Hello, everyone, I'm Stephen West. This is philosophize this. I want to extend a sincere thank you to all the people that support the show on patronize really do make this show possible. Thank you. I'd also like to thank all the people that go through the Amazon banner located on the front page of the website. You can make the show possible to speaking of the website. Other thing, the generous people, a patron of made possible is a brand new website with tons of added functionality. It's not up yet were currently doing some testing this week, but rest assured it will be up very soon, and I think we are all looking forward to that.

Partly today's episodes on nature and what many consider to be his seminal work entitled thus spoke, Sarah through strong, I hope you showed it right. So, whenever you're talking to somebody about natures philosophy, will yes more specifically the six or seven books that make up the main body of his philosophy, a common way. The people act a sort of package it altogether and breakdowns to say that what need just trying to do all throughout his work is he's trying to get us to rethink all the fundamental assumptions that we're making about three major parts of our thinking.

Ar fifteen thoughts about God and religion talked about that on Youtube Part one, and we talked about these true world theories and how they are, ultimately, Tunisia, clever, human inventions to fill an intrinsic psychological boy from eating number to our thoughts about human nature. That was me to part two. When we talked about the will to power what it means to be a human being and why we do what we do. Will the third and final area that people, so you need to try to get us to think about, is a concept that we're actually all very familiar with his the idea that everything in the universe can ultimately be classified as being part of one of two extremely broad categories that we like to call good

evil. Something is either good or its evil everything every event every example of human behaviour. They can point to. We look at a closely enough. We can determine which one of these two columns it falls under good or evil. So it's only fitting that we need to look for the main character for many consider to be his seminal work. He gets the guide that invented the concept of good versus evil. That's right. There. There was a guy hey. I got a single guy and, needless to say, he lived a very long long time ago. Some historians say is earliest nine thousand BC. Some say it was a lot more recently he was a persian profit that went by the name of zero, Astor or just friends like the column. Zarathustra knows our thumbscrew country in almost every one else, living around this time in history, instead of just looking out at stuff that happens world and whether it's the God of the sea or the God of war, instead of just attributing whatever happened. As being the will of what

for God, and the pantheon of God's corresponds to the action zarathustra he simplified. The whole system into a battle between what he called a who were master or the Lord of Wisdom and goodness, and undermine you or the Spirit of destruction and evil, and it should be said that, like anything from his longer there's lots of different theories about the dates the readings while the stuff, but as far as most historians are concerned, SAR through strikes the first person to ever articulate this famous dichotomy of good versus evil now need his book. There were talking about today is called thus spokes our through strong and there's a lot of you That would say that what nature thinks he's doing when he's writing this book is he's writing the continuation of Tsar thrusters work. You know if only our through her had been born. Just a few thousand years later and home is Arthur, said the boy at the time of nature when better information was available, the natural conclusion that he, arrived at. That eventually, is that these concepts of good and evil are

nothing more than an invention by human beings to simplify things and that there is no such thing as a comically ordained, good or evil. In other words, nature, just like he thinks Plato did to the mouth of Socrates, just like he thinks Paul in the authors. The new testament did them out of Jesus neatest writing a book to the mouth of zarathustra and much, like the other two

People's he's trying to get the people of his time to question the way they live their life and hopefully move onto something better, but to get the whole picture, then each is painting. I think it is useful for us to at least briefly talk about what happens at the beginning of the spokes earth history here goes story begins with zarathustra main character, the book voice of Frederick Nature and, in all around great guy, we find our through strict the beginning. The story on top of a mountain isn't half of a mountain because he just spent the last ten years of his life there. The story goes that one's Arthur's to turn thirty years old. He m. Will he do any self? Respecting person would have done. He decided to live in a cave on top of a mountain and complete solitude, contemplating the meaning of life, but the Good NEWS is this: ten years was far from a waste of time when it came to our through

