Eternal recurrence is a playground for the strong, precisely because the strong fully embrace life as it is.Įternal recurrence is the ultimate happiness for the strong, because it’s the ultimate affirmation of this life instead of its denial. Nietzsche uses Zarathustra’s praising of eternity to suggest that eternity-because it involves embracing and exerting one’s will within this life, not in a better, future one-is the ultimate happiness for the strong. Put another way, because the strong are capable of throwing off the guilt imposed by old values and accepting both the good and bad of existence, they alone are capable of relishing Eternity without dread. While Nietzsche acknowledged that the idea of the eternal return could be a paralyzing burden for the weak (because of their guilt over sin and dread of life’s hardships), he saw one’s ability to embrace the eternal return as the ultimate expression of the will to power. (This isn’t the same thing as the concept of reincarnation, because Nietzsche posited that beings would return in the same bodies.) For Nietzsche, eternity isn’t “better” than this life-it’s the recurrence of this life, both good and bad. Eternal recurrence is the idea that everything in existence has been recurring for an infinite number of times across time and space and will continue to do so. Throughout the novel, Zarathustra speculates about something called the eternal return, or recurrence. The Seven Seals (or: The Song of Yes and Amen).
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