Very few people know, for instance, that the secret of the style of the Zarathustra of Nietzsche rests upon the fact that he took certain poisonous substances into his system which called forth in him the particular rhythm, the particular style of Zarathustra. In Nietzsche a quite definite substance lived as thought. This, of course, is something abnormal, a diseased condition, though it is in a certain sense something magnificent. We cannot permit ourselves to live in illusions about these things if we wish to understand them, [….]
We must realize what it means that Nietzsche partook of certain poisons, but we must not imitate him. Thus by causing the human organism to take on an etheric mode of existence these poisons irradiate the thought system, thus calling forth what we see in Nietzsche’s Zarathustra.
Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 211 –THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST, THE RESURRECTED / REFLECTIONS ON THE MYSTERY OF GOLGOTHA
This lecture is number 8 of 12 in the lecture series entitled The Sun Mystery … Death, Resurrection and is also included in the lecture series Exoteric and Esoteric Christianity – The Hague, 13 April 1922
Translated by Lisa Dreher and Henry B. Monges
Nietzsche looks good but he spoils everything with that weird mustache. 😀
The great Rudolf Steiner Quotes Site 