How to Become an Übermensch — Nietzsche's Three Metamorphoses

The Living Philosophy

The Three Metamorphoses is Nietzsche's map of the development of Re-Valuers of Values — the Übermensch. At the beginning of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche's Zarathustra delivers his first discourse — The Three Metamorphoses.
In the first 100 days of the channel I made a video exploring this topic. Recently I sat down to transcribe the video and release it in article format on the website. Instead, I ended up overflowing with thoughts and insights. This is one of those incredibly rich corners of Nietzsche that I return to again and again. I wrote draft after draft and ended up with far too much for a short YouTube video (perhaps a lecture someday would be a more suitable format). I pared back the many pages into what you see here.
It is fascinating to cover old ground loaded with the learnings from more recent studies and with the Q3 quest that has been taking shape on the channel of late. The creation of this video was one of those weeks (even more than other weeks) where I felt immensely blessed with what this channel has become.
In brief Nietzsche's Three Metamorphoses charts the metamorphosis from man into camel; camel into lion and finally lion into the child. The camel submits to a higher law; the lion fights the dragon "Thou Shalt" which creates the space for the child to create a new tablet of values — for Nietzsche's Revaluation of All Values.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the philosophy of Nietzsche are inexorably bound together. This was the book that Friedrich Nietzsche most believed in and adored (and where the idea of the Übermensch emerged). It transformed his inner world and this story of Nietzsche's Three Metamorphoses is pivotal to that transformation.
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📚 Further Reading:
- Nietzsche, F. and Kaufmann, W., 1954. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Portable Nietzsche. trans. and ed. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Viking.
- Jung, C.G., 1998. Jung's Seminar on Nietzsche's Zarathustra: Abridged Edition (Vol. 99). Princeton University Press.
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🎶 Audio Used:
Despair & Triumph — Kevin MacLeod
Dark Times — Kevin MacLeod
There’s Probably No Time — Chris Zabriskie
Shores of Avalon — Kevin MacLeod
Long Note Three — Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic Subscribe to Chris Zabriskie https://www.youtube.com/c/chriszabriskie
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:51 The First Metamorphosis: Man to Camel
3:09 The Second Metamorphosis: Camel to Lion
8:26 The Third Metamorphosis: Lion to Child