From Friedrich Nietzsche's book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra:
.
"You should first of all learn the art of earthly comfort, you should learn to laugh, my young friends, if you are at all determined to remain pessimists: if so, you perhaps,
as laughing ones, eventually send all metaphysical
comfortism to the devil and metaphysics first of all!
Or, to say it in the language of that Dionysian ogre,
called Zarathustra :
"Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your legs, you
good dancers and better so if you stand on your
heads!
"This crown of the laughter, this rose-wreath crown
I myself have put on this crown; I myself have
pronounced holy my laughter. No one else have I found
today strong enough for this.
"Zarathustra the dancer, Zarathustra the light one,
who beckons with his wings, one ready for flight,
beckoning unto all birds, ready and heady, a bliss
fully light-spirited one:
"Zarathustra the soothsayer, Zarathustra the sooth-
laughter, not impatient, not absolute, one who
loves leaps and side-leaps : I myself have put on this
crown!
"This crown of the laughter, this rose-wreath crown
to you my brethren do I cast this crown! Laughter
have I pronounced holy: you higher men, learn, to laugh!"
8
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Hmm..up until now, I thought highly of Nietzsche. Now I just hope he was high on opium at the time.
birdingnut
Level 8
Dec 5, 2019
1
Not likely you have read Thus Spoke Zarasthustra then . . . Nietzsche was a free thinker, as I see it, whether he was "high" or not, who knows, it is possible, because he had serious health issues that resulted in needing medication for. Two great writers, Sartre and Camus were both influenced by Nietzsche . . . and many more . . he was no slouch.
@Archeus_Lore Nietzsche died from syphilis, he went crazy because of it. I have no idea how this affected his writing since I do not know the timeline of his writings. I remember a great easy read though.
Birth of a Tragedy Out of the Spirit iof Music . . . . an easy read? . . .
@dalefvictor Oh, yeah, I forgot about that...half the men were suffering with syphilis. Thanks to Columbus' men and those after him getting infected from raping Native American women and coming home to infect the rest of Europe.
@birdingnut Yes, I know back in the good old days.
"Laughter have I pronounced holy: you higher men, learn, to laugh!" . . . . If one cannot laugh at the world and its absurdities, one will end crying. That however, is each person's perogative.
That's always the part of Nietzsche people overlook. But I think it's core to an understanding of his philosophy.
towkneed
Level 7
Dec 4, 2019
2
Exactly!
I was feeling kinda down earlier this evening. Then I watched an old episode of Malcolm In The Middle. I never watched this show when it was first running. I suppose it was what could best be called television snobbery. It was just beneath my standards. But today I laughed out loud a few times, and now I feel a little better. So much for my fucking standards.
Flyingsaucesir
Level 8
Dec 4, 2019
1
I feel like laughing today too, but it relates to a God positive idea which I know is not popular around here. Anyway hope everyone has a good day!
Flowerwall
Level 7
Dec 3, 2019
1
Nietzsche? God positive? Ha ha . . . Ever heard of his book "The Antichrist"?
@Archeus_Lore No. That doesn't sound good. Yikes. I think my point was, you can still feel happy even with belief or the possibility of it.
@Archeus_Lore On second thought don't know that I understood this passage. I was in a big rush yesterday and thought I did. I think Nietzsche is a big proponent of atheism, right? It is THE way?
I did look up Antichrist didn't seem as bad as the title sounded. Some of the ideas seemed problematic, imo.
Nietzsche was anti-christian, but more than anything, he encouraged people to explore and think for themselves. From all I have read, I do not consider him to be an atheist, I consider him to be agnostic, but at the same time, he did not believe there was any chance of there being a god as described in christianity, Islam, or religions like that. Personally, I am an agnostic, and I see christianity as one of the biggest hoaxes ever in the history of mankind . . .
@Archeus_Lore Ever read biographies any about him?
"Hiking with Nietzsche" John Kaag is a very good one.
@Archeus_Lore Thanks.
@Archeus_Lore he is the guy who claimed that "dog is dead and it was a man that killed him."
After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’
And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?
The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –
This is the Hour of Lead –
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
E.D.
Davesnothere
Level 7
Dec 3, 2019
1
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