XVII. The Way of the Creating One

Wouldst thou go into isolation, my brother? Wouldst thou seek the way unto thyself? Tarry yet a little and hearken unto me. “He who seeketh may easily get lost himself. All isolation is wrong”: so say the herd. And long…

Zarathustra addresses a brother who wants to go into isolation and asks him to tarry. He says the herd's conscience will keep echoing in him, and demands proof of his strength and authority.

Art thou a new strength and a new authority? A first motion? A self-rolling wheel? Canst thou also compel stars to revolve around thee? Alas! there is so much lusting for loftiness! There are so many convulsions of the…

Zarathustra tests the claim to freedom: ambition and inflated thoughts are not strength. Escaping a yoke counts for nothing unless one can give oneself a law and bear being alone with it.

Free from what? What doth that matter to Zarathustra! Clearly, however, shall thine eye show unto me: free FOR WHAT?

Zarathustra asks not what one is free from but what one is free for.

To-day sufferest thou still from the multitude, thou individual; to-day hast thou still thy courage unabated, and thy hopes. But one day will the solitude weary thee; one day will thy pride yield, and thy courage quail.…

Zarathustra predicts the lonesome one's coming weariness, doubt and anguish. He foretells the disdain, envy and injustice of others and bids him accept it and still shine like a star.

And be on thy guard against the good and just! They would fain crucify those who devise their own virtue—they hate the lonesome ones. Be on thy guard, also, against holy simplicity! All is unholy to it that is not…

Zarathustra warns against the good and just, who would crucify inventors of their own virtue, against holy simplicity, and against his own too-ready love. He says to give a paw with claws.

Thou lonesome one, thou goest the way to thyself! And past thyself and thy seven devils leadeth thy way! A heretic wilt thou be to thyself, and a wizard and a soothsayer, and a fool, and a doubter, and a reprobate, and…

The worst enemy is oneself. The way leads past one's seven devils, through being heretic and villain to oneself, to burning and renewal. Love and self-contempt together drive creation.

Ready must thou be to burn thyself in thine own flame; how couldst thou become new if thou have not first become ashes!

The creator must be ready to burn himself to ashes in order to become new.

With thy love, go into thine isolation, my brother, and with thy creating; and late only will justice limp after thee. With my tears, go into thine isolation, my brother. I love him who seeketh to create beyond himself,…

Zarathustra sends his brother into isolation with love, creating and his own tears. He says he loves whoever seeks to create beyond himself and so goes under.