understanding the world better. His strategy of moving up to the mountains and thinking about stuff for ten years actually worked pretty well if it works. So well, he makes a clear in the book all this wisdom that he had acquired over the years it began to burdens are thrust, restricts become too much for him, so one day decides instead of Bogart. Another wisdom on top of the mountain of his he's, gonna high down the mountain and try to spread around some of his fellow human beings that live in the town. At the base of the mountain, a town in the story- that's called motley cow at first glance that may sound like some sort of bovine here Little band there is actually a double meaning to the name. Motley is a translation of a word. You and Platos Republic to denounce the democratic state which is not exactly a huge fan of, and cow is referring to. How need to seize the vast majority of people as members of a hurt, combine the two and you get motley cow, so he descended

the mountain he gets to the town. He sees crowds of people standing around watching all different kinds of ST performers and essentially Netflix for their generation he homes and on a particular crowd of people that are watching this tightrope Walker and before the performer can get up and actually do, is act. It's quiet, there's a crowd of people standing around waiting for a show southeast or thinks, but there's a captive audience. What a fantastic opportunity for me to tell me fellow human beings, all the great stuff I learned on top of the mountain, so it gets up in front of a crowd. Me says quote behold I teach you the over man, the overman is the meaning of the Let your will say the government shall be the meaning of the earth. I beseech you, my brother's remain faithful to the earth and do not believe those who speak to you of other worldly hopes poison mixers. Are they whether they know it or not? Despises of life? Are they decaying and poison themselves, of whom the earth is weary? So let them go

I teach you the over mad man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? All being so far, have created something beyond themselves and do you want to be the end of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape man, a laughing stock or a painful embarrassment, and man shall be just that for the over man, a laughing stock or a painful embarrassment. End quote so sorry, just stands up a forest fellow human beings. He gives them this half time, locker room motivational speech, and what do they do to him? They laugh it. They laugh at him. That's you think. The whole thing is some kind of elaborate act that he's putting on. They think he's a street performer dislike the tightrope Walker and he just doin some kind of Many show for them now. Remember natures. Writing this as a work of fiction. He chose was for the audience, do not have any idea what zarathustra talking about in the recently did it this way, because he's

of foreshadowing, how he thinks his philosophy is gonna go over to just Europe run of the mill person living in you know: Motley Cow Nebraska, meaning the probably going to get a very much pride. I gotta take it seriously much like the people living in Athens during the Tennessee. Pretty much like the people living during the time of Jesus. Sometimes ideas are just so far ahead of their time. Most people out there probably aren't gonna get it does what niches? Anticipating that's fine, but, on the other hand, must be fair to the people are right. Can you really blame them for not understanding what zarathustra talkin about

I quote, I mean he's done exactly is in plain English to describe as pointing out look. Look. I replied we everyday somebody comes up to me on the streets are Sakharov and over man was not even meet. The east has thrown around this word over man, like everybody's heard it like legacy to learn from Kermit the frog twenty years ago. I scarcely one, even though it is talking about, if I had heard of it before so. I guess my go right now is to try to do a little bit. Better job of unpacking are thrusters worldview than he did in that moment on the spot. When you really wasn't that far removed from talking to himself on top of a mountain for the last ten years, I mean makes sense. Charles Manson, probably isn't the greatest public speaker for talk about the overman. I guess a good place to start to say that to nature life is a constant pursuit, actually a constant struggle towards a state of being that he calls the overman. Some people say: Hooper meant some people say Superman's people say higher man I like to refer to it as the ascent,

it completely gender fluid by penal private though it would never be so insensitive its twin for your species, man, but I understand to be as progressive as I takes far too much time for of her little podcast like this. So what's all this be adults, let's call the overman and understand the sentiment behind what need just talking about. So what is this constant pursuit towards becoming the over man will need to thinks that every single one of the original presents ever been born for that matter. If you continually progress as a human being, you're gonna go through three big stages of development. Throughout your life, the first stage is being a camel. The second stage is being a lion and the third stage as being a child. Let's talk about these three stages of life. All of us when camels, Indonesia. Ninety nine point, nine percent of people are going to die. Camels are gonna, spend their entire lives stagnant, locked in this city, age of being a camel and the reason it refers to the fore they. D life is resembling a camel it because, when you take a close look at most

