Summary: I am going to re-read Nietzsche’s ZARATHUSTRA and provide some summaries of the meanings, not the storyline. Here are some resources—including a full copy of the book from Cambridge University Press—if you want to follow along, question and comment…
I have the desire to read a paper book for the sake of aesthetics, brain health, and in order to ensure that I spend time away from digital distractions. I do believe from experience – and I think current neuroscience agrees – that something very special happens to our brains when we actually sit down to read a paper book—it’s like a massage for the brain that stimulates new connections and new ideas in ways that other reading formats and information-access avenues cannot match.
In order to keep myself on track as I read through this particular book, I will compose and publish a summary or interpretation of that particular section, of which this book has divided that particular work into approximately 80—sounds like a lot, but obviously each one of those sections is pretty short so that actually makes the work quite manageable both for reading and reviewing.
To the best of my knowledge, Nietzsche is the only philosopher who developed a complete system for understanding life and specifically how to improve it in the here and now.
I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make life beautiful.
This is what we should learn from Artists: How can we make things beautiful, attractive, and desirable for us, when they are not?
Friedrich Nietzsche, Joyful Knowledge
Among the books I inherited from my father is his apparently unread copy of “The Portable Nietzsche” written by the Princeton scholar Walter Kaufman; this particular edition as you can see in the photo was published of 697 pages in 1954 for the price of $1.45. Many audio, paper and digital versions of Nietzsche’s ZARATHUSTRA are available widely through bookstores and online archives; I will provide a PDF copy of an authoritative interpretation of the work here for those of you who want easy access.
I’ve read other editions of the book in its entirety and actually have started reading the translations in Spanish as well. But this time I’m giving it a completely fresh start, including a new package of yellow highlighters that I just received this morning. I couldn’t possibly read anything of importance without being able to highlight it and make a few notes.
Without trying to sound dramatic or elitist, I honestly don’t believe that anyone can understand the true meaning of Nietzsche’s ZARATHUSTRA without understanding the context of Nietzsche’s philosophy and his personal life, and this requires accessing a masterpiece review either in video, audio, or paper book. Some of the previous reviews that I’ve accessed have also been mentioned within my newsletter, the three most important of which are listed here in case you want to access them:
1. Giants of Philosophy: Nietzsche by Professor Richard Schacht:
Written by Professor Richard Schacht and narrated by Charleton Heston, this is the most illuminating brilliant clear (albeit with some hyperbole) Mozart-effecting audio presentation I’ve ever heard, at least at the time, but probably in my entire life. I purchased this audio-cassette while biking along the Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle in 1999, and I’ve probably listened to it hundreds of times in various formats. NOTE: The audio-cassette is the complete version and has more information and details than do the digital/CD/mp3 versions. Professor Schacht actually sent me a personal copy of the typed manuscript. Link: learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Philosophy/Philosophers/Friedrich-Nietzsche/20525
2. SPECTACULAR (ABRIDGED) AUDIOBOOK the brilliant Naxos Audiobook of Zarathustra.
Thus spoke Zarathustra [audio preferred] by Friedrich Nietzsche: Anybody who knows me, has read my books, or has seen my portrait tattoo knows that I will forever be a great fan of Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings. Most of his works are brilliant and very empowering, and this is exactly why they are censored from public view and not significantly included in formal education either in Europe or the United States. The brilliant production by Naxos audiobooks of his famous Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a feast of mental imagery, but not necessarily a shower of words as is the aforementioned work by Gilbert; very similar to Rand’s Fountainhead, N’s historical rewriting of religious foundations is rich with sarcasm and nuance, which is why I’ve listened to it probably more than a thousand times. I read the paper version translated by Kauffmann when I was 24yo; the great irony of Kauffmann’s scholarship is that he never seems to have understood the totality of the works that he translated. I have included one of the complete versions, published by Cambridge University as a PDF document here; like others in the genre, many of the academic translations of Nietzsche’s work lack any style or fluidity and obviously weren’t written by anyone who’s ever danced salsa. Again, even if it is abridged, the the Naxos production of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is amazing, beautiful, and perhaps flawless.
3. BBC masterpiece summary of N’s life and work
Some people might prefer this different version on the same theme, which is also (I think) from the BBC—personally, I could not watch it because it seemed too dramatic and theatrical for my tastes and sensibilities.
From my medical-clinical perspective, I think the cause of N’s final mental collapse was quite clearly the rupture of a syphilitic aneurysm in his brain/brainstem, as this accounts for the 1) sudden onset, 2) cranial nerve deficits, 3) cortical deficits including aphasia.
Others have speculated on things like mitochondrial diseases (which do not occur suddenly) and intracranial tumors (which can rarely cause sudden events but do not typically present in this manner). N suffered from a variety of illnesses and not uncommonly wrote about issues related to health, and how to overcome such problems with character and force of will, to the extent that such was possible.
DownloHave you ever read anything from British Journal of Aesthetics? HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!
Closure: I am going to re-read Nietzsche’s ZARATHUSTRA and provide some summaries of the meanings, not the storyline. Follow-along if you want, or just ignore the articles/videos that have “Nietzsche’s ZARATHUSTRA” somewhere in the title or near the top.
