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as