Thus spake Zarathustra

[Edward theurj Berge]

Here is the Issue. From the Introduction:

In the late 19th century, Mr. F. Nietzsche (now deceased) transcended his previous romanticism, humanism, and nihilism in the form of an epic, complex, and hilarious philosophical rap-novel that introduced the first overtly postmetaphysical spiritual protagonist in Western literature. Thus Spoke Zarathustra (subtitled: A book for All and None) burst upon the brilliant, idiosyncratic depth-philosopher like a visionary revelation while he was hiking in the high Alps.

Half-conscious and half-unconscious, this multi-level metaphorical prose-poem might have been called a “subtle realm teaching” if the mustachioed Germanic sage had lived in a different cultural epoch. And why not? The writing of this book involves a disembodied ancient guru revealing a new doctrine through his devotee. Sri Zarathustra’s teaching concerns health, empowerment, and the emergence of a transcultural civilization based on the proliferation and intensification of “peak experiences” and “flow”. This is a developmental teaching which treats meaning as something we grow towards through exercises that unfold and spiritualize the self – practices instead of beliefs, humor instead of idealism, ecology instead of heaven, and the daring to see beyond our conventional metaphysical assumptions.