Nietzsche as Educator

by Peter Saint-Andre

Redemption through a savior, thinker, artist, saint,
Betrays the principle of life and has the taint
Of laziness in cultivation of my mind
And soul. The goal, instead, is actively to bind

Myself to higher laws and to embrace the duties
Of honesty and truth, thus making real the beauties
Of consonance in life between ideal and deed.
The longing for what's excellent and rare will lead

Me to a way that only I can walk, a span
That only I can cross. The station that I man
Is savior of myself alone. For this he teaches:
To follow thoughts that are my own, not what he preaches.

(cf. Untimely Meditations, "Schopenhauer as Educator", §8; Ecce Homo, "The Untimely Ones", §3)


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