"A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins with a First Step" -Lao Tzu

This post is the first step on my thousand mile journey of becoming the Übermensch. The Übermensch is an idea created by the well known, German philosopher Nietzsche. The word Übermensch literally translates as "superman", which can sometimes misrepresent it's actual meaning. It has no supernatural attributes, nor is it connected with any sort of racial or national supremacy. According to Nietzsche's most famous work, Thus Spake Zarathustra, the Übermensch is the eventual outcome of three noble processes:

1. Through the will of the individual, rejection of or rebellion against old ideals and moral values.

2. Through creativity, overcoming nihilism, and restructuring of old ideals.

3. Continuous self-overcoming and improvement through willpower.

 

In essence, the Übermensch is the most perfect goal and challenge attainable; it is the victory of man over himself. It is the use of man's will to begin the three processes stated previously and to create a better self than otherwise. 

Before ever having heard the name "Nietzsche", I, being a natural born intellectual, had a drive within me. I was never fine with not improving myself; if I played a video game instead of reading a book, I'd feel guilty. Maybe not guilty, per se, but similar to guilt nonetheless. I had, and still have, the belief that any day that I did not improve myself in some way was a waste; any day that I didn't get better was a day that I would never get back. At the end of my life, I would be worse off, exactly proportional to how much time I wasted, than I could have been. Regardless, my limitless plans for self-empowerment/improvement stayed just that, plans. I continued in this way, desiring to improve myself but never gathering the will to actually do it. However, I've recently had a change in my life. Now, unfortunately this change was not accompanied by any sort of epic, soul shattering event. There was, however a semi-cathartic event. Ok, I lied a bit there. The event was very cathartic. My girlfriend of 2 years and I broke up. I didn't take it well. Well, I didn't at first at least. However, instead of letting it break me, I used it to my advantage. I decided to become better than I ever was. This, coupled with my increasing knowledge of politics and philosophy as well as my befriending of a like-minded intellectual has brought me here, to this point. My always-the-thinker-and-never-the-doer state will end today. I have many plans I will implement and organize which I will discuss in later posts.

I am not a future Übermensch, no. This phrase creates a temporal distance between my goal and I. I am an Übermensch-in-development right now. I am an Übermensch-in-development and this is my journal.

 

 "To conquer others is to have power, to conquer yourself is to know the way" -Lao Tzu