Part 4 of Nietzsche’s “Thus spoke Zarathustra” and the Identaria project
Mysticism plays a great part in “Thus spoke Zarathustra”, being one of the reasons for its high impact. It is something which has strong appeal to many people – religious and godless alike. The mystical and esoteric elements are also very relevant for the Identaria project as an archeo-futurist research- and art-related project which fully takes into account both archaic and mystical principles. The mystical component – often in a religious form – has been critical for geopolitical power throughout history. Esoteric and mystical elements could be found in many places throughout Zarathustra and this is one of the reasons it sounds biblical. As noted by Kaufmann, Nietzsche’s unique achievement is that he tried to strengthen the heritage of the Enlightenment with a more profound understanding of the irrational, by approaching the subject psychologically (Kaufmann, 1976).
One of the mystical chapters is “On great events” which entails mystical symbols and splendid humour alike. The great events take place on an island in the sea — not far from Zarathustra’s blessed isles — on which a fire-spewing mountain smokes continually. This mountain, the people say, has been placed like a huge rock before the gate to the underworld. The narrative starts by the image of the flying Zarathustra descending to hell and continues with Zarathustra’s conversation with the fire hound:
“The earth,” he said, “has a skin, and this skin has diseases. One of these diseases, for example, is called ‘man.’ And another one of these diseases is called ‘fire hound’. This is the “hound of the depth”.
Indeed, some parts of Zarathustra’s conversation with the hypocritical fire hound could be interpreted in political terms, for example the words: “Freedom is what all of you like best to bellow; but I have outgrown the belief in ”great events” wherever there is much bellowing and smoke… Whenever your noise and smoke were gone, very little had happened. What does it matter if a town became a mummy and a statue lies in the mud?”
One commentator argued that in the conversation with the fire hound we find Nietzsche face to face with the creature he most sincerely loathes – the spirit of revolution, and we obtain fresh hints concerning his hatred of the anarchist and rebel (Ludovici, 1909). For me, this is an overstatement. What counts most are the mystical aspects, for example: “the heart of the earth is of gold.” And, the related humour: “What shall I think of that?” said Zarathustra; “am I a ghost then? But it must have been my shadow. I suppose you have heard of the wanderer and his shadow? This, however, is clear: I must watch it more closely—else it may yet spoil my reputation.”
There are other mystical moments in the next chapter “The soothsayer” in which Zarathustra tells a bad dream he had. In this dream Zarathustra had become a night watchman and a guardian of tombs upon the lonely mountain castle of death.
“Thrice, strokes struck at the gate like thunder; the vaults echoed and howled thrice; then I went to the gate. ‘Alpa,’ I cried, ‘who is carrying his ashes up the mountain? Alpa! Alpa! Who is carrying his ashes up the mountain? Then a roaring wind tore the gate’s wings apart; whistling, shrilling, and piercing, it cast up a black coffin before me. And amid the roaring and whistling and shrilling the coffin burst and spewed out a thousandfold laughter. And from a thousand grimaces of children, angels, owls, fools, and butterflies as big as children, it laughed and mocked and roared at me. Then I was terribly frightened; it threw me to the ground. And I cried in horror as I have never cried. And my own cry awakened me—and I came to my senses.”
The nightmare about the mountain castle of death contributes to the specific dark and “Gothic” undertones of the whole chapter which probably refers to Schopenhauer and his pervasive pessimism. The cry “Alpa” might refer to the Alps, the great European mountains where much of the inspiration for Zarathustra came from? And, more importantly, the nightmare is one of those mystical moments that make the world of Zarathustra so beautifully realistic. The mountain castle of death “Alpa” could be one of those strategic mystical spots which make visionary projects such as Identaria possible.
One of the most mystical chapters is “On the vision and the riddle” in which Nietzsche is clearly engaged in esoteric writing. In this chapter he describes, in his own words, “the vision of the loneliest”. Zarathustra walks gloomily “through the deadly pallor of dusk” upward a malicious, lonely mountain path. “Not only one sun had set for me,” he says. “Upward—although he sat on me, half dwarf, half mole, lame, making lame, dripping lead into my ear, leaden thoughts into my brain.” The strange creature, as it turns out, is “the spirit of gravity”, Zarathustra’s devil and arch-enemy.
“Then something happened that made me lighter, for the dwarf jumped from my shoulder, being curious; and he crouched on a stone before me. But there was a gateway just where we had stopped.
“Behold this gateway, dwarf!” I continued. “It has two faces. Two paths meet here; no one has yet followed either to its end. This long lane stretches back for an eternity. And the long lane out there, that is another eternity. They contradict each other, these paths; they offend each other face to face; and it is here at this gateway that they come together. The name of the gateway is inscribed above: ‘Moment.’”
