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Analyzing Nietzsche: The Leech
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LXIV. THE LEECH. Zarathustra left the two kings behind,
and carries on his way down the mountain, to figure out where the cry of distress came from.
And Zarathustra went thoughtfully on, further and lower down, through forests and past
moory bottoms; as it happeneth, however, to every one who meditateth upon hard matters,
he trod thereby unawares upon a man. And lo, there spurted into his face all at once a cry of pain,
and two curses and twenty bad invectives, so that in his fright he raised his stick and also
struck the trodden one. Immediately afterwards, however, he regained his composure, and his heart
laughed at the folly he had just committed. Walking in the moorland, he treads upon a man who,
for some reason, is lying on the ground. If that's not enough, he also whacks him with his cane.
"Pardon me," said he to the trodden one, who had got up enraged, and had seated himself,
"pardon me, and hear first of all a parable. As a wanderer who dreameth of remote things on
a lonesome highway, runneth unawares against a sleeping dog, a dog which lieth in the sun:
— As both of them then start up and snap at each other, like deadly enemies, those two beings
mortally frightened — so did it happen unto us. And yet! And yet — how little was lacking for them
to caress each other, that dog and that lonesome one! Are they not both — lonesome ones!"
Realizing he'd done wrong, Zarathustra tries to appease the trodden man, by pointing out
the thing they have in common: they are both out on their own, and should probably be friends.
— "Whoever thou art," said the trodden one, still enraged, "thou treadest also too nigh
me with thy parable, and not only with thy foot! Lo! am I then a dog?" — And thereupon the sitting
one got up, and pulled his naked arm out of the swamp. For at first he had lain outstretched on
the ground, hidden and indiscernible, like those who lie in wait for swamp-game.
The other guy is not appeased, choosing to take offense from the imagery instead
of understanding the message. He seems to be quite hot-headed and not very smart.
"But whatever art thou about!" called out Zarathustra in alarm,
for he saw a deal of blood streaming over the naked arm, — "what hath hurt thee? Hath an evil
beast bit thee, thou unfortunate one?" The bleeding one laughed, still angry,
"What matter is it to thee!" said he, and was about to go on. "Here am I at home and in my
province. Let him question me whoever will: to a dolt, however, I shall hardly answer."
Zarathustra realizes that the man is bleeding, and takes pity on him. The man, still angry, rejects
his pity, which is actually what Zarathustra told us we should do. Will he appreciate it?
"Thou art mistaken," said Zarathustra sympathetically, and held him fast;
"thou art mistaken. Here thou art not at home, but in my domain,
and therein shall no one receive any hurt. Call me however what thou wilt — I am who I
must be. I call myself Zarathustra. Well! Up thither is the way to
Zarathustra's cave: it is not far, — wilt thou not attend to thy wounds at my home?
It hath gone badly with thee, thou unfortunate one, in this life: first a beast bit thee,
and then — a man trod upon thee!" — Zarathustra continues to be pitiful. It shows
us that compassion is part of his nature, even if he ideologically rejects it. He invites the man to
his cave, where he can tend to his wound. When however the trodden one had heard the
name of Zarathustra he was transformed. "What happeneth unto me!" he exclaimed,
"WHO preoccupieth me so much in this life as this one man, namely Zarathustra, and that one
animal that liveth on blood, the leech? For the sake of the leech did I lie here
by this swamp, like a fisher, and already had mine outstretched arm been bitten ten times,
when there biteth a still finer leech at my blood, Zarathustra himself!
O happiness! O miracle! Praised be this day which enticed me into the swamp! Praised be the best,
the livest cupping-glass, that at present liveth; praised be the great
conscience-leech Zarathustra!" — Turns out that the man was bleeding
not because he was bitten by a wild animal, but because he willingly subjected his arm to the
bite of leeches, which he apparently admires. He also admires Zarathustra, and we already
get that Zarathustra is now a very renowned and notorious man. Everyone seems to know who he is,
and have an opinion of him. This man admires him so much that he gives him that greatest compliment
he can, and compares him to a leech. He seems to admire the leech because it lives on blood,
the fluid of life. He says that Zarathustra is a leech of the conscience, and I think he
means that he brought his conscience to life. Thus spake the trodden one, and Zarathustra
rejoiced at his words and their refined reverential style. "Who art thou?" asked he,
and gave him his hand, "there is much to clear up and elucidate between us, but already
methinketh pure clear day is dawning." "I am THE SPIRITUALLY CONSCIENTIOUS ONE,"
answered he who was asked, "and in matters of the spirit it is difficult for any one to
take it more rigorously, more restrictedly, and more severely than I, except him from
whom I learnt it, Zarathustra himself. As weird as this man is, he does have a way
with words, which Zarathustra appreciates. He defines himself as spiritually conscientious.
