These days,
by contrast, when only the herd animal
gets and gives honor in Europe [America],
when “equal rights” could all too easily end up as equal wrongs
(I mean, in waging a joint war
on everything rare, strange, privileged, on the higher man,
higher soul, higher duty, higher responsibility, on creative power and mastery) –

these days,
the concept of “greatness” will include: being noble, wanting
to be for yourself, the ability to be different,
standing alone
and needing to live by your own fists.

And the philosopher
will be revealing something of his own ideal
when he proposes:

“Greatest of all is the one who can be
The most solitary, the most hidden, the most different,
the person beyond good and evil, the master of his virtues,
the one with an abundance of will.

Only this should be called greatness:
the ability to be just as multiple as whole,
just as wide as full.”

And to ask once again: is greatness possible today?

Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Butler, aphorism 212

The phrase “these days” causes me to consider the ways-of-life which are wide spread, within the circle of time afforded by my memory. The economy, the day to day of earning a living of the blue-collar hourly wage majority is precarious. Inhabiting the bottom tier of the value chain, they must “make do” with the smallest slice of the pizza. “Asking for a raise” is a ritual belonging to a bygone generation.  And there’s inflation. Everyone buys groceries: a box of cheerios, bread, a package of hot dogs. The value of money varies, and only in one direction.  The whipsaw of a stagnant wage and diminishing purchase power. Capitalism, analogous to Medieval Catholicism, envelops globally, devouring the future, and to what end?

Who are you? What inner dialog, you know that self-talk of the mind are you having with yourself? What intrigues you? I mean elements of interest… Were they served up “specials of the day” by media?  Think Taylor Swift or the racist, misogynistic, evangelical movement known as the Trump/Republican Party or that shameful kissing-the-ring of the Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu as the slaughter of Palestinian civilians rolls on…

So you imagine yourself as a philosopher? How much solitude can you afford? How capacious do you suppose you can be in heart and mind? What price am I willing to pay for autonomy, to become master of my virtues?

Nietzsche comments that doing philosophy is a compulsion analogous to “living by one’s fists.”