“Then suddenly I heard a dog howl nearby. Had I ever heard a dog howl like this? My thoughts raced back. Yes, when I was a child, in the most distant childhood: then I heard a dog howl like this…. Where was the dwarf gone now? And the gateway?”
“Among wild cliffs I stood suddenly alone, bleak, in the bleakest moonlight. But there lay a man… And verily, what I saw—I had never seen the like. A young shepherd I saw, writhing, gagging, in spasms, his face distorted, and a heavy black snake hung out of his mouth…Guess me this riddle that I saw then, interpret me the vision of the loneliest. For it was a vision and a foreseeing. What did I see then in a parable? And who is it who must yet come one day? Who is the shepherd into whose throat the snake crawled thus?”
“The shepherd, however, bit as my cry counseled him; he bit with a good bite. Far away he spewed the head of the snake—and he jumped up. No longer shepherd, no longer human—one changed, radiant, laughing! Never yet on earth has a human being laughed as he laughed! O my brothers, I heard a laughter that was no human laughter; and now a thirst gnaws at me, a longing that never grows still.”
The scene is rich in symbols and mystical elements. The gateway named “Moment” is an attempt to visualize the concept of the eternal recurrence. This is actually Zarathustra’s first account of the eternal recurrence. Two eternal paths meet at the gateway and Zarathustra poses the question: “And are not all things knotted together so firmly that this moment draws after it all that is to come?” The powerful image of the gateway could be further developed in the context of the Identaria project. From the perspective of the vision of Zarathustra, Identaria could be conceptualized as a gateway where all European identities meet together. The gateway “Identaria” should be a place for preserving and developing European identity, a place for the “eternal recurrence” of European identity. And, to give an answer to Zarathustra’s riddle, in the context of the Identaria project the young shepherd symbolizes the warrior of identity who is ready to bite “with a good bite” the head of the snake of anti-European racism.
The mysticism in Zarathsutra has influenced heavily artists (who as a rule are not of the nationalist stock). Take for example, Jim Morrison of the Doors who has been influenced by Nietzsche in many ways, including in terms of mysticism, Zarathustra, the overman and Nietzsche’s fascination with Dionysus. At least to some extent the Doors’ psychedelic “Gothic” music and Morrison’s enigmatic dark lyrics owe their lasting power to Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. Just listen to “Riders on the storm”, “Break on Through”, “The End” or Morrison’s “Ghost song” and you can hear Nietzsche’s ideas.
Zarathustra’s mysticism and radicalism are also very well expressed in the original concept of the great noon (der grosse Mittag) which marks the revolutionary moment of the transition between man and overman. The great noon is closely connected with the concept of the overman as shown in the chapter “On the gift-giving virtue”:
“And that is the great noon when man stands in the middle of his way between beast and overman and celebrates his way to the evening as his highest hope: for it is the way to a new morning…
“Dead are all gods: now we want the overman to live”—on that great noon, let this be our last will.”
And further, in the chapter “On virtue that makes small”: “O blessed hour of lightning! O secret before noon! I yet hope to turn them into galloping fires and heralds with fiery tongues—they shall yet proclaim with fiery tongues: It is coming, it is near — the great noon!”
In the chapter “On passing by” Zarathustra highlights the devastating nature of the great noon: “Woe unto this great city! And I wish I already saw the pillar of fire in which it will be burned. For such pillars of fire must precede the great noon.”
There are also sinister images in Zarathustra, for example the isle of tombs in the very personal chapter titled “The tomb song”: “There is the isle of tombs, the silent isle; there too are the tombs of my youth. There I wish to carry an evergreen wreath of life.”
Other mystical and biblical images appear in the chapter “On the great longing”, namely “the vintager and his knife”: “but that is the vintager who is waiting with his diamond knife – your great deliverer, O my soul, the nameless one for whom only future songs will find names.”
And, finally the question “Who shall be the lord of the earth?” in the chapter “The drunken song”. And the answer to it: “The purest shall be the lords of the earth — the most unknown, the strongest, the midnight souls who are brighter and deeper than any day.”
Followed by the sinister moment: “now the tombs stammer, “Redeem the dead! Why does the night last so long? Does not the moon make us drunken?… You higher men, redeem the tombs, awaken the corpses!”
Bibliography
Kaufmann, Walter. ‘Introduction and editor notes’, The portable Nietzsche (Penguin Books, 1976).
Ludovici, Anthony M. Notes on “Thus spake Zarathustra”, In: Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus spake Zarathustra”, trans. Thomas Common, 1909.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus spoke Zarathustra. A book for all and none, trans. Walter Kaufmann (Penguin Books, 1976).
Nikolay Pavlov