Monday, May 22, 2006

Ruminant Ruminations

Observe the herd which is grazing beside you. It does not know what yesterday or today is. It springs around, eats, rests, digests, jumps up again, and so from morning to night and from day to day, with its likes and dislikes closely tied to the peg of the moment, and thus neither melancholy nor weary. To witness this is hard for man, because he boasts to himself that his human race is better than the beast and yet looks with jealousy at its happiness. For he wishes only to live like the beast, neither weary nor amid pains, and he wants it in vain, because he does not will it as the animal does. One day the man demands of the beast: "Why do you not talk to me about your happiness and only gaze at me?" The beast wants to answer, too, and say: "That comes about because I always immediately forget what I wanted to say." But by then the beast has already forgotten this reply and remains silent, so that the man wonders on once more.

- Nietzsche, On the use and abuse of history, I

Ten points for naming this Sydney location.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

And so Nietzsche would have has achieve happiness by further diminishing our humanity and becoming more like the beasts. While the Second Adam promises more than mute happiness by moving in the opposite direction, and recovering the Divine Image.

Rory Shiner said...

Just popping by to say hello. I'll be a regular visitor, so keep posting! Thanks for you comments on my blog. I posted a little reply.

byron smith said...

Tim, although I haven't yet finished Use and Abuse, I can assure you that anything to do with the herd is never a positive image in Nietzsche. He is using it to open up a discussion of memory and history and identity, one with which I suspect we would find a great deal to agree...

Martin Kemp said...

finger wharf wollomolloo. nice composition

byron smith said...

Marty - nice work. Ten points. And thanks.