Zarathustra Test

One book that I've read numerous times and one that I found myself going back to often, even casually, is Also Spracht Zarathustra in my well worn, dog eared and much scribbled on and underlined copy of The Portable Nietzsche. To give a ridiculously short synopsis, our protagonist, Zarathustra, is a man of morals and wisdom who at first travels through the lands speaking with people. At first he's not liked, then after a period of solitude and returning finds he has followers but they don't necessarily get his points. He returns again to solitude and representatives of the world come to him, each leaders of sorts, who each in their way complain about their worlds and grasp minute nuggets of Zarathustra's wisdom yet still fail miserably to grasp it all. I bring this up because I think it's an amazing example of a character who could easily have enjoyed a higher status, tremendous respect from and influence on others, and become a god of sorts yet he keeps both his cynicism and intellectual honesty and rejects that to tell everyone they're all wrong and to get stuffed.

Now I think most people in such a situation would react differently. First, it's quite flattering to the ego to have people hanging on your every word and to applaud such words once you utter them. Before long as your celebrity grows, you become insulated by these people and start buying into the greatness of yourself which these people think exists. Eventually that can lead to a desire to extend your reach, increase your circle, and grow your power. Perhaps you call that manifest destiny. Power an influence are amazing things no doubt, and surely something that must be quite inebriating and satisfying for the leader or "prophet" and also something which can lead a person to perhaps do things they shouldn't, to engage in some of that old 'ends justify the means' fun, and cross over to demagoguery.

Why I bring this up is because I had my moment recently, but I found myself perhaps crossing the line. I ended up at a friend's house Saturday and later that evening there appeared some young pups, 20-24 year olds. One by one I had my opportunities to chat with them and I had my Zarathustra moments. First they scoffed at some of my comments but then little by little my "truth" was undeniable. Regardless of the topics - drinking, drugs, relationships, college, careers, voting, even demonstrating a point via air hockey, the precious little snowflakes hung on my every word. At that point, I started to cross the line. Now I didn't resort to deception like the Chaplain exposed recently. Everything I said I've said and argued here and many places, but I exploited people's states of mind and I essentially proselytized and butted in with my beliefs with the full intent to win hearts and minds.

One fella was quite distraught and throwing back drinks and it turned out the reason was his girlfriend (or wife, I can't remember) was pregnant. He expressed his fears that he couldn't handle it, that he wasn't ready, and that there's no way he could be a good dad. I explained to him that perhaps that's a sign that he would be a good dad, because often the ones who aren't don't take it seriously, don't doubt themselves, and then make a complete mess of things. If nothing else, he clearly cares about being a good dad, and that, imo, is worth a lot. I also explained to him that things in life don't wait to happen until you're ready. They happen and you deal with it the best you can, and that's it. Well then it happened, someone said the words, "maybe it was meant to be". Oh I suppose I could have casually dismissed that one, or simply ignored it, or maybe just quote the line the religious like "god helps those who help themselves" but no. Having a couple of people here, flushed with my success so far and seeing others start to close in, I raised my voice and went into prophet mode. I launched into there's no "meant to be", no divine providence, no personal guidance, no answering of prayers because there's no magic man in the sky so get over it. There was a little resistance, but it fell by the wayside quickly.

Now I can tell myself the intentions were good, that this guy and some of the others were newly charged with a sense of self confidence and purpose, and that I might have steered them away from a life of dependence and false hope in nonsense, but then I saw a quiet and uncomfortable looking girl who was wearing a cross necklace and I realized what an ass I was being. Clearly I dominated the conversation, and flushed with my new celebrity I pushed my opinions rather than discussing and debating them and maintaining an atmosphere where that was possible, where that sheepish girl could have expressed her views. Also, I was probably inebriated by the newly won followers more than the numerous drafts of Yuengling lager I had downed.

Although my experience was quite small and silly, I can sort of see how people can sort of slip into this solipsism, where you win supporters and flushed and surrounded by them you become over confident in your opinions and then proceed to push them on others. I think this clearly happens in Washington, it happens in Hollywood, it happens in religions and happens anywhere someone can rise and then exploit their position. The scariest ones are probably the ones who don't realize they're exploiting anything. You can lose your perspective when in this environment I think, and that's a dangerous thing. Many of us in the atheosphere challenge each other regularly. The Exterminator and others challenge me, I can challenge the Exterminator or others and we all keep each other sharp and honest. Without that, you can become a jackass like Mr. Virgina which Ric found, or our President who thinks torture ain't torture if we do it, or just launch into drunken pontification like me. We need to be challenged and to challenge each other and of course we need to surround ourselves with the kind of people who will challenge us and keep us honest. To paraphrase Zarathustra, 'were it not that those who seek to increase their number do so by adding zeroes behind them'.

So I failed the Zarathustra test. Perhaps I needed one of you there to keep me honest, or maybe you'd have gone along with me since you no doubt would have agreed with what I was saying (and you'd might be even more inebriated than me if we were going beer for beer you tiny people). Who knows? Interesting to consider, no? How would you handle the Zarathustra test? Maybe you have to take the test in order to actually know. Think about it while you enjoy a flash back video from when I was a young pup (embedding disabled, unfortunately).