[tab]Now how the philosopher might come to deal with these respective challenges put before him by red thread that he is, precariously strung between his own historic nature an the destiny of mankind.
1. a tremendous multiplicity of qualities; he must be a brief abstract of a man, of all man’s higher and lower desires;
Against a tremendous multiplicity must stand a powerful simplicity, a will to break branches off as carelessly as one lets them grow, the tendency to retreat into the stem, become indifferent to what is around and grow only upward. If he is not able to cut himself off from his experiments despite these works containing his own blood, he will perish.
danger from antitheses,
Antithesis can not be dealt with by withdrawal into either of the two theses; it must instead be “molten together” by fire, hammer and anvil in the forge known as the artists mind, which even for this purpose alone the philosopher must possess; antitheses last the longest but can be endured the least; no artist of influence is without them, and the philosopher survives them in the same way as the artist, except that his material is harder and requires far greater passion to melt and forge. In other words, alchemy is required; and Nietzsche’s own work is inscrutably magnificent because it is such an alchemy of contradictions, where mans greatest contradictions are brought together in new qualities.
also from disgust at himself;
Here, a much simpler remedy is called for, or rather several ones; first; exercise and aesthetic discipline release the grip of disgust, and then, a cool glance into the world puts ones own ideal in a new light, and one can accept that one is indeed only a struggling human, but that this is the very point; the beauty of the overcoming would not exist if the state was already perfect. From this sobering insight, it stands to reason, the myths of innocence and sin are derived - but these myths do not suffice to do justice to the imperfection; only very little poetry does in fact reach into the heart of this matter; Milton, in his descriptions of the bad guys, and William Blake to my mind, but also parts of the Edda’s, those rough and unshapely myths of values and fortitudes too deep to express indirectly, make of imperfection a kind of disciplinary nectar - which in terms of evolution, it is. Imperfection is also what allows compatibility. A philosopher may seek out artists that reflect his own weaknesses, make music with which he can grow disgusted, transfigure, improve. He can never rest in his state - he must accept the ill quality as a doctor, not merely as a patient. In as far as the philosopher is prone to disgust with himself, he must be a ‘witch doctor’, someone who knows how to use the art of transfiguration purposefully. If he is not such a shaman, he will be known merely as a literator, an ironist, a writer, not a thinker. Thoughts must be pure, and self-disgust leads to pure thoughts of a world where one is not - thoughts about a clean death, a warriors death, a death wherein aesthetic justification is found that was lacking in life. Creative spirits commit suicide when that is their last shot at setting a standard.
2. he must be inquisitive in the most various directions: danger of going to pieces;
Same as contradictions; the directions of the wind must ultimately lead back to the center. Here again; luck, fortune, fate. But these are always the great stimulants; this is why one sails into an open sea; a philosopher is constantly testing fate.
Going to pieces; also Walhalla, the warriors death rewarded by the daily fight with Odin, being torn apart and being put back together, followed by a drunken banquet, until the end of the days of the gods. But the philosopher must fulfill the Odinic task of pulling himself together from what to a normal mind would be sure insanity.
3. he must be just and fair in the highest sense, but profound in love, hate (and injustice), too;
He must be profound in love and hate because according tot he highest justice it is good that he is a man, and good men are profound in love and hate - his subtle and far reaching conscious values demand that his instinctive values be taken seriously; unlike the scientist, he understands that he does not stand outside of the equation, that his logic will only be consequential if he is a not only god but also beast.
4. he must be not only a spectator, but also a legislator: judge and be judged (to the extent that he is a brief extract of the world);
The same; he must partake in the world in order to be consequential. Primarily because this gives his thoughts the proper consequences for himself; he has to take himself seriously, he has to dare to correct mistakes.
5. extremely multifarious, yet firm and hard. supple.
This entry contains its own resolve; multifarious, yet firm, thus supple.
Overall the philosopher must be a dancer who knows how to lead his own mind, and sometimes to follow an inscrutable higher drive that appears in a state of exceptionally good or bad health; the god, Dionysus, the raging one who makes paths where no creature has gone, or Apollon the marksman who crosses distances the human eye can not see. A philosopher does not come far without now and then evoking his gods, and believing in them, innocently in the full awareness of the folly of it - the philosopher understands that man is healthier with than without his illusions; and that to be a philosopher, he also needs to be a man, from time to time; what for a priest is a matter of the gravest ceremony and obedience, for the philosopher is a moment of silly child’s play; both talk to their god; the priest asks for a trade of favors; sacrifice for fortune - the philosopher invites the god to come play with him - which is a way of inviting himself to play with the world. Nietzsche’s playtime with gods is extensive, so is Plato’s - it is to a degree a measure of the philosophers self-confidence, of his willingness to be attacked, his desire even to be attacked - the suppleness of the natural fighter.