After Zarathustra awakened his conscience, he decided to dedicate his life to live in
a way that will be true to the spirit. Better know nothing than half-know many
things! Better be a fool on one's own account, than a sage on other people's
approbation! I — go to the basis: — What matter if it be great or
small? If it be called swamp or sky? A handbreadth of basis is enough for me,
if it be actually basis and ground! — A handbreadth of basis: thereon
can one stand. In the true knowing-knowledge there is nothing great and nothing small."
Affected by Zarathustra, the man decided that he shall make his own truth,
not follow others. And that he shall concentrate on one thing alone, which he shall study until
he knows it in full. Thus, he shall remain pure, and faithful to himself. It doesn't
matter what he chooses to study – as long as he knows it better than anyone, he is purer
and truer than those who know many things, but only superficially. Thus, he chose to study…
"Then thou art perhaps an expert on the leech?" asked Zarathustra;
"and thou investigatest the leech to its ultimate basis, thou conscientious one?"
"O Zarathustra," answered the trodden one, "that would be something
immense; how could I presume to do so! That, however, of which I am master and knower,
is the BRAIN of the leech: — that is MY world! Zarathustra gets it. This man decided to study the
leech, as his thing. This, however, is not what Zarathustra was teaching. He talked about focusing
on one virtue that you have, making it the center of your being, and cultivating it. In this way you
can grow, whereas trying to develop many virtues at once will get them to clash with each other,
and stunt your growth. The man misunderstood, and instead of developing a virtue, chose to
cultivate knowledge on something external to himself. Tellingly, he chose the one animal
that doesn't live by itself, but leeches on others. The man then tells him that he doesn't
presume to do even that. Studying the leech is too much for him. He studies only its brain.
And it is also a world! Forgive it, however, that my pride here findeth expression,
for here I have not mine equal. Therefore said I: 'here am I at home.'
How long have I investigated this one thing,
the brain of the leech, so that here the slippery truth might
no longer slip from me! Here is MY domain! — For the sake of this did I cast everything
else aside, for the sake of this did everything else become indifferent to me; and close beside
my knowledge lieth my black ignorance. We realize that he is truly pathetic,
dedicating his whole life to the exploration of a very primitive brain. He admits to be ignorant
about everything else, but he holds on to this one thing in which he feels he knows the truth,
and isn't fed the truth by others. The funny thing is, today's science tells us that a
leech actually has 32 brains, so it turns out he still doesn't know what he's talking about.
There is also greatness in him, though. Dedicating his life to the exploration of one thing does
make him stand out, and humanity's knowledge is increased by such people. He is another
version of the higher man whom Zarathustra seeks, although, once again, he fails to realize it.
My spiritual conscience requireth from me that it should be so — that I should know one thing,
and not know all else: they are a loathing unto me, all the semi-spiritual, all the hazy,
hovering, and visionary. Where mine honesty ceaseth,
there am I blind, and want also to be blind. Where I want to know, however,
there want I also to be honest — namely, severe, rigorous, restricted, cruel and inexorable.
Because THOU once saidest, O Zarathustra: 'Spirit is life which itself cutteth into
life'; — that led and allured me to thy doctrine. And verily, with mine own blood
have I increased mine own knowledge!" Now he quotes Zarathustra's words back to
him verbatim, from 'The Famous Wise Ones'. There, Zarathustra said: "Spirit is life which itself
cutteth into life: by its own torture doth it increase its own knowledge." This was also the
chapter where he defines the conscientious one as one who goes into the wilderness to seek
knowledge. The man believes that he followed Zarathustra's decree. He did indeed go into
the wilderness, and there he tortures himself by allowing leeches to feed on him. But he got it all
wrong. The conscientious is one who goes into the wilderness in order to do battle against himself,
to question everything he knows and create his own truth out of the struggle. "Life that cutteth
into life" means that your own life forces fight against everything in you that holds them back,
and you grow and expand through it. But this man lets an outside force torture him,
and studies it instead of studying himself. Thus, instead of growing, he has reduced
himself to be nothing but leech-food. — "As the evidence indicateth," broke in
Zarathustra; for still was the blood flowing down on the naked arm of the conscientious
one. For there had ten leeches bitten into it. "O thou strange fellow, how much doth this very
evidence teach me — namely, thou thyself! And not all, perhaps, might I pour into thy rigorous ear!
Well then! We part here! But I would fain find thee again. Up thither is the way to my cave:
to-night shalt thou there be my welcome guest! Fain would I also make amends to thy body for
Zarathustra treading upon thee with his feet: I think about that. Just now, however, a cry of
distress calleth me hastily away from thee." Thus spake Zarathustra.
Zarathustra realizes that the pain he caused him before, when he treaded on him,
is nothing compared to the damage he'd done to the spirit of this poor man.
His teachings treaded on that spirit and reduced it. He wants to fix what he did,
but he knows it will not be easy, and take time, since this strange fellow has a very weird logic
and will not understand. So he invites him to wait for him in his cave, and carries on his way.
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