but in the way they interact with the world, they carry themselves as though they are wilful beasts of bird think of a day in the life of your average friendly neighbourhood camel what do they do all day. While people come up to them, they put a bunch of stuff on their backs and they tell him not to complain about it very much. They say: look for get what you want to do camel I'll. Tell you what you're gonna do you're gonna carry all this wait for me exactly where I tell you to carry it, got it when it comes down to it. This is the basic life of a camel. It doesn't matter how good to have it, but I'll give you have twenty years of camels in Europe cushy job down at the petting, so you're still walking around in a circle was seven year old, kids under back your job is still to carry this burden. Don't complain you behave the way I tell you to behave so obviously this camel is a metaphor.

So, let's try to think about how this camels life is similar to the life of the average person. If we are, in fact, all born camels, what sort of heavy burdens are figurative, speaking tied to our backs by other human beings will nature would say everything you ve ever been told the do by somebody else. Any time you ve ever been told that this is, I should be living your life or this is, I should be feeling about this stuff. This is how it should be acting that stuff. Like look from the moment, you said, Google Gaga for the very for time you ve been getting wait after wait, tied to your camel back, telling you all the stuff that should be important, do in all the ways if need be living life, and each would say that these waits tied to your back, our law, eyes that need to be shed if we truly ever want to be free, these waits could be anything. It could be that you need to put your napkin on your lap before you eat. It could be the the way that a respectable gentlemen dresses take that off right now,

be bigger than that. It could be that you need to go into this box on Sunday until this eighty year old, virgin priest all the stuff he did wrong this week. So we can tell you to do a few hand, gestures and then absolve. You have all your since these waits could be anything think about it. Every single thing that you do down to the tiniest minutiae if the only reason you're doing it is because somebody I am pointing. No, I told you that that's how you propose to do it. It could very well be One of these waits you carry around with you throughout your life is a camel. Now something may be asking perfectly reasonable objection, look what's wrong, but taken advice from how to do things from people around US nature, where you so against that drivers, have to know everything can't. I yield the people a more experience than I am, and he would say. Of course, you can but understand that Syria, for what makes these things await on your back as a camel. It's not that these things are burdens to use, by virtue of the fact that you got them from somebody else, any one of these things could easily be the best thing. You can do it's the intentions behind. Why you're doing at the matters? It's a look around you.

How many people really are having a good day when they engage in that disingenuous conversation with a guy at seven eleven. How are you today good how bout you good How many people really are having that exchange because they thought about it? They ve looked within themselves, if considered, what's important them, how they can best spend their time personally, ultimately want to be and come to the conclusion that the research good. How about you is the quickest succession of words accomplishes what they want out of that exchange, how many people are doing for, though, reasons and how many people are doing it, because it's just, but everybody else does or because there mom told them. It was apply thing to do because they are told by their their grand Pappy that they all people that respect Again, if not the being nice and saying good, how about you is wrong. Necessarily it's the reason behind why you're doing it, because yeah the cost of say,

good. How about you for the wrong reasons, might just be a couple seconds, no big deal but think about the potential cost. If you do something else, something bigger for the wrong reasons. For example, if you had just take a guess how many people in the history of our modern world of had this exact conversation with themselves, really some variation of it, I'm eighteen years old, graduating high school. My in council is blown up. My phone, like ISA collections Agency, trying to get me to declare, but I want to do for the rest of my life, but I dont know what I want to do. As you know it, I really want to do backpack across Europe S thinking about that the other day, man, what a transformational fun experience that would be one even what we figure out. What I want to do with my life. I can't do that though I gotta go go to school, that's what people do I got to go to school, so I can get a job, so I can get a house, so I can get married and have kids. I can't do that. This is a perfect example of how one of these weights on our back one of these ways of peace,

told you how you'd need to live your life. This is an example of how these waits that we carry around might cost us everything. What, if that trip across Europe would have been transformation? What if it were to change the entire course of your life again, there's nothing wrong with going to college right out a high school, but the only reason this person's doing it, because I ve been told that's the way it has to be by their parents and their guidance, counselor they're, all life. Why are you trusting these people more than what you, Chile want you just as so often we adhere to one of these wait. We tell ourselves. This is how we have to be living our lives and so on The process, these things that we define ass quote the right thing to do deny our souls of life and what we actually want to be doing? What is that to be this way? Nita says it at a certain point: a lucky few people take a look at all. These waves had been conferred on them since birth as camels, and they understand them for what they truly are. Not the right way to do things necessarily not the only way to do things, but the way other people have done things and

