The Life of Friedrich Nietzsche, As Represented in The Camel, The Lion & The Child

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In this episode, I attempt to give a fresh biographical account of Nietzsche's life, by examining his life in light of his Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit, found in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In the course of this biography, using Nietzsche as our concrete example, we discuss the abstract meaning of the Camel, the Lion & the Child, and where I see these transformations appearing in the course of Nietzsche's life and thought. We've covered Nietzsche's biography in many previous episodes, often focusing in on a particular time or event in Nietzsche's life: Nietzsche's wandering throughout Europe (episode 2), the headstone he bought for his father (episode 4), the departure of academia and break with his friends (episode 24), the complex relationship with Wagner (episodes 36-37). Rather than examining any one part of his biography in granular detail, we're going to try and take in the entire picture, and see to what degree we can say that the Camel, the Lion & the Child are stages in Nietzsche's own story. Central to this analysis is Nietzsche's great struggle with the "problem of life", as put forward by Christianity, Schopenhauer, and the Socratics. Their solutions always incline towards a rejection of our nature and the submission of life to reason, virtue, or asceticism. Nietzsche's long quest is to discover an affirmation of life and desire, in contrast to the need to 'redeem' life from suffering. This mirrors his long struggle with an illness that tormented him throughout his life. Nietzsche's project culminates not in a condemnation of life on these grounds, but in his embrace of a life of agony.

[@gingerbreadzak]

00:01 📜 Friedrich Nietzsche was exposed to Christian aphorisms and biblical sayings during his upbringing, which influenced his later philosophical ideas. 01:48 📖 Nietzsche's philosophical work, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," explores the idea of transformation and includes the concept of metamorphosis into a child as a path to elevation. 02:28 🤔 Nietzsche's use of the metaphors "camel," "lion," and "child" in the context of transformation in his philosophy is a unique and original contribution to Western philosophy. 06:06 👶 Nietzsche's early life was influenced by Lutheran Christianity, and he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps as a country parson. 08:09 🤔 Nietzsche's early curiosity about the problem of evil may have been influenced by his father's death, which he viewed as seemingly senseless suffering. 10:42 📚 Nietzsche's exposure to Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy and ancient Greek and Roman classics led him to question traditional religious beliefs and embrace a more secular worldview. 15:10 🎶 Nietzsche's friendship with composer Richard Wagner and his admiration for Wagner's music and Schopenhauerian philosophy had a significant impact on his intellectual development. 19:15 🐪 Nietzsche's metaphor of the "weightbearing spirit" transforming into a "camel" represents the idea of embracing life's challenges and burdens, a concept central to his philosophy. 22:12 🐪 The camel symbolizes the weightbearing spirit willing to confront difficult challenges within one's soul, representing an indication of vitality. 23:24 🌍 Nietzsche emphasizes that all living things have a drive to manifest their power, which often involves struggling and taking on tough challenges, demonstrating vitality. 24:05 🤔 The camel is not denigrated by Nietzsche; it's the premise of a series of transformations into what he considers categorically good. 28:15 💪 Transformation in Nietzsche's philosophy is continuous and gradual, proceeding through sublimation rather than elimination, making the camel an important stage. 30:12 🦸‍♂ Nietzsche suggests that rejecting one's pride, embracing intellectual humility, or fighting for the losing side can be heroic acts in the journey of the soul's metamorphosis. 35:23 🌟 To debase oneself after a victory, to forsake pride, and to suffer hunger for truth might be essential steps in the soul's transformation. 41:41 ❤ Nietzsche explores the idea of loving those who despise us and learning to love one's enemies as a potential aspect of the soul's transformation, echoing the concept of embracing one's antipodes. 43:32 🦁 Friedrich Nietzsche faced rejection and criticism in academia and his early work was criticized for lacking citations and being accused of Wagner worship. 44:00 🇬🇷 Nietzsche's study of pre-Platonic Greek culture turned him away from Schopenhauer's ideas and made him question the pursuit of knowledge and previously unchallenged doctrines. 45:19 💔 Nietzsche distanced himself from Richard Wagner and his fanatics, leading him to write "Human, All Too Human" and make his first criticisms of metaphysics and morality. 47:21 🏞 Nietzsche's health issues led him to seek cures and live in different climates, including the Swiss Alps, which marked the most productive period of his career. 49:52 👫 Nietzsche formed a close friendship with Paul Reay and Luc Salamé, considering them free spirits, but their relationship ended in tragedy, and Nietzsche embraced solitude. 53:07 🦁 Nietzsche's transition from the camel to the lion represents his discovery that morality and values are human creations rather than divine commandments. 54:32 🐉 The lion, in Nietzsche's metaphor, challenges morality (the dragon) and rejects it, asserting the will to create new values and freedom from moral obligations. 57:52 💡 Nietzsche's recognition that morality is a human invention leads to the possibility of creating new values and questioning traditional moral codes. 01:00:36 🔥 The lion's assertion of disobedience and the idea that opposition to collective morality can make the species stronger is a central theme in Nietzsche's philosophy. 01:05:13 ♾ Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence, where life repeats endlessly, was a starting point for him to create new values and challenge traditional beliefs about life and death. 01:05:54 🤔 Friedrich Nietzsche questioned the idea of suffering in life being justified by an afterlife, challenging Christian and Schopenhauerian views. 01:06:24 📖 Nietzsche considered the possibility of creating a new myth or story for life that is not bound by the concept of an afterlife, focusing on the idea of eternal recurrence. 01:07:15 🌟 Nietzsche drew inspiration from the Greeks and introduced the concept of "eternal recurrence," a revolutionary approach to affirming life. 01:09:19 🔄 Nietzsche's philosophical evolution led him to the idea of the "innocent Creative Child" as the final metamorphosis of the spirit. 01:11:38 🤹‍♂ Nietzsche challenged the notion of good and evil, seeing all phenomena as innocent within the play of forces in the world. 01:12:06 🦁 Nietzsche described the three metamorphoses of the spirit: the camel, the lion, and finally, the innocent Creative Child. 01:19:38 🔄 Nietzsche's life culminated in a metaphorical return to the innocence of a child, with his ideas living on after his decline into illness and dementia.

