15 - On Enjoying and Suffering the Passions

Thus Spoke Zarathustra - A Reader's Guide

Based on the translation by Graham Parkes - Where do we find value in our lives? Nietzsche denies that we can legitimately get value - the things in our lives to care about, aim at, and develop ourselves around - from either religion or rationality. Instead, these must come from the Self - the sum totality of who we are, the biological impulses that are then guided and analyzed by the rational mind. We must search within ourselves for what defines us, what we consider important - we must understand how our virtues (idealized bodily impulses and desires) speak to us and develop, and how to orient our lives and actions around those to live a life filled with meaning.