Conatus

my essay on the sculpture of rodin.

“The essence of our gardens and palaces (and to the same extent the essence of all yearning after aristocratic riches) is the desire to rid the eye of disorder and vulgarity, and to build a home for our soul’s nobility. The majority of people certainly believe that they will develop higher natures when those beautiful and peaceful things have operated upon them: “hence the exodus to Italy, hence all travelling, etc., and all reading and visits to theatres. People want to be formed — that is the kernel of their labours for culture! But the strong, the mighty, would themselves have a hand in the forming, and would fain have nothing strange about them! It is for this reason, too, that men go to open Nature, not to find themselves, but to lose and to forget themselves. The desire “to get away from one’s self” is proper to all weak natures, and to all those who are discontented with themselves.”

The Two Crowns, Frank Dicksee, 1900.

the very choice of "race of men" implies an inception, for in the strictest sense of the word, if one would to roam the earth, he wouldn't find any in the sense used by nietzsche, a body of natural harmony attuned with his instincts according to the degree that they are healthy, the man of today is much confused and mystified in his deep instincts and feelings as a result of that amalgamation of the passions incurred by the long years of effemination, in this regard, spengler's conception of race comes to bear a close affinity to nietzsche's.

this is defintely why nietzsche is often misunderstood, for he is a philosopher of the future -this should not be confused with the vulgarity of futurism and naive optimism in man, he is speaking of something else-, of millennials to come, when he speaks of man, and his very conception of man is a sort of beyond man, one must bear this in mind to know that his writings are reserved for a mentality not yet born, if one were to go in the understanding of him from assumptions of traditional metaphysics he would surely confuse things up, he is an initiator of a new history, a new path in philosophy, the very basis of his philosophy is a kind of a go-beyond of man.

“I am writing for a race of men which does not yet exist: for “the lords of the earth.” In Plato’s Theages the following passage will be found: “Every one of us would like if possible to be master of mankind; if possible, a God.” This attitude of mind must be reinstated in our midst” — F.Nietzsche, The Will to Power.

Into the silence of the night, There breaks the rushing, splashing stream; Upon the purling waters Breezes gently blow And silver moonbeams dance. Now wind-bowed poplars Brew a sleepy potion in the depths. Throughout the trees roar stabbing winds, Until the swirling burden of the fallen leaves At last can still the raging waters. - Ludwig Klages, The Stream.

ما تفعلُ يا إلهي إذا متُّ؟ أنا جرّتُكَ، فما تفعلُ إذا أنكسَرتُ؟ أنا شرابُكَ، فما تفعلُ إذا فَسدْتُ؟ أنا ثوبكَ ونولُ نسيجك، بدوني ستفقدُ كلَّ معنى. برحيلي لن يكون لك منزل تحتفي بكَ فيه كلماتٌ حميمةٌ ودافئة. من قدميك الخائرتين سيسقط خفُّ المُخْمَلِ الذي هو أنا. عباءتُكَ الفضفاضة ستدعكَ تَرحل نظرتُك التي يستقبلها خدّي ساخنًا مثل وِسادة ستجيءُ وتبحثُ عنّي طويلًا ثمَّ في ساعةِ الغروبِ تُقعي وسْطَ حجارةً مجهولة. ماذا ستفعل يا إلهي؟ أنا خائف. — ريلكه، كتاب الساعات.

لا أقدر أن أصدق أنّ الموتَ الصّغير الذي نتأمّلهُ بتعالٍ كل يوم يَبعثُ فينا قلقًا ووحشة. ولا أصدق أنّه يُهدّدنا حقًا؛ فأنا ما زلتُ أحيا، ولديّ للبناء زمنٌ كافٍ وسيكون دمي أحمرَ بأطولَ ممّا تكونه الأوارد. فكري أعمَقُ من أن يجدَ تسليتَه في اللّعبِ بتخويفنا ببراعة، أنا العالَم الذي سقطَ منه فكري وهائمًا مَضى. كَمِثْلِه يهيمُ رهبانٌ في دوائر متّسعة، والجميعُ يخشون عودتهم، ولا أحدَ يعلمُ: هل همْ في كلِّ مرةٍ الكائنُ ذاته؟ هل هم اثنان، أم عشرةٌ، أم ألفٌ، أم أكثرُ بكثير؟ لا نعرف سوى هذه اليد الغريبة التي يعروها اصفرار التي تمتد عاريةً وقريبة إنها هنا، إنها هنا: كأنها طالعةٌ من رِدائي أنا نفسي. — ريلكه، كتاب الساعات.

his thoughts on music are clearly influenced by spengler and the writings of heinrich schenker.

Music and Poetry by Paul Raphael Montford, c. 1904.

“The study of composition, which used to require about twenty years, now can be completed in a couple of months; musicians are devouring the theories of Rameau, and the number of students has multiplied. . . . France has been inundated by bad music and bad musicians; everybody thinks he has understood the finesses of art before having learned as much as the rudiments; and everybody tries to invent new harmonies before having trained his ear to distinguish between right and wrong ones.” - jean jacques rousseau

the original one.