asked tradition and the thing about tradition. Is you don't necessarily need to follow it? No, you can say no to tradition and the moment you ve reached. Level of maturity to be able to say no to all these ways, people have told you you need to be living your life. That's a moment. You ve moved on to the second phase of life. You ve transformed into the lion now the lion. The line is in this strange limbo stage of self awareness. All these ways, your told you so Costa think feel ACT. The lion recognizes them for what they are. Arbitrary traditions wine is a long and daunting road ahead of it when it comes to understand the true extent to which these things influence our behaviour. In other words, if you in this lion stage of life you may realise at the only reason you're going to church is because your pants told you it was the right thing to do, and you were a kid, but you may not realise hundreds of other things are. For just about the same reason, the ultimate task of the lion, Tunisia, is to slay a giant fight.

Breathing dragon that keeps the lion under its control. This dragons name is Thou shalt on each. Scale of the dragon skin inscribed on. It is something that you must do some way that you must behave once Kayla say something like that. We shall not stay around strangers. Another will say that was shelled cover their mouth when they sneeze it. The lion through rigorous introspection and honesty. If it ever wants to move on to the third stage of life, it has to muster the courage and strength lay that dragon named Thou shalt therein understand these traditions for what they are respecting these traditions and if, in the future, you choose to behave in accordance with one of them, you know, even if you choose to cover your mouth, when you sneeze now you're doing it because you freely chose to not because you're under the control of some dragon, I guess a distinct way. You could put these first, whose

it is a life, is there's two types of people in the world: people that no they're enslaved and people that dont know their enslaved. Well, here's need to saying no there's a third type, a person in the world what he would call the child seats. Think about the lines We all throughout the second stage of life, you're, really just saying no to everything. No, I'm not gonna go to college just cause. He told me: that's that people do no mom, I'm not gonna where those weird crock sandals, just as you do but think that, if all you ever do is say no to everything? What are you ultimately left with? At the end, nothing, this is a place in life than he just as people oftentimes get a little stuff see because a thing about sling that dragon and all the ways people are telling you how to live, is at a loss, but the scales that we're on that dragging the AEGIS Slade are all of these true world theories that we talked about an episode the series so often happens, is people work really hard and they rigorously analyzed or behaviour in the sleigh that dragged on the coming on either side having lost, but they always told themselves

was the meaning of their life sharing. We all imagine something like this. Someone grows up in a religious home, maybe they get a loner, they start thinking about things like unto the losing that. Maybe this religion isn't some cosmical ordained, meaning to my life. Maybe it's a tradition that my family participates in. That helps us feel better about certain questions that let's be honest, reply, never gonna get an answer to that It may come out on the other side of that thought, with complete peace about that tradition and sling the dragon, but They ve lost what they always told themselves as the meaning of their life, and nature would have expected this members. The first thing we talked about on episode: one need just as given the fact that there is no obvious billboard up in the sky of some cosmical ordained, meaning to our lives? It makes sense that we expect to see is the vast, but

ready, a people with a nihilistic outlook on the universe just might default, but in practice what actually happens is were born into the world camels be burden. We have all these through world theories loaded onto our backs, among other things, true world theories that give us a message that something out there as prescribed meaning to our lives in after years of development of becoming the lion and slain the dragon. We don't have those true world theories anymore and not just as a huge mistake that people make when they get to this place. The place where there is no obvious meaning to their lives is they think that they ve arrived at sums the destination. You know I used to believe in this really great meaning to my life. I about it for a while and pretty sure. It's not true. Therefore, There must be no meaning to my life or anything, the universe. For that matter. People get stuck here. It's really common people think it's