[@alexanderleuchte5132]

“Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart.” - Tyler Durden

[@laika6202]

Exploring Nietzsche through your podcast has been a great help for me to better understand and fight back against my inner nihilism. Thank you for your work!!

[@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060]

This is the first time I've shed a tear listening to this podcast (ok multiple tears).

[@patricksmyth7845]

Stoicism was incomplete because it taught virtue while denying the value of pleasure and will-to-power. Epicureanism was incomplete because it taught the value of virtue and pleasure while denying will-to-power. Nietzsche started to bridge the gap by affirming virtue, joy, ambition, honor - all the old warrior virtues. We can deny the pleasures that threaten to possess us, not because it is good in and of itself to be virtuous, but because achieving higher pleasures and growing in strength is only possible by denying instant gratification.

[@Laotzu.Goldbug]

Well said. Attempting to hide from any facet of our being/nature, however small, ultimately results in its revolt and its destroying us. This does not mean that you need to obey to every impulse and every part of your being at every moment now but it does mean that you must ultimately _accept_ the full panoply of them, and understand that they can never be eradicated. Anything else is, definitionally, to deny one's humanity, whether by trying to make Man into a mere animal or a mere machine, when in reality he is both - but also greater than both.

[@TheOneWhoKnocks969]

I didn't expected Nietzsche to be embarassed dropping by a brothel

[@uberboyo]

Let’s go!!!!

