When Zarathustra was thirty years old,
he left his home and Lake Urmi and went into the mountains.
There he enjoyed his spirit and his solitude,
and for ten years did not tire of that.
But at last his heart changed

–and on morning he rose with the dawn,
stepped before the sun, and spoke to it thus:

You great star, what would your happiness be
if you did not have those
for whom you shine?

For ten years you have climbed up to my cave:
You would have become weary of your light
and of the journey
had it not been for me and my eagle and my serpent;

but we waited for you every morning,
took your overflow from you,
and blessed you for it.

Behold, I am sick of my wisdom.
like a bee that has gathered too much honey;
I need hands outstretched to receive it;
I want to give away and distribute
until the wise among men enjoy their folly
once again and the poor their riches.

For that I must descend
to the depths,
as you do in the evening
when you go behind the sea
and still bring light to the underworld,
you over-rich star.

Like you I must go under,
as men put it to whom I wish to descend.

Bless me then,
you calm eye that can look without envy
even upon an all too great happiness.
Bless the cup that wants to overflow
in order that the water may flow from it
golden and carry the reflection of your rapture everywhere.

Be hold, this cup wants to become empty again,
and Zarathustra wants to become man again.”

–Thus Zarathustra began to go under.

–excerpt The Gay Science, Book 4, Section 342 by Friedrich Nietzsche

This quotation strikes me as a dream-vision, a surreal account of an appeal by a shaman figure to the sun, at the end of a ten year season of solitude, of self-reflection.  The sun is addressed as the ultimate example of efficient wisdom and power.  Who could disagree with that?

Zarathustra offers gratitude to the sun for greeting him at the entrance of his cave abode, and for faithfully sharing its surplus of wisdom.  To live in the sun is a blessing.  The wise man compares himself to a bee overloaded with honey.  Like the sun he desires to distribute, to offer what he has gathered.

There is a cost however.  The cost is descent, a “going under,” the certain friction of being misunderstood, of becoming as human as those he wishes to communicate with.

Zarathustra asks for a blessing.

A blessing, the nod of approval is essential for the water to flow, emptying the cup…

to become empty again!

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This is the song that we need, True Devotion by The Bodeans.  I like the plaintive, dirge-like quality…