Overcoming And Becoming ‘Improvement’

8 Pages 1997 Words

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche uses the figure of Zarathustra to put forward his theory of how man can improve himself. Zarathustra teaches three metamorphosis of the spirit. The first is the camel, which is burdened by the established values of society. Next the spirit becomes the lion, which creates for itself the conditions necessary to create new values. The third metamorphosis is the child who, unencumbered by traditional values, is able to will its own will and follow its own path by creating new values. The child is the goal of development rather because only realized after the destruction of prescribed values are the conditions for creation the child is capable present. In Twighlight of the Idols Nietzsche discusses a different kind of “improvement.” Nietzsche identifies the ‘improvers’ of mankind as those who wish to tame and break his spirit. Zarathustra’s improvement requires a similar disposition as that employed by the ‘improvers’ Nietzsche describes. However, unlike the ‘improvers’ Nietzsche describes, Zarathustra teaches improvement where the individual is responsible for establishing his own values. Zarathustra requires the individual to create and recreate his own path rather than follow the will of another. Only by following one’s own path is one able to truly progress.
The first metamorphosis of the spirit Zarathustra teaches is the camel. According to Zarathustra, the camel asks “What is the heaviest thing, you heroes? that I may take it upon me and rejoice in my strength” (Zarathustra, 54). Here Zarathustra identifies the camel as a beast of burden. The spirit in this stage believes that by carrying a burden it will display strength. The heaviest things the spirit is willing to carry are the tendencies to “debase yourself in order to injure your pride,” “to be sick and to send away comforters in order to tempt the tempter”, “to love those who despise us and to ...