carry it freely, a terrestrial head, which gives meaning to the earth!”
Yet, at the (close to) very end of the book, Zarathustra (Nietzsche) sees on his own wee eyes that men, even the so-called higher men, somewhat tend to gravitate towards faith no matter what. In this case, they ended up worshipping an ass. (Now, I must admit that at this point I wasn’t sure what to think. Except that it must have been a metaphor? Oh yes, a metaphor. For people finding their way worshiping various deities. Making it an ass must have been intentionally derogatory to prove a point or something. Or I grossly misunderstood this. Which is also entirely possible, likely even.)
Zarathustra then concludes his journey… by sort of starting it anew? Eternal recurrence, eh?
Final thoughts?
Well, overall, the Thus Spoke Zarathustra will make you very much occupied.
I’m sure that it has depth. And I’m also sure that I’ve just floated on the surface more or less most of the time. This is why I’ve made a mental note to myself to return to this book and re-read it again when I’m 60. We’ll see where it goes.
Maybe I’ll end up eternally returning to it.