[@griffithfan6668]

I know people will hear this as cringe, but nothing has ever spoken to me like Nietzsche. I have never been able to understand myself better than in his writings. Others have pathologized me, I have pathologized myself. I've been perpetually outcasted and misunderstood, but when I read, and heard from others, what Nietzsche had to say about this kind of 'noble fighting instinct', everything in my life began to make sense. It seems clear to me why Nietzsche was sympathetic towards the Jews and towards Socrates, because in many ways he -was- them and he could see himself in them, and I feel exactly the same about myself towards them, and towards Nietzsche. So thank you for making this content and interpreting Nietzsche so wonderfully, it has really enchanted my life recently.

[@raouldukestudios]

Nothing cringe about personal enlightenment my friend, especially one that moves the spirit in a profound way. 🗿

[@dimitrijesuluburic2155]

Phenomenal like all the episodes so far. Thank you for your great work!

[@bradrandel1408]

This is incredible. You are very special. Thank you so much much love to this community, and all that are trying to find the child like innocence and freedom of kicking a tin can down the road… I hope you will have a five day retreat somewhere with your community. I will be there. 🕊🦋🌹

[@TheOneWhoKnocks969]

If majority is going i will go other way. That's how i describe most of my life

[@supergamesgaming5677]

I remember that Delueze did the same thing in his biography of nietzsche in pure imanance.

[@ingardens]

You're doing exceptional work, thank you❤

[@kingdm8315]

Been waiting for this

[@DionysiaSapentia]

You should do a video on Nietzsche’s book “Anti-education” very unknown work, I’ve never heard anyone talk about it

[@chadefallstar]

thank you! great episode

[@williamroberts1819]

I read Three Matamoroses. Haha we only need one Matamoros. Great videos. Love it.

[@Apollonius_of_Rhodes]

solid analysis

[@wolfredwood]

You’ve a good voice, for reading. Most audio books, I can’t listen to, mainly for being (unnaturally) monotonous. You’re even tone dances, albeit evenly. I’d pay a modest monthly Patreon donation to listen to you read the works of my beloved beautifully tragic Nietzsche.

[@phillipjordan1010]

Right on Salts your subs has expanded by a few thousands in a matter of months of I recall correctly. It is refreshing to see there is at least 20k people who are not total Meatheads.Your work is very much appreciated brother. Rock on Strong🤘

[@otmanighoulassen6177]

I can't like this viedo enough

[@gus8310]

Love your overcoming, love the yearning for beyond; wish not to sit yourself beside one's neighbour. For one's neighbour is an unfinished boat, whose sails seek wind, but these sails have gaping holes. Man seeks himself in others to fix these holes, but verily these holes shall never be closed, unless he sees to it that he overcomes himself. A prison you make of solitude, but solitude is where one can get to work and begin to love oneself. Seek not the company of others, for they shall only poke holes in the sails of your overcoming, seek those whose sails need not any foreign wind, for they shall be the ones who travel alongside your ship. Wish not to look outside of yourself for praise, for this praise shall be as valuable as the holes in your sails.

[@wes5614]

Personality types could be brought up here too, intj, the personality type of many philosophers fits in with this pretty well.

[@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060]

I have a feeling Nietzsche would be highly critical of typology. Use of metaphor as truth and oversimplifying our psychology, but hey he fits Ni-Fi INTJ subtype.

[@wes5614]

@@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060 yeah I'm an intj as well. Interesting that so many philosophers fit into that category.

[@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060]

@@wes5614 I have typed myself INFP for a long time but I could also see INTP. It is hard to discern between introverted judging functions. Most all of the philosophers I gravitate towards are INTJ or INFP.

[@user-kf7is2go4i]

Lion 🦁 1:00:05

[@ggrthemostgodless8713]

6:30 Anyone able to think for himself, cannot keep his faith as soon as he is able to think, normally late teens, how can he be honest and keep the ghost of infantile tales?? Not possible. Immediately after, you become more responsible, more aware of your actins and consequences, and you behave better since you don't have the faith or the church to fall back on as exonerating entities for your bad behavior or mistakes. It is all on you.

