Zarathustra vs Adam and the Ants

Thus Spoke Zarathustra – First Part – Prologue 10
vs “Dog Eat Dog”, Adam and the Ants (Kings of the Wild Frontier, 1980)

One day has passed, and it as if the ‘Prologue’ has been a circle and a spiral, an eagle circling, the coil of a snake. Once again Zarathustra is staring at the sun, but he now does so with new purpose. Then two animals appear, two companions from his solitude – an eagle and a snake, the snake coiled round the eagle, the eagle supporting the snake. So called mortal enemies as one: the heights and the depths, ‘The proudest animal under the sun and the cleverest animal under the sun’ – values not to be scorned, but to be achieved.

‘You may not like / The things we do’ sings Adam over the tribal rock of the Ants, and ‘You may not like / The things we say’. Here is Zarathustra’s teachings, Nietzsche’s method. The overhuman: ‘Leapfrog the dog’ (eat dog). The child as philosopher: ‘It makes me proud / So proud of you / I see innocence / Shining through’ (see the third transformation – P1 C1). The warrior: ‘Where's the warrior / Without his pride?’.

‘- Thus began Zarathustra’s going-under’.

First Part: Chapter 1.I - Faith No More