ZARATHUSTRA HAS RETURNED TO THE MOUNTAINS WHERE HE LIVES A SOLITARY EXISTENCE FOR MANY YEARS – UNTIL ONE MORNING HE HAS A DREAM. FILLED WITH NEW RESOLVE AND AN OVERWHELMING DESIRE TO SHARE HIS WORDS WITH HIS FRIENDS, ZARATHUSTRA SPEAKS THUS: BEHOLD, WHAT ABUNDANCE IS AROUND US! AND IT IS FINE TO GAZE OUT UPON DISTANT SEAS FROM THE MIDST OF SUPERFLUITY. ONCE YOU SAID ‘GOD’ WHEN YOU GAZED UPON DISTANT SEAS; BUT NOW I HAVE TAUGHT YOU TO SAY ‘SUPERMAN’. GOD IS A SUPPOSITION; BUT I WANT YOUR SUPPOSING TO REACH NO FURTHER THAN YOUR CREATING WILL. COULD YOU CREATE A GOD? – SO BE SILENT ABOUT ALL GODS! BUT YOU COULD SURELY CREATE THE SUPERMAN. PERHAPS NOT YOU YOURSELVES, MY BROTHERS! BUT YOU COULD TRANSFORM YOURSELVES INTO FOREFATHERS AND ANCESTORS OF THE SUPERMAN: AND LET THIS BE YOUR FINEST CREATING! GOD IS A SUPPOSITION: BUT I WANT YOUR SUPPOSING TO BE BOUNDED BY CONCEIVABILITY. COULD YOU CONCEIVE A GOD? – BUT MAY THE WILL TO TRUTH MEAN THIS TO YOU: THAT EVERYTHING SHALL BE TRANSFORMED INTO THE HUMANLY CONCEIVABLE, THE HUMANLY EVIDENT, THE HUMANLY PALPABLE! YOU SHOULD FOLLOW YOUR OWN SENSES TO THE END! AND YOU YOURSELVES SHOULD CREATE WHAT YOU HAVE HITHERTO CALLED THE WORLD: THE WORLD SHOULD BE FORMED IN YOUR IMAGE BY YOUR REASON, YOUR WILL, AND YOUR LOVE! AND TRULY, IT WILL BE TO YOUR HAPPINESS, YOU ENLIGHTENED MEN!... BUT TO REVEAL MY HEART ENTIRELY TO YOU, FRIENDS: IF THERE WERE GODS, HOW COULD I ENDURE NOT TO BE A GOD! THEREFORE, THERE ARE NO GODS. I, INDEED, DREW THAT CONCLUSION, BUT NOW IT DRAWS ME. GOD IS A SUPPOSITION: BUT WHO COULD IMBIBE ALL THE ANGUISH OF THIS SUPPOSITION WITHOUT DYING? SHALL THE CREATOR BE ROBBED OF HIS FAITH AND THE EAGLE OF HIS SOARING INTO THE HEIGHTS?... I CALL IT EVIL AND MISANTHROPIC, ALL THIS TEACHING ABOUT THE ONE AND THE PERFECT AND THE UNMOVED AND THE SUFFICIENT AND THE INTRANSITORY.... BUT THE BEST IMAGES AND PARABLES SHOULD SPEAK OF TIME AND BECOMING: THEY SHOULD BE A EULOGY AND A JUSTIFICATION OF ALL TRANSITORINESS.... ALL FEELING SUFFERS IN ME AND IS IN PRISON: BUT MY WILLING ALWAYS COMES TO ME AS MY LIBERATOR AND BRINGER OF JOY. WILLING LIBERATES: THAT IS THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF WILL AND FREEDOM. ... THUS, ZARATHUSTRA TEACHES YOU.
