Nietzsche's magnum opus, Thus Spracht Zarathustra, has a very interesting origin. One could see it as a rebellion against the old tablets; one could see it as the most profound human exploration of human existence. One can see it as the longing for a better modus operandi, and one can see it as the yearning for the Übermensch. Indeed, such a book has more than many ideas and thoughts to convey, and all of them are correct. There is an interesting coincidence of when Nietzsche started writing the book.
Lou Andreas-Salomé. She has been a disciple of Sigismund Freud. The woman who broke Nietzsche's heart by rejecting Nietzsche's longing for her. It was after this point that Nietzsche started to pull together all of his notes and write Thus Spracht Zarathustra.
I believe that most may believe the book was written in a rebellious attitude toward the Zeitgeist. But when you read it thoroughly, there you see a broken and longing philosopher. The book was written in that agony of longing. Such a longing that one cannot satisfy the most burning desire a person can have.
In ancient Greece, the most insulting curse was not a death oath but a condemnation of love. They cursed that Eros would make the cursed person love someone who is highly unreachable. It seems funny in this now love-lacking social world where most people crave more experiences than ever before. How could this be a curse?
If you haven't loved before, all of this may sound like a joke or lie. After all, what is love with yearning, one could ask. I believe they will be damned but lucky when Eros hits them with his cupid bow.
Nietzsche was hit, bleeding. Burnt by the desire. Zarathustra carried his ashes to the peak of the summit. Nietzsche's thinking and writing were pleas for redemption. For someone like Nietzsche, when he loves someone, it is unimaginable his pain of yearning. The longing for the loved one propelled Nietzsche forward. One could ask, what if Salome accepted him? Would we still have Thus Spracht Zarathustra? Certainly not. Nietzsche showed his greatness when he transformed all of his agonies, learning and yearning to create a book that defied his times. Nevertheless, Nietzsche would still want Salome instead of burning with the desire. But then, he wouldn't ascend his freedom, and we, the world we know today, could have been quite different.
Yearning and longing are powerful emotional states; there is more than that. They are existential states. Following his example, the only way is to transcend. I admire Nietzsche more than anything for his transcendence of yearning for something eternal and something of growth. We can choose to transform agony into something creative and of growth; after all, pain + reflection = progress.
May the people who yearn for longing find it, burnt by it and reborn as new. For those in agony, the time of rebirth is approaching from those fiery states into the final but also the beginning phase of a phoenix. Nietzsche showed us that although it is painful when we are reborn from our ashes, miracles do happen.
And The Waltz Goes On
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