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10 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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On the Three Metamorphoses
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There are three stages of progress toward the overman: the camel, the lion, and the child. In the first, one must renounce one's comforts, exercise self- discipline, and accept all sorts of difficulties for the sake of knowledge and strength. Second, one must assert one's independence, saying "no" to all outside influences and commands. Lastly comes the act of new creation.
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On the Teachers of Virtue
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Zarathustra criticizes the ideal of practicing virtue and restraint in order to find inner peace. This inner peace, which he calls "sleep," is antithetical to the "waking" struggle against oneself for improvement and independence.
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On the Afterworldly
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We are made of flesh, and not spirit, and our physical needs dictate our values and desires. A sick or dissatisfied person will claim to be essentially spirit, and will create a God and an afterlife as distractions from the pains of this life.
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On the Despisers of the Body
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What we call "self" is nothing more than the body, and it underlies all reason, spirit, and sense, directing our passions and our thoughts. Those who assert that the self is really spirit are "despisers of the body" who have a sick body that hates life and wants to die.
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On Enjoying and Suffering the Passions
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We learn and grow most from our moments of suffering and intense feeling. They make us unique, and they should not be shared for fear of losing this uniqueness. Someone who is driven by more than one intense passion will suffer great inner conflict.
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On the Pale Criminal
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This section paints the portrait of a criminal who then confesses his guilt. He secretly wanted to kill, but convinced himself that he wanted only to rob, and therefore committed a murder-theft. Though he was perfectly capable of murder, he is repelled afterward by the thought of what he's done. His crime is not so much that he murdered but that he was driven to it by his weakness and was subsequently racked with guilt. At least his crime makes him aware of his weakness, which is more than can be said for most.
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On Reading and Writing
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A great writer puts so much of himself into his work, and writes at such an elevated level that most people cannot understand him. Though we might be inclined to think of such writers as serious, Zarathustra characterizes them as bearing a spirit of levity and laughter. He bemoans widespread literacy, since it has encouraged writers to simplify (or "dumb down," in our modern- day parlance) their work for the masses.
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On the Tree on the Mountainside
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Zarathustra speaks to a youth who feels isolated and frustrated in his struggle for independence. As he distances himself from others, he earns their contempt, and often feels self-contempt as well. Zarathustra encourages the youth, urging him never to give up hope.
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On the Preachers of Death
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Those who preach about an eternal life preach that life is suffering, but that it must be endured in preparation for the afterlife. As such, they are preaching a renunciation of this life, and so are preachers of death.
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On War and Warriors
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Those who pursue knowledge must do so relentlessly and with great discipline. Zarathustra likens this pursuit to war, and claims that it is in itself noble, having done far more for humanity than Christian virtues.
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