A Fatal Human Being
Perhaps any comment upon this passage would ruin it.
I am relieved to read that a philosopher is a mere human. Not everyone is captivated by how extraordinary are “ordinary” experiences, ie. seeing, hearing, hoping and dreaming. When you stop reflect do further, secondary storms blow up? Surely Nietzsche is being autobiographical here. Still, to be human is precious. Even if one runs away, a long way away, one must return. (Odysseus)
A philosopher
–is a human being
who constantly experiences, sees, hears,
hopes, and dreams extraordinary things,
who is struck by his/her own thoughts as from outside,
as from above and below,
as by his type of experiences and lightning bolts;
who is perhaps himself a storm pregnant
with new lightnings;
a fatal human being
around whom
there are constant rumblings and growlings,
crevices, and uncanny doings.
A philosopher – alas,
a being that often runs away from itself,
often is afraid of itself,
–but too inquisitive not to “come to” again
–always back to himself.
Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Walter Kaufmann, aphorism 292
