Nietzsche and the Overman

"The Prologue of Nietzsche", by Walter Kuafamn, illustrates Zarathustra's great journey to fine the overman and the overman in himself. This higher man he speaks of is what all men should be, but do not have the ability. The overman is capable of overcoming all aspects of life. He can overcome any challenge, physical and emotional. Relating to Darwin's theory of evolution, Zarathustra explains how man is a "rope" between beast and the overman. The overman's gift to master man's will to power is his key characteristic, which separates him from man and beast. The tightrope of mundane realism is the ultimate challenge to becoming Zarathustra's meaning of the earth. What Zarathustra comes to realize is this overman is one metamorphoses away in the child, his own new creation or innocence.

Mankind is so full of his own self that he cannot see past his mortal flaws. The man is the "rope" between beast and the overman. The man's ability to create a figure above himself keeps him closer to the beast. The overman sperates himself from all others. There is nothing higher than him. Zarathustra says the overman is born an overman. From, birth he is meant to acquire this higher power of being. Throughout his life he must go through a series of struggles and self-overcoming. Zarathustra relates to the overman during the journey of which to find it in himself.

Zarathustra names the three metamorphoses to becoming the overman. The first stage is Ð''the camel.' The wild Bactrian camel is on the endangered species list. Endangerment provides these creatures with a grasp of reality and a way of becoming self disciplined. They gain knowledge and mental strength by accepting the hardships of survival. By carrying this burden, they are stronger. These camels are a representation of what the overman must take into his life. He must take in his old beliefs from his childhood. He must look into the past and grasp the reality of being too weak to control it. Nothing is to be controlled, it just happens. The overman must understand that change is the only true constant. Zarathustra realizes this when looking into his previous living during his "Tomb Song". He notices that everything in his life including his beliefs and earlier ideas are changing. Zarathustra has completed the first stage toward the overman.

After gaining the ability to look forward and not look to his past, the aspiring overman moves to the next metamorphosis called Ð''the lion.' The overman must completely reject these past ideas to move on. In "The Tomb Song" when Zarathustra talks about he past, he also says that he has learned to overcome his difficulties that haunt him. A lion, or king of the jungle, is an individual. It is very rare for two male lions to travel together. The male lion marks his own territories and has his own rule. The overman is his own person. An individual not belonging to anything organized. He is his own man. Nothing controls the overman but himself. His freedom gives him the choice of all that happens in his world. The popular phrase, "you are in your own little world" would fit properly. The overman achieves complete freedom from all reality. He takes out all outside influences. He listens to no one and no one is above him. Zarathustra says men believe in God because of fear and weakness. The lion has no fear or weaknesses. The overman therefore has no God. The ability to achieve power over one's self, or self-overcoming is what moves the mortal man up the "rope" closer to the overman.

The child is the biblical symbol of innocence. Not influenced by sin, having purity over men. Showing absolute purity in all thoughts and actions. When the individual establishes something completely new and personal, the process to becoming the overman is complete. This is by far