Frederich Nietzsche’s Workout for the Spirit-2

Frederich Nietzsche’s Workout for the Spirit-2

There is a Zen story that I think exemplifies very well to be in a state that goes beyond the moral dichotomy-

A senior and junior monk were walking down a path until they encountered a river that had a strong current. There they saw a young and beautiful woman who wanted to cross but was not able to. Upon seeing this, the senior monk offered to carry her on his shoulder, and he eventually did. Gently he dropped her on the other side and said good and parted ways. The junior monk was furious!

Many hours pass until the junior monk, not being able to withhold his anger, said to him: “As monks we are not supposed to touch women, how could, let alone touch her, but carry her?!!”-The senior monk replied: “As for me I left the woman hours ago by the river but you seem to be carrying her still.”

There is thus a strong emphasis that Nietzsche, among other thinkers and tradition, puts on overcoming the mind, or what he calls our Apollonian side (name taken from the ancient Greek god of the sun – representing reason), for it cannot even come close to grasping the depth and marvel of our emotions, creativity and ultimately our own will: our Dionysian side (name taken from the ancient Greek god of wine – representing the extemporaneous manifestation of our being).

Time
It is a loving passion and not reason that should govern us. Too many thoughts can weaken our potential; its like caging a wild bird, limiting all its possibilities of living, by confining it to a small place. But if we have to make choices to use our head in important life-changing decisions or even, to try and find criteria by which we could discern which path to follow, there is a powerful experiment that Nietzsche puts forward: the endless return.

If you were to live your life, over and over, again and again for the rest of eternity, what would you do here and now, in order to find this very moment be worth living for an eternity?

Nietzsche says: love your fate that you construct! Embrace every part of it! Be bold and fearless! Turn yourselves into someone who could face eternity and shout to it: I am this and I love the life that I am living!

So, to summarize, how can we strengthen our spirit? Be innocent and forgetful like a child: do not let your mind cage your spirit and make decisions that could withstand being done over and over for an eternity.

Om Namah Shivay