a reasonable thing to say that, because they used to believe in a meeting and that meeting ended up not being true. That means that there can't be a meaning at all. It's a little like having a bad experience at a restaurant and you go home and go on yelp and you make a post. There are no good restaurants out there They don't exist now, need you would say it's not that there's no meaning out there that there's not a good restaurant out there. You just look

for it in the wrong places. Let's do thought experiment what? If what if Zarathustra was wrong, but if there is no cosmical ordained good versus evil in the universe? What, if we're not all just sort of renting space and some terrorism, a dreary and the belongs to something else, some cosmic force that we somehow need to get into contact with. We can find out what the meaning of our lives are. What, if that notion that this universe belongs to something else? What if that notion is just another weight that has been tied to your back from the moment you were born. What, if it doesn't need to be that way? What if the idea of good versus evil is this, how about this. What the universe isn't? Something else is property. What, if it's yours? What if, instead of a camel in the desert, you are the master of your own desert and build an oasis wherever you want you, a lot of people think that nature is analysis. Actually kind of a funny misconception is nothing could be further from the truth. His entire body of work is a refugee

she of nihilism. It's a recipe for making our lives as meaningful as possible needs. It would say that the state nihilism is where we should have begun by default of it. For all these waits being tied to us from such an early age? It's a transitional period. We should experience it and certainly learn the lessons that ass to teach us, but then we have to move on. He said inside of everyone has the potential to be the best happiest was powerful person. You can be whatever that means to you. Look inside you yourself. You know that Listen you want to be. You know the things that you desire out of life. Nature would say that ensue of you is a seed, a seed that, if only you were to nurture it would allow you to grow into that very person. Just as when you tell people this not exactly a shock to them. Everybody knows they have this inside them they're just terrified of there. Hi yourself. He says, because when you're in your own head staring your potential,

straight in the face, and it tells you what you should be doing that you're not doing he says quote: they fear their higher self, because when it speaks it speaks demanding. The end quote need to think a crucial part of realising the potential becoming the person you truly want to be deep down, is setting calculated goals, but not just any eagles, ambitious, difficult goals. Does that exert your mind and body on a daily basis, the thinking behind the heart of the goal, the better you're gonna have to become to achieve it, life be a process of surmounting these difficult goals, if set for yourself in winter done with those ones you set new ones. Now has a caveat here, of course, Nature lies that not everybody is gonna know what their goal should be. Not everybody's gonna know what direction to head does a lot of people. That would say. Look. I obviously know that I could be better, but I honestly don't know, what's even worth striving for everything seems equally meaningless to me. How can I decide whether my goals can be something MT, Everest or join in the circus? I can't ever get started

because I dont know how to find a goal. Nature has a strategy for this person, the strategy for finding that thing inside of you that you care about the most he says quote: let the youthful soul look back on life. What the question! What have you truly loved up to now? what has drawn your soul aloft? What has mastered? at the same time. Blessed it set up. These revered objects before you in person their nature in their sequence, will give you a law. The fundamental law of your own, true self end quote, in other words if you're lost in terms of how to choose a goal. That's meaningful to you ask yourself: what have you loved up until this point in your life? What's meant the world to you up until now, nature would say The answer has been inside of you all along. I think he'd say that this is at least a pretty good place to start. Looking for whatever that is now some of you may be asking ok, I was born a camel. I shed the weight off my,

become a lion, have slain the dragon thou shalt. I have this difficult goal, that's gonna make me feel exerted and have meaning everyday. Whatever happened to the third stage of life, will the third stage of life is what we started: come on. We get past this passive nihilism that so many people get trapped in the third stage of life is what need to calls the child and he describes the difference between the child in the line here. But say my brother's. What can the child. That even the lion could not do. Why must the praying lion still become a child, the child. His innocence and forgetting a new beginning, a game, a self propelled we'll a first movement, a sacred yes for the game, a creation, my brother's, a sacred yes, is needed. The Spirit now wills, his own will and he had been lost to the world now conquers his own world. Quote. Never when you the lion all

