Plague Journal, Pied Cow Part II
But in the loneliest wilderness happeneth the second metamorphosis: here the spirit becometh a lion; freedom will it capture, and lordship in its own wilderness.
Its last Lord it here seeketh: hostile will it be to him, and to its last God; for victory will it struggle with the great dragon.
What is the great dragon which the spirit is no longer inclined to call Lord and God? “Thou-shalt,” is the great dragon called. But the spirit of the lion saith, “I will.”
“Thou-shalt,” lieth in its path, sparkling with gold—a scale-covered beast; and on every scale glittereth golden, “Thou shalt!”
The values of a thousand years glitter on those scales, and thus speaketh the mightiest of all dragons: “All the values of things—glitter on me.
All values have already been created, and all created values—do I represent. Verily, there shall be no ‘I will’ any more. Thus speaketh the dragon.
My brethren, wherefore is there need of the lion in the spirit? Why sufficeth not the beast of burden, which renounceth and is reverent?
To create new values—that, even the lion cannot yet accomplish: but to create itself freedom for new creating—that can the might of the lion do.
To create itself freedom, and give a holy Nay even unto duty: for that, my brethren, there is need of the lion.
To assume the right to new values—that is the most formidable assumption for a load-bearing and reverent spirit. Verily, unto such a spirit it is preying, and the work of a beast of prey.
As its holiest, it once loved “Thou-shalt”: now is it forced to find illusion and arbitrariness even in the holiest things, that it may capture freedom from its love: the lion is needed for this capture.
— The three Metamorphoses by Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche wrote that Zarathustra spoke these words while staying in a town called The Pied Cow
Granted Nietzsche is an “acquired taste.” His prose overladen with metaphor: the camel, the lion, the child which is confusing to our accustomed manner of reading. We are used to a grammar that bears meaning on the surface, leaving little additional labor, no further excavation for the mind to accomplish. By contrast, Nietzsche insists that his readers think.
The voice of the writer, Zarathustra, here describes the process of self-realization analogous to the transformation from a camel-like attitude to that of a beast of prey, the lion. The camel is an animal that is accustomed to load bearing, satisfied to bear up, and follow the direction of a master. The burdens in question are the values and customs of the established status quo. These have a ‘god-like’ appearance to the beast of burden, preexisting and durable, seemingly valuable like glittering gold to the reverent beast of burden. The dragon alone knows what is to be willed. This is the great dragon that the lion must slay.
This morning he New York Times reports:
Republican legislators in dozens of states are trying to make voting more difficult, mostly because they believe that lower voter turnout helps their party win elections. (They say it’s to stop voter fraud, but widespread fraud doesn’t exist.) The Supreme Court, with six Republican appointees among the nine justices, has generally allowed those restrictions to stand.
“I don’t say this lightly,” Michael McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida, recently wrote. “We are witnessing the greatest roll back of voting rights in this country since the Jim Crow era.”
The only meaningful way for Democrats to respond is through federal legislation, like the voting-rights bill that the House passed on Wednesday. Among other things, it would require states to register many eligible voters automatically; allow others to register on Election Day; hold at least 15 days of early voting; expand voting by mail; and allow people with completed criminal sentences to vote. The bill also requires more disclosure of campaign donations and restricts partisan gerrymandering.
But the bill seems to have no chance of winning the 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome a filibuster. The Senate is divided 50-50 between the two parties (including two independents, who usually vote with Democrats). The bill will pass only if all 50 Senate Democrats agree to scrap or alter the filibuster, as they have the power to do.
It is time to get rid of the filibuster. Senators of the Democratic party it is time to “grow a pair” — for the sake of your children and your grandchildren. Be the lion….
To read the entire NY Times article, CLICK HERE.
4 thoughts on “Plague Journal, Pied Cow Part II”
Nietzsche’s use of arcane language is understandable based on the subject matter along with his attempt at dislodging the religious pretext of “Thou Shalt”, but for me, he’s laid it on a bit thick and fogs his message. As has been discussed numerous times, jargon, whether used as a tool or just as a way to self-aggrandize (which is not what Fred is doing here), skews the basic intent of communicating one’s ideas. Being clever is not the most succinct way of presenting complex concepts. I also realize that I am, at times, guilty of this same pseudo-cleverness and am well aware that it rarely works.
As to the metaphorical notion of camel to lion to human; I get it and there is certainly substance in Fred’s linking of a creature of burden to a “ain’t takin’ no shit from nobody” lion and from there to the human spirit freed from the constraints of religious doctrine.
To a degree, I believe we are all striving to remove the shackles of cultural and societal bonds that keep us from achieving self-actualization though I’m not certain most people truly want to move past the “safety” level of Maslow’s triangle because it takes work. It also takes a willingness to forgo the entrapment of our own self-made cages which means we will need to step out of the safety zone and into the arena of mindfulness and self-assessment. This is not a comfortable place to be, but a necessary one if we are to find our own version of nirvana.
Anyway, just a few thoughts on your offering.
“we are all striving to remove the shackles..” I wish that were true. That varies widely, and is rare. While researching a bit from Maslow’s work, according to him around 2% of the population becomes self-actualized. I suspect the percentage is even less today, given the distractions of media…
Just to clarify, when I suggest that almost everyone is attempting to remove shackles I believe most folks are looking to find some semblance of their own individuality. As noted, beyond that intent, the vast majority of humanity does not (nor will they ever) move out of Maslow’s safety zone. So from that standpoint we are in agreement.
Yes.