While I was reading Friedrich Nietzsche's book "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," there was a passage that caught my attention and which made me want to analyze its meaning with my friends. In fact, some of them understood the phrase in a way I am convinced it was not meant by the author. According to their point of view, Nietzsche encouraged dominating other people, destroying humanity or showing superiority over other people.
As is known, Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most misinterpreted philosophers. His concepts are still surrounded by controversies and, in fact, at one time in my life, I was among those who had problems comprehending his philosophy. With age, reflection and a bit more maturity, however, some of his concepts start to look different. Here is how I understood this specific passage.
When Nietzsche says, "Man is something that shall be overcome," he certainly does not call people to conquer each other or demonstrate their supremacy over one another. He tells that human beings are the only species that is granted with an amazing ability to overcome themselves. Man is able to work on himself, his character traits, overcoming his fears, questioning his beliefs and constantly changing himself.
This is what Nietzsche is trying to tell us, that we must never let ourselves settle for our level of intelligence or state of being. We must always have an urge to get smarter, braver, more disciplined, and more powerful than we were the day before. Self-improvement isn’t a goal that can be achieved once, but an endless process, which means that our greatest victory is over ourselves.
Of course, this is just my understanding of the quote, and I might be wrong. It would be really interesting for me to hear your opinion about it. How do you interpret the words of Nietzsche?
Thank you for reading.