doing a saying, no to everything. Other people are telling you to do when are the child. It requires you to say yes to some things are the example from before high school student that wants to go backpacking across Europe. Any denies himself of life by stick and what is guidance counselor told me to do truly being in this third state of life is the opposite of that is to live in a state of near constant life affirmation. Need to calls a stage the child, because he thinks when we're in it, because we don't have all these weights on our back telling us how things are. We almost resemble children at play. Children that are discovering the world for the first time, think what children look like when they're playing their little bundles of energy they're all over the place, but I'm thinking about what's happened later that data, not thinking about what parameters I must operate within their just pure life. Affirmation, their present, enjoying this game that they're playing right now and when that can they move on to the next game. Nature thinks, ironically enough. Practically

the one that's ever been alive has ever reach the level of human maturity where they begin to resume but a child at play again. But this is what we should be striving for, and it's only in this place, this place of being excited about finding new games to play or finding new ways look at things, this place of duchess living the same day over and over again, but to live a life where you want afraid to take risks, this place of wanting something and instead of from an internal yourself. You can't do it. You affirm life, you be owing to risk your life to get the things you want out of this world. It's only in this place that we can truly be masters of our own desert and start to create our own values. Indonesia thinks that this process of not denying yourself for the things you want, but affirming life and even be able to take a big risk to get the things you want. This is how you get the most happiness on a life. He says people tell themselves all kinds of stories about how happy of a person they deduct. What somebody called the last man, the last man

sort of the quintessential person that never ventures out of their comfort zone. They dont challenge themselves at on exercise. It'll. Have you desire in life. It s kind of sit around and do nothing. They do nothing. Yet, if you, this person, if they're happy they say gonna happy person, but what is happiness will come on having this? Isn't this objectively quantify will state where everybody says it they're happy and are feeling the exact same thing. Now, it's crazy to think that one person that describes themselves as happy as much happier than somebody else it describes themselves it's not crazy. To think that somebody who has submitted mountains, they ve been through intense pain and hardship, achieving them goals that mean so much to them. Socrates. I think they might just be a little bit happier than somebody. That's it the council day and is never uncomfortable. Media would say what can a life? Is that really never being uncomfortable? It's a This person is certainly convince themselves at their happy, but make no mistake: it is a fragile shallow happiness at this person,

it's a view from on top of a bolder, as opposed to the beautiful view from on top of a mountain that they could have needs says we should always strive to be the opposite of this personally just sits on the couch all day, with no goals and the opposite of the last man. You guessed it is the Overman Sea, because, if you're, one of the lucky few people that reaches this third state of life, the child A really tempting thing to do once you get there may be to say. Well, I did it. I arrived the destination. I made it to the third stage of life. Now I don't have to try anymore, but can probably yes, I know it is not really a huge fan of final destinations, including the movies member. At the beginning of the episode, was our asked the crowd. What is the ape to man, It's? A laughing stock or a painful embarrassment and man shall be just that for the overman. He says what is Firstly, there is when it comes

or evolutionary passed. What is a chimpanzees relationship to you when you think about that? But chimpanzee is really just your great great great great great great great grandfather, that chimpanzee is where you came from, but just for second compare the way your brain thinks plants and interact with the world to the way a chimpanzee interacts with the world its very different. You can do a lot of things of that. Chimpanzee could never do in its wildest dreams, need to what's a look. It's not like human beings in their current form or it's some sort of evolutionary endpoint know we're going to continue to grow and change and become capable of even greater things were going to eventually get there. It's interesting to ask what, next level, gonna look like only off chance. We dont nuke ourselves into oblivion. What's a

and being gonna look like in ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, a million years, whatever it looks like, maybe we will look to it like the chimpanzee looks to us now. This hypothetical next level of human being is what nature refers to as the we're man. Once we removed the weight of the camel slain the dragon s Align and lived our life as a child. Our goal should be to constantly think about what this overman may be like and strive to become it. Now, of course, nature had his own ideas of what this overman would look like, but I think they are The government in nature is more of an ideal to strive for rather than something are actually gonna be able to become. The overman is a reminder to us that there is always room for growth. Is where we're going. It's reminder that we should in face the fact that we will never arrive at a destination and our lives when it comes to our development and nature thinks ultimately that's a good thing because consider the alternative,