[@user-kf7is2go4i]

Child 👦 1:11:00

[@csabas.6342]

The dragon is bleeding.

[@muhddn8383]

I have been waiting for this From which book?

[@rafaelsmeets8260]

Thou spoke Zaratustra

[@frederick3467]

​@rafaelsmeets8260 I used to struggle with reading, but when I got hold of this book I read it twice very quickly.

[@rafaelsmeets8260]

@@frederick3467 The book is so breathtaking. It is so deep and poetic. It is a hell of a challenge to understand It. Glad you enjoyed the reading!

[@Burntout-man]

I am still a camel.

[@DionysiaSapentia]

🎉

[@user-kf7is2go4i]

🐫 talk… 34:42

[@walgekaaren1783]

That dragon Nietzsche mentions, is most likely Dagon, the God of the Philistines, where the very name comes from. In an ironic way, that makes Nietzsche a dark Prophet, due to the Prophets being mad at Israel implementing too much from around cultures, while not trying to utilize their own in order to be like everybody else. Thats how I discern the "I Wills" what the dragon wants no more. Because every religion needs status quo, there things dont change. A Vibrant searching faith dont allow to rule and enjoy your laurels with navel-gazing too much.

[@intellectually_lazy]

in god is not great, hitchen's relates a time he was wherever, i can't remeber if it was ireland or the balkans, but they asked at a checkpoint if he's catholic or protestant, so he says athiest, and they say, yeah, but catholic atheist or protestant athiest?

[@SunnyMidnite221]

Hah. 😅 Interesting.

[@christopherellis2663]

2:53 symbolism, there is no "-ology" 𝕽𝖔𝖊𝖈𝖐𝖊𝖓

[@untimelyreflections]

Dan Brown would like a word.

[@whatever-fz9rd]

41:30- love your enemy. #greekphilosophy 42:00- The more someone oppose you, you become stronger as you bear weight take it as challenge #feedback 42:30- Summary Metamorphosis of camel * 42:45- Summary Metamorphosis of camel in light of Neitzche life * #autobiography 44:00- Neitzche VS Schopenhaur (first seed of hate) 44:15- Neitzche fan of Greek aka pre platonic aka before plato socrate era where embrace life and question old dogma culture 44:30- Schopenhaur was nihilistic 45:00- Neitzche first book (hate for metaphysics, morality, german nationalism) 45:30- Believe me friend, error has its merit too #quote 46:00- Neitzche end friendship with Rickard Vogner b/c vog turn racist, Christian and nationalist 46:30- Health issue force him to retire with generous pension which he spend some of it in cure but in no vain 47:00- Neitzche most productive period where he find solitude in alps far away from friends and family 47:30- Which travel places Neitzche seek greatness? 48:00- Neitzche VS Schopenhaur (Schopenhaur belief Life is Mistake, he is no more his mentor ) 48:30- Rid from comforters. abstaining himself from people. #friendship 48:45- Neitzche philosophy is not idiosyncratic due to poor health which lead his poor health benificial 49:00- Neitzche tale related to friend(salame and rey), betrayal and love triangle #Thedayneitzchewept 51:00- End of the tale with Neitzche letter of forgiveness 51:30- Neitzche comeback with dashing work #attitude 52:00- Summary Neitzche anti social view, bleak future 52:30- Neitzche reject comforters even though he was dying 53:00- Neitzche path toward nihilism

[@whatever-fz9rd]

