Real Zarathustra Would Not Have Spoken Thus

XV Introduction I am a Zoroastrian, and so I was intrigued as to why Friedrich Nietzsche, a German born philoso- pher (1844–1900) would use Zarathustra to illumi- nate his own philosophy in his text, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” Zarathustra preached his religion in Persia (now Iran) over 3000 years ago. Zara- thustra said that man can either follow the good, which he called the Righteous Path or follow the Evil Path, which he called the Lie. The choice was a matter of free will, the good being a religion embodying Free Will par excellence. Free Will is what Nietzsche believed in. According to him, human values are created by humans, rather than by the gods, or by nature or by some underlying fundamental good. This interpretation was the cause of considerable misunderstanding follow- ing Nietzsche’s declaration that “God is dead.” To him, God was an explanation for why human beings behave the way they do. Once God is dead, we can no longer blame Him for our values, our judgements, and our behaviors. In Zarathustra’s time people believed in multiple Gods. He was the first prophet to say that there is only one XVI God who he called “Ahura Mazda” (Wise Lord). This belief, perhaps, is the most important reason why Zarathustra is inappropriate as Nietzsche’s spokesman. About a millennia before Zarathustra the Pharaoh Akhenaten enunciated the concept of one God which he called “Sun,” the God. Zara- thustra was opposed to entities such as Sun and Water representing God. Akhenaten’s teachings died soon after him. Nietzsche called Zarathustra an Übermensch. Men- sch is German for human/man. Über is difficult to define in this context. It has been translated, along with mensch as Overman or Superman. This Superman is not the invincible man depicted in comic books, but rather a further evolution of mankind. I will use the term “Superman,” as it is more appropriate in current colloquial English. Nietzsche saw humanity as facing a crisis. Much in Western philosophy longs for the afterworld. In the Zoroastrian religion, at the end of time there will be a Day of Judgment. On that day all souls will pass over a narrow bridge, called: “The Bridge of the Requiter/Separator.” Those who have followed the evil path will fall off the bridge into the abyss. Those who have followed the good path will pass over the bridge and gain eternal life. Nietzsche refers to this walk along the narrow Introduction XVII bridge a few times in this work. Zarathustra also mentions this bridge where all souls will pass along an ordeal of molten metal. The souls that lead a righteous life will pass over without any problem into heaven and those that lead an evil life will be cleansed by the heat and eventually en- ter heaven. Zarathustra was a prophet, hence one step above the average person, and thus qualifies as an Übermensch. That Nietzsche believed in Free Will as did Zarathustra, was the justification for him to be a spokesperson for his belief. The eighty speeches delivered by Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, have very little to do with the Zoroastrian faith or with what history records. It would be fair to say that that Zarathustra, in his capacity as a prophet of the Zoroastrian faith, would not have delivered over eighty percent of those speeches. They are a product of Nietzsche’s own philosophy. Zarathustra is delivering them in his capacity as Nietzsche’s Übermensch – Overman/Superman, not as a prophet of Zoroastrianism. All 80 speeches have been abridged and transcribed in colloquial English. It is interesting to note that at the time Niet- zsche was writing Thus Spoke Zarathustra his eye- sight was failing, as was his general health and his mental state. In fact, with what to us today XVIII might appear to be insurmountable difficulties, he wrote the first there parts of Thus Spoke Za- rathustra in just about 10 days each. Each part was published separately but they were all com- mercial failures as very few copies were sold. In 1891, it was thought that the Fourth Part, would violate the existing German blasphemy laws and thus result in Nietzsche’s indictment. Hence it was not published. Eventually, in 1892, all Four Parts were published at Nietzsche’s own expense, without any mal consequences. Though the book was a commercial failure in his lifetime, it posthu- mously became his bestselling and most read work. It took Nietzsche just about a month to write the entire book. It took me several months and more than one reading, to absorb its contents. After having spent so much time on the book, I decided to publish, my own interpretation, in an abridged version in colloquial English. Hope- fully, unlike Nietzsche’s version, my version will achieve some small success before its posthumous appearance. The late Professor Walter Kaufman, on the cover of his book “Basic Writings of Nietzsche” has said that “Nietzsche is one of the few philosophers Introduction XIX since Plato who a large number of intelligent people read for pleasure.” I hope that this brief interpretation of Nietzsche’s most famous work will encourage the reader to turn to the original, albeit in English, as it was written in biblical style German, indubitably some of the best prose in the German language. – Hoshang J. Khambatta March 2022