Zarathustra Through a Madman's eye . . . .

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche is provoking man so that the beliefs and opinions holding him captive are challenged and thus allowing him the opportunity to renew himself. Nietzsche is writing what is considered very controversial material so as to cause man to begin to think through his own beliefs, thoughts and life. The provoking of the mind forces man to react in one of two ways: either he reacts with anger and becomes defensive or he will continue reading and thinking through his life, seeing how Nietzsche’s philosophy works in his life. I believe that Nietzsche’s technique of provoking and then renewing of man is to create a better human being. Providing man with opposition to his beliefs, Nietzsche challenges man to think through what he holds dear to himself.
To provoke people, Nietzsche attacks their beliefs and education and how those things effect how they live their lives. In the section, on the land of education, Nietzsche writes about how man has been formed by past events without actually thinking through what he is doing:
“With the characters of the past written all over you, and these characters in turn painted over with new characters: thus have you concealed yourselves perfectly from all interpreters of characters” (231)

What Nietzsche is describing here is how man is replicated from generation to generation without renewing himself. Man has used copies of great men of the past and placed them over himself. He has become a replication of what used to be. For man has thought that since an earlier man was once considered great now all he must do is act just be like that earlier man, so he goes out and copies the behavior of that past hero. Contemporary man can pick and choose who he wishes to be like. This thought process is very closed, the opposite of open and thoughtful. Man lives his life studying examples, or shadows of another man’s greatness. Nietzsche sees modern man closing his mind, closing out possibilities of what he could actually become in his life. Instead of striving for personal greatness that he could develop in himself, instead man chooses to devote his life to emulating the acts of other past men. This has caused the destruction of thought and has compromised education. For all educators do now is teach the ways of one or two men from the past and how they were great, not how the men living now could be great. From this man has kept his true self hidden from other men. He is unable to live a life flowing from his own thought, actions and ingenuity. The individual has died and has been replaced with replicas from the past.
Nietzsche goes further to say how man no longer understands what greatness, which past men strived for, actually is. Instead modern man wishes for the fast, quick and easy version of life instead of working through things themselves. Man is much like an actor who can change himself from one day to the next. Today man is a creature of masks:
“Little do the people comprehend the great –that is, the creating. But they have a mind for all showmen and actors of great things… The actor has spirit but little conscience of the spirit. Always he has faith in that with which he inspires the most faith-faith in himself. Tomorrow he has a new faith, and the day after tomorrow a newer one” (163-164)

Here Nietzsche speaks of man’s fundamental lack of knowledge and understanding of his own mind. Man no longer is able to comprehend what it is to be great. As Nietzsche said earlier, man has become an actor that is no more than a replication of the past. He goes on to show how even the ideals and characteristics that man has inherited from the past men have been lost. Man no longer understands what is so great about living a meaningful life and the important ideas that were once a part of it. Instead man lives like showmen and actors, for their lives are to mimic the character and actions of great men. An actor is someone who one day can portray one person and yet the very next portray someone entirely different. Actors have no foundation or reality for their lives. An actor’s job is to portray someone else, not themselves. Their job is based off of what has happened or of something that has been done. The actor uses his spirit in order to portray these great things. The problem is they have no understanding of the width or depth of this greatness. They live their lives duplicating over and over great things, yet never truly understand what they are demonstrating. Nietzsche shows how man recognizes and has a mind for the great things that actors do. Actors do portray past great things at times, but it is only a portrayal and there is no reality as the very next day they will “live” a different part. The actors are no different then what man has become.
What Nietzsche has demonstrated here is how all men no longer understand what greatness is, that men have lost knowledge of the greatness of these men from the past, and yet they wish to be like them. Man has lost all understanding of what greatness actually is; instead he is drawn to what is portrayed by the actors, which is acting great. Instead of man wondering what is being acted out, of asking himself who he really is, of actually thinking about his life, man has become reliant on observing the acting out of past greatness without the meaning or understanding of the greatness.
Nietzsche thus far has been demonstrating how man has lost meaning and is unable to think for himself. Rather than correcting this Nietzsche’s strategy is to provoke man into reacting. Throughout Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche is constantly attempting to challenge all men into thinking about their lives and what they truly believe in. Nietzsche knows that not all men will follow this. Nietzsche accepts this and even titles the book accordingly: “Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A book for all and none.” What he means is that this book is meant for all men and yet, at the same time, it cannot be for all because men cannot think, for themselves. His mission is to get people to thin, yet he knows not all men will think though life. Therefore only a certain number of people accept the book. Another time, even more provoking then the previous, is when Nietzsche speaks of what the Christian God is: “God is a conjecture; but I desire that your conjectures should not reach beyond your creative will. Could you create a god? Then do not speak to me of any gods. But you could well create the overman.” (197) Rather than just accepting that God is real, Nietzsche begins to ask questions and makes statements that cause man to truly think about what he believes. Why should man only create something that he only imagines? Why not create something that is real and tangible? Nietzsche proposes that what man believes in must have meaning and some sort of obtainable goal in it. Christianity has become a religion that requires people accept what a pastor says or deny things just because they are unable to achieve them. Nietzsche finds that Christianity has become a poor excuse for how a man lives his life. Instead of showing proof or demonstrating the way things should work, Christianity has only been used to shield man’s minds and prevent him from truly thinking.
Another example of where Nietzsche uses provocation is with women. Throughout the book Nietzsche will describe women as a cow or insult them in varying ways. One example of this is in the speech on little old and young women:
“In a real man a child is hidden- and wants to play. Go to it, women, discover the child in man! Let woman be a plaything, pure and fine, like a gem, irradiated by the virtues of a world that has not yet arrived. Let the radiance of a star shine though your love! Let your hope be: may I give birth to the overman!” (178)

There is only one reason why Nietzsche would say something like this and it was to provoke a reaction. A man who speaks respectfully of individual thought, micromanaging, in each person’s life, this man would not insult women like this. Instead he wants to provoke women. Who would tell all women to go and discover what men truly are and then tell them to be a plaything for men? Nietzsche, apart from actually showing the importance of women and showing how women are essential to the overman, is getting women to, more importantly, stand up and be recognized in the world. Nietzsche once again appears to be insulting women, criticizing their actions, only to get them to respond. Women in Nietzsche’s time could not vote and had little voice in the manner in which things were done. What he is doing here is saying exactly that, but he is saying it in such a derogatory manner that he is forcing a reaction from them.
Nietzsche throughout the whole work insults or tests the patience of all the people in the world. The poor, the weak, the strong, the men in power, all women.; everyone in one way or another who is reading this book has some part of them that says, “NO! I do not like this and I refute it!” or they respond with, “Hmmm, maybe something is there, let’s press on.” These are the two common responses to Nietzsche. Either people absolutely oppose him no matter what is going on in their life, or instead they begin to wonder, question, and ask to themselves what is going inside me. Why am I feeling this uncomfortable feeling? Nietzsche is writing a book for the individual who will into his own life and see what it is that he is doing. Nietzsche is attempting to get our attention and decides to do this by getting everyone upset and provide something different than the standard was of looking at life as accepted by tradition. His book is to challenge man to look into himself, to see what he has in his life and to see what needs to change to become better. Provoking man is what gets him to realize what he has, what he knows and believes, then comes the renewal of the man.
Nietzsche has gone on provoking man and causing him to react in favor of renewing himself or choosing not to. For those who do not wish to renew will remain the same and have gotten nothing from Nietzsche. Next he demonstrates how man can renew himself and release himself from the chains of total acceptance:
“I do not like the plains, and it seems I cannot sit still for long. And whatever may yet come to me as destiny and experience will include some wandering and mountain climbing: in the end, one experiences only oneself.” (264)

Now that man has been provoked and wishes to renew himself Nietzsche explains how this is done. The plains are that which is easy to travel on. Flat, lonely and barren they provide nothing for man other than basic crops. The sun rises on one side of man and sets on another. The same thing occurs over and over and nothing is ever changed. Nietzsche despises the plains for those reasons. They are like what man has become, just a continual mindless being; there is no flavor or exotic life in it to challenge man.
Instead Nietzsche prefers the mountains. The mountains are a symbol of challenges and change. Varying elevation gain and decline, never knowing what exists a mile away because of the trees or what is over the next hill. There is a definite level of uncertainty here in which man is unable to know what might happen and that is the point. Rather than always understanding how things are and what is around you, like existence on the plains, the mountains offer the sense of uncertainty that causes man to challenge himself. He has to push himself to go over the next ridge, to find out what is over the next hill or around the next bend. For man, to travel in the mountains is his renewing. You cannot just walk straight along a mountain path and get to the top, instead you have to wander, wade yourself though bushes and trees. This journey is not dependent upon other men and what they say for you to do. It is up to the man by himself to make his way along the path, to move through the trees and to investigate.
Nietzsche is not telling man that he needs to go from x to get to y. Instead he is showing him this is who you are. You are the replication of past great men and yet you do not even know it. Then he wants man to ask himself if he wants to know more and to understand what this world that he lives in truly is, to understand what he believes and make up for himself what the world is. Then man needs to go and be himself. Without telling man how it is done step by step, without making it a religion that is praised and lived for by everyone, instead Nietzsche provokes man to be something to strive in his own manner. All that Nietzsche requires is that it is a journey man makes alone.
Nietzsche writes to the individual. He tries to be a provoking and renewing author, one that causes man to think. It is not a bible or a text written by the gods to be handed down as holy. Instead it is there as a text to make man think. Instead of just believing what man has been taught over and over from one generation to the next, Nietzsche says that man should at least think through his life, to come up with rational reasons for his beliefs. No longer should man use God as an excuse for why things are by saying, “God said so.” Instead by coming to an understanding of the thoughts, ideas and consequences at stake; all through thinking and understanding more about man and who he is, will eventually be able to apply it to his life thus making him stronger.
Nietzsche is not writing a book on foreign policy or how to train and send out troops across the world. People who read Nietzsche and think of it as a mass social problem solving book will not understand his purpose. Man has to read Nietzsche from an individual view one that will lead to changes in him and later in society. By thinking and then renewing oneself man has a better understand of what the world is and the problems facing it. Man, being a social creature, of course will read Nietzsche so as to implement it on the whole of society, this is wrong. Man must read Nietzsche and apply it to himself. It is through the renewing process that man is able to contend with other major problems in the world and then apply it on a larger scale.
Alvin Toffler in the book, The Third Wave, speaks of how changes in the world are leading to the testing of men’s beliefs. Toffler believes that technological advances that have occurred and the reshaping of the world into a global community have lead to both necessary and inevitable changes in the world and those changes start with the individual:
“Yet the risks of not overhauling our political institutions are even greater, and the sooner we begin, the safer we all will be. To build workable governments anew-and to carry out what may well be the most important political task of our lifetimes- we will have to strip away the accumulated clichés of the Second Wave principles (435)”

Toffler writes on how the world has changed and it is now time for the basic structures and descriptive clichés to change as well. The second wave was triggered by the industrial revolution 300 years ago by brute force and muscle as the driving forces. Man had gone into production and needed to efficiently get the most out of things as possible. He had also gone away from thought. Even as the second wave was being implemented in some parts of the world, the third wave had begun in some of the more advanced countries of the world. America is the prime example of how the transition is occurring. The third wave is not based off of industry as the second wave was based on; instead it is founded in deep social, moral, political, economic, philosophical, cultural and structural changes that will occur. Society is transitioning from a 9-5 work day, with smoke towers and assembly lines to a sleek technology driven society.
Toffler shows how old clichés and structures are being challenged by human and mental thought. He realizes that the old structure and clichés of past generations have become so permanent that they are accepted without question. Man could now wish to hold on to the past, potentially destroying parts of civilization or himself. Whereas someone who begins to think through these structures will begin to make the decisions needed about them; he can decide what he wishes to keep and what he wishes to get rid of through thought. He is the one who will define the civilization, because of his mental power or overcoming of past clichés rather than accepting without knowing.
It is from Toffler who I believe we can see how Nietzsche can be applied to the whole only after it is applied to the individual. Toffler shows how the world and time we live in is going through change in all areas. Social, cultural, economic, political changes are occurring all around us. Women and minorities are finally being allowed the same rights as were held by past generations of men. All of this has occurred in less than 100 years. Changes have also occurred in politics and the world has become a vast global economy. Throughout all of this men have been dependent on sheer force to get things using past ideas. Now there is an evolution going on in society. These changes have altered the way we live. Some people have decided not to accept these changes and instead they have hung on to past clichés and ways of living and have not reevaluated their arguments for changes in the world. They are blind to what is occurring and cannot keep up with these changes. There are other people who have seen the changes and it has made revolutionary differences in their lives. This is resulting in new ideas and revolutionary figures in history. These are the men who have overcome their lives and capitalized on the changes in society, by driving forward the change.
The men who overcome in their own lives are the men who change society. Man lives his life, learning from what is father or educator teaches him. Over time man has become so dependent on the basic facts of life, the way things have always been done, that they have gone away from understanding why they believe these things. Men have been “dumbed down” over time as nothing has been provoking them to change. Then in the course of history, events occur that either go against or is outside the tradition. These events lead to the changes in society. Men look at these events and either consider them and deny them or they begin to think them through and see how they will work out into society. This is how the overman works in society. He is the man who looks at himself and thinks through issues to see how they affect and fit into civilization. He finds through struggling through the changes what can make society better.
I agree that the overman is someone who renews himself by considering his own beliefs, challenging what he has always thought to be true and coming out with something in the end that will make man a better being. This philosophy is a method for testing what man holds true and sees if man can actually come up with reasons to prove it. The questioning by man of his thoughts has, overtime, become like an unused muscle. It has become weak and irrelevant. Nietzsche has come to exercise this muscle out, to build it up. As man begins to reuse mind like a muscles, he becomes stronger and his own thoughts and beliefs become stronger to the point where he knows and believes without ignorance. This process will not stop after one generation has come up with all the ideas in the world. I see that if the process will continue over and over by many men, then it makes the world and all men better. For having many people constantly reevaluating themselves, the issues and ideas throughout the world it will help keep all men strong.
Nietzsche’s work is there to provoke man. Either man will deny and shield himself from the attack or he will go along and think through his provoking. This process is not to be regarded or read as a holy text or scripture. Instead it is a text to get men to think about what they hold to be true and to either affirm it or deny it.