I’m obliged now to make further notes from my readings of Nietzsche, specifically as breadcrumbs for those to who I am a stranger and who are a stranger to me. My fellow creatives, doubting your path in life, take the following words as encouragement for your brave soul.
There is a certain alchemical reaction that occurs within those who have found their soul’s purpose. Time ceases to exist. There is only pure, creative, blissful flow. When one encounters the infinite in oneself, there is nothing more lovely than creation, and lovelier are others who possess the same restless obsession with the endless contours of creation.
And yet, it is commonplace for those of us who walk our soul’s path to encounter others who show disdain and even concern for our audacious insistence to remain on the blissful path of our creative solitude.
There is nothing wrong with seeking solitude. Only those who create know the value of solitude, and only those who seek solitude find themselves. Thus speaks Nietzsche through his fictional prophet Zarathustra.
“Your bad love for yourselves makes you think of solitude as a prison,” says Zarathustra.
The herd loudly counters, “All isolation is wrong. Who are you so entitled to escape from a yoke? What is your worth without your servitude? Free are you from what, Zarathustra? One day, your solitude will make you weary. Your pride and your courage will yield. You will cry, ‘I am alone’.”
“And so the herd remains the herd”, warns Zarathustra. “Lonesome ones, go beyond the herd. Be on your guard against those who hate the lonesome ones.”
The Way of the Creating One is of bright, burning solitude. Do not internalise the projections of others. What you create is of value, even if it isn’t immediately seen as such. The world revolves invisibly around the creative loner who devises new ways for the divine to manifest into the physical. Only actors are surrounded by the visible flurry of people and glory. Such is the way of the world, and you must know what you seek, advises Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. If glory is what you’re after, there are easier paths than the creative one.
“Flee my friend, into thy solitude. I see thee deafened with the noise of the great men, and stung all over with the stings of the little ones. Flee from their invisible vengeance.
Lonesome one, go to thyself, and past thyself. Ready must you be to burn thyself in thine own flame.
Lonesome one, go the way of the creating one: a God wilt thou create for thyself.
Lonesome one, thou goest the way of the loving one: thou love thyself.
With thy love go into thine isolation.
I love him who seeketh to create beyond himself and thus succumbeth.”
Thus spoke Zarathustra! Thus, speak those who create.
Reference: Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1998