The Golden One - Marcus Follin - Nietzsche and the Gym: The Path to the Overman
Aired: 2022-12-13
Duration: 06:29


=== Temple of Iron Insights (02:20) ===

[00:00:44]  Greetings my esteemed Laddingtons.
[00:00:46]  I'm checking in from a beautiful winter landscape.
[00:00:51]  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.
[00:01:07]  We'll see if I encounter such a spirit.
[00:01:10]  Hopefully, we'll see.
[00:01:12]  I will update you all if I experience a sudden burst of powers.
[00:01:17]  Now, as you see in the title, I thought to talk a bit about good old Nietzsche and the good old Temple of Iron.
[00:01:25]  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.
[00:01:35]  I do believe he would want us to train in the Temple of Iron and to post physique.
[00:01:41]  Now, the reason I say this is the following.
[00:01:45]  He teaches us that man is something to be overcome and we must embark upon the path to the overman.
[00:01:55]  Now, I have talked about alchemy before on this channel, and of course, on in my great book reviews, which I'll read.
[00:02:02]  I hope if you don't read all of my book reviews, you will not make it, you're not gonna make it.
[00:02:08]  You must repent by fasting for 24 hours.
[00:02:13]  You need to do this within a week as a way to repent for not having read my book reviews.
[00:02:21]  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.
[00:02:34]  You can always, you know, hammer and chisel out some more purity within you and you know, remove impurities.
[00:02:43]  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.
[00:02:57]  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.

=== Gym as Overcoming Yourself (03:24) ===

[00:03:04]  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.
[00:03:23]  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.
[00:03:36]  They're smug in everything they do.
[00:03:37]  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?
[00:03:47]  Why do you need to be strong in this particular exercise in this particular movement?
[00:03:52]  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.
[00:04:00]  Now, of course, for us enlightened individuals, we know that everything is connected.
[00:04:05]  Mind and body are connected.
[00:04:07]  If you take care of your body, you take care of your mind, vice versa.
[00:04:11]  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?
[00:04:25]  Both are quite impressive, if I may be so bold.
[00:04:29]  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.
[00:04:44]  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.
[00:04:58]  I managed to overcome myself and to take a few more steps on the path of the overman.
[00:05:03]  So, do view the gym in a holistic manner.
[00:05:06]  That it's not about how strong you are necessarily compared to others.
[00:05:12]  And, of course, that can be interesting in other regards.
[00:05:16]  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.
[00:05:28]  Now, I've talked about momentum before.
[00:05:30]  Momentum is a goddess, and she loves when you have these victories stacking up.
[00:05:35]  So, you can have a very small victory.
[00:05:38]  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.
[00:05:52]  So, that is essentially how you can view it.
[00:05:54]  That is how you can apply niches teaching in your life.
[00:05:59]  So, it's a very tangible and accessible way to go along the path of the overman.
[00:06:07]  Now, of course, it's hardly the only path you can take.
[00:06:10]  You can take a lot of different paths, but it's a very, yeah, again, keep.
[00:06:14]  I keep using this word accessible, but it is very accessible.
[00:06:18]  So, so, yeah, that is at least how I would interpret this particular teaching.
[00:06:25]  So, thank you for watching.
[00:06:26]  I will keep you all updated on my gym progress.
[00:06:28]  Exec.