If Zarathustra was real and walking around today, you can be certain he would be a cult leader. One of those creepy ones with the staring eyes and long beard, and while he preaches against lust I expect he would yet maintain a harem.
In principle I agree with a lot of the ideas I could garner - I agree in the concept of the Übermensch to some degree. Man definitely needs to overcome his baser instincts, but I would disagree with the Puritan level that Nietzsche took this to. (Again, the irony of his ideas seeming so similar to religious ideals). I also am not big on the pomp and hypocrisy of mass religion, specifically I believe he was talking of Christianity and Judaism. The main thing I had a problem with was Zarathustra's perfect omniscience. Zarathustra was an atheist Jesus for all intents and purposes. I felt in a lot of ways, Zarathustra echoed the flaws of religious leaders, and I don't think that was supposed to be ironic. One thought that really did resonate with me, which I believe he pursued in other work, is the idea of "good" and "evil" and that what society declares to be good isn't really good and vice versa. Though that doesn't seem particularly revelatory, I assume it was much more so back when this book was written. Regardless, it is something a lot of people today still don't seem to consider.
Beyond all that, I didn't find the language particularly compelling or beautiful. It just seemed like a stream of consciousness mess, maybe written like those stories in high school where someone writes one part, and then passes it to another who writes the next part... and by the end it's a little insensible because the people writing the end didn't bother reading the beginning so they don't really know what's going on.
Like I said, I would like to hear (read) any other opinions on it. Positive and negative! I fully accept that perhaps this book was beyond me and I was unable to appreciate the deeper core of it. If so, I'd sure like to have it explained!
