Immortality
I anticipate reading The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche. The introduction is written by Walter Kaufmann, the translator. Kaufmann mentions that Nietzsche was greatly influenced by the writings of New England transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Curious to understand the substrate of Nietzsche’s sense of himself and of his world I downloaded a segment of Emerson’s extended essay, Nature published in 1836.
The segment is entitled Prospects which argues for what is possible for Homo Sapiens. Emerson’s language in the essay, rises at points, orchestra-like to a crescendo. In these few lines are described the self immolation that is possible, as well as the apotheosis possible for members of our species.
I was surprised at the person that came to mind when reading Emerson’s words. Do not be deceived by the suit that he wears…
A man is a god in ruins.
When men are innocent, life shall be longer,
and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams.
Now, the world would be insane and rabid,
if these disorganizations should last for hundreds of years.
It is kept in check by death and infancy.
Infancy is the perpetual Messiah,
which comes into the arms of fallen men, and pleads with them to return to paradise.
Man is the dwarf of himself.
-excerpt, Prospects, Chapt. VIII from Nature, Addresses and Lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson
