The Diary of Zarathustra's Groupie

"Der Mensch ist ein Seil, geknüpft zwischen Tier und Übermensch - ein Seil über einem Abgrunde."

I've been a Nietzsche groupie for a while, but as of late I've taken that laterally to being a fan of Zarathustra. Two reasons, first, ever since art class in 3rd grade at elementary school I've always looked up to Leo Da Vinci and Michelangelo for being versatile, accomplished people of virtually every craft and trade. Inventor, scientist, artist, carpenter, surgeon, you name it I'm fascinated with the Renaissance man, his fearless optimism and pursuit of knowledge and ability, the excitement of individualism and the self-actualisation that must surely result. I had no literary background to describe the Renaissance man in Ms Batty's 3rd grade arts and crafts class, let alone the Übermensch (over-man, beyond man, super-man) as envisioned in Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra), but I could sense the yearning for greatness that these men (and women) turned into something real.

The second reason is my new found interest in Zarathursianism (or Zoroastrianism, founded on the teachings of Zoroaster or Zarathustra), a religion that flourished in Persia among other places prior to the Islamic Empire. As children in the Middle East we were taught that the Muslims defeated the "fire worshippers" from what is now Iran as the empire spread from Spain to China. Fire worshippers. That sounded pretty stupid and a tad scary. But the Zoroastrians don't pray to fire, they ignite it to give them inspiration in connecting with God (Kabbalists still use candles, and churches are lined with them). The In fact, the principles of Zoroastrianism are pervasive throughout all three Abrahamic religions and of course pre-date them.

I suppose the irony is that, with me being so excited about religion, an often blasphemous and angry atheist like Nietzsche turns out to be one of my heroes. "When I come across a religious man, I feel the need to wash my hands" he says. And in many ways I couldn’t agree more. The Sufi order to which I hold most affinity is the Malamteya order - which rejects ostentatious displays of religion and goes to extremes in doing so.

But what's the relationship between his concept of the Übermensch and Zarathustra, the prophet? One of Nietzsche's attacks on religion is that it focuses too much on the benefits of the afterlife and religious folk as a result are willing to settle in this life for much less than what they would otherwise be willing to, and can, attain. This can be tied quite well to the Zarathustrian aversion to asceticism in all its forms. Unlike the Abrahamic traditions for which there exist an array of mystics who fast for months on end and walk around barefoot in concrete caves, Zarathustrians focus on the here and now and with insist on active engagement in good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. Monasticism is therefore practically taboo. Another interesting fact is that proselytizing, or 'converting people', is generally not practiced. Though this may be for historical reasons, its another de-emphasis that works towards the theo-phobic Übermensch.

What I'm trying to say is that it's often comforting too see that ancient ideology and relatively modern philosophy still in many cases converge. In many ways it actually feels like we're all saying the same thing over and over again, with different words and in different languages, and the lucky ones get a glimpse of this harmony now and again.

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