I'm checking in from a beautiful winter landscape.
I'm in search of a spirit, an ancient Scandinavian hunter-gatherer spirit who can hopefully bless me with additional powers of primordial strength and esoteric wisdom.
We'll see if I encounter such a spirit.
Hopefully, we'll see.
I will update you all if I experience a sudden burst of powers.
Now, as you see in the title, I thought to talk a bit about good old Nietzsche and the good old Temple of Iron.
Now, I haven't read all of Nietzsche's books yet, perhaps I will someday, but I have read enough to be able to interpret his wishes at least.
I do believe he would want us to train in the Temple of Iron and to post physique.
Now, the reason I say this is the following.
He teaches us that man is something to be overcome and we must embark upon the path to the overman.
Now, I have talked about alchemy before on this channel, and of course, on in my great book reviews, which I'll read.
I hope if you don't read all of my book reviews, you will not make it, you're not gonna make it.
You must repent by fasting for 24 hours.
You need to do this within a week as a way to repent for not having read my book reviews.
Now, anyway, alchemy, I'm not an expert here either, but what we can say is, of course, that the great work of creating gold within yourself, it goes on, it always goes on.
You can always, you know, hammer and chisel out some more purity within you and you know, remove impurities.
So, you can view alchemy in a similar way as the path of the overman, that you continuously overcome yourself by removing faults and weaknesses in you.
So, Nietzsche doesn't say, as far as I know at least, he doesn't say that you have to train in the Temple of Iron.
But if we look at that particular teaching of his, that continuously overcoming yourself, the gym offers this in a very in a very tangible and accessible manner, that you can go into the gym to overcome yourself every time, basically.
So, you have a lot of guys, we can call them the ironic guys, often liberals, often atheists, often this smug archetype, if you know what I mean.
They're smug in everything they do.
So, they would say to you, if you say, I will go into the gym to get stronger in the bench press, and then they will say, oh, why do you need a big chest for?
Why do you need to be strong in this particular exercise in this particular movement?
This is how they would view it because they don't understand, they don't view the world, they don't view life in a holistic manner.
Now, of course, for us enlightened individuals, we know that everything is connected.
Mind and body are connected.
If you take care of your body, you take care of your mind, vice versa.
So, then, to take my own training at the moment as an example, do you care if I take 180 as my one rep max in the bench press or if I take 190?
Both are quite impressive, if I may be so bold.
The big difference though is that if I do manage in a few weeks' time or a few months to get 190 or even 200, say, it isn't all too big of a difference in the eyes of others.
Doesn't really need to be as long as I know that I have overcome myself in a very tangible manner that I can point to: yes, this is what I did, here's how I did it via discipline, willpower, magic.
I managed to overcome myself and to take a few more steps on the path of the overman.
So, do view the gym in a holistic manner.
That it's not about how strong you are necessarily compared to others.
And, of course, that can be interesting in other regards.
But if we're talking about the path of the overman, of the alchemical process, of the great work, yeah, it's about you going in, overcoming yourself, and that creates a good momentum.
Now, I've talked about momentum before.
Momentum is a goddess, and she loves when you have these victories stacking up.
So, you can have a very small victory.
Maybe it's insignificant to anyone else that you've increased your bench press with five kilos, but it's a victory for you that will create a good momentum that you can use to go further along on the path of the overman.
So, that is essentially how you can view it.
That is how you can apply niches teaching in your life.
So, it's a very tangible and accessible way to go along the path of the overman.
Now, of course, it's hardly the only path you can take.
You can take a lot of different paths, but it's a very, yeah, again, keep.
I keep using this word accessible, but it is very accessible.
So, so, yeah, that is at least how I would interpret this particular teaching.