34:00 -schopenhaur was heroic in words of neitzche. against easy church goer who formulate consciousness and conscience in accordance with religion as it was easy path. 34:32 - Camel formulate consciousness and conscience in accordance with philosophy. tough way to achieve. 35:00 - Neitzche past philosophy where he address very little about camel, he avoid universalizing, critic of socrates who always humble himself complacent praising other debator 36:00 - religion/Saintly virtue deny sense of pride forsake one pride 36:30 - there should be deprivation of pride to learn. humility is require to answer deepest question in world, know its place in world 37:10- Neitzche say on personal viewpoint notion of life conviction belief - very dangerous for human more than lie 38:00- there is something magical on playing on looser side. something heavy something challenge which require effort 39:00- Chess analogy. hardest position to win on won position. 39:30- There is something adv in putting yourself in disadv to experience strength. ex- opponent become careless as he is winning and make blunder. 40:00- Consuming and stacking knowledge is role of camel but consuming too much knowledge is dangerous acc to neitzche 40:30- In good & evil, neitzche say that strength of soul can be measure by how much truth he can tolerate. #philosophycons 41:00- by knowing truth, you will dought on everything but is this not strength that even though you know how bleak is truth yet you take challenge of finding truth will to truth.

[@intellectually_lazy]

yeah, it'll clear a room as quick as a bible too, when the party is over, or should be

[@whatever-fz9rd]

53:20- from life affirming philosopher to perceiving life as meaningless. he don't glorify his suffering. #vainglorious #complacent 53:30- all nihilism is not bad, active nihilism is good where you ques all your dogmas to death 54:00- Summary dragon is complacent. why lion is needed? why camel is not enough? 55:30- to create new value. tough but to be done. impossible for camel. 56:00- Lion dought on everything. This is the very key from transformation from camel to lion 56:20- glittering gems in dragaon aka thou salt represent morality or precisely speaking perceive morality handed by culture parents generation school religious place. 57:00- morality obliged on us from above stated institution. as if given by god and cant be deter by human.as if no new value can be created 58:00- this dragon make us fear and if we dont beleive on morals, consequence will be bad 58:30- #neitzchecuriosity in child age- What is origin of evil 59:00- when neitzche was christian, he hold god accountable for all evil in world which was unacceptable where goodness of god is adherent 59:10- when neitzche was schopenhaur, he again seek the answer- uncover what is good and evil in more universal sense 59:30- Good- putting your spirit and intellect to end humankind and yours suffering #benign #philantrophy bad- arrive from desire #squander #rich

[@PinoSantilli-hp5qq]

I often find it strange that scientists incessantly want to downsize man.

[@whatever-fz9rd]

59:30- acc to schopenhaur, life lead to nothingness 1:00:00- someway he was right. schopenhaur was not nihilistic, religion is nihilistic which abstrain you from thinking and answering all within criteria of bible text Lion reject all morality set by world +30- Nietzsche dont suggest to end old tradition but to sublimate new one. Create one for yours. +1:00:- Dragon thou salt or gems which seem horrendous is nothing but will of someone and we regarded it as universal godly wisdom framework of life Thou salt is commandment of one giving it like parents giving to child #parenting +30:- in beyong good and evil , he writes about value Summary:- *During Camel, everyone is i will. They will bear burden, they will learn, they will follow moral codes and they should to be disciplined. Thou salt will scare you to be disciplined. Camel has to live in solitary. in its loneliness he will grow teeth to be lion +3:- in gay science, neitzche suggest that morality is obedience for many, punishment for few and those who are obedient are good while those who stand against morality are evil. Evil are As benificial for advancement as masses b/c they are one who set new while masses maintain old. If they suceed to kill dragon, they set new otherwise they succumb to opposition put by masses +4:- Neitzche CRAZIEST idea in Gay Science- The GREATEST possible weight. Hardest CHALLENGE Past is past.(ep 25 26) +6:- Death is nothing to fear about but perceieve it as eternity as religion say. Schopenhaur atheist view on death is redemption from cruel life. Death is afterlife +6:- when he transit to lion he realize whatever you heard or known is story +7 +8 +9:- he was able to set his own value;- story of death inspire by greek which was illusion but he not dare to spread this myth as religion do when he aloof himself from family friends girls he created great work. #neitzcheaffair he created new life and evaluate that very life rather than past even dismissal of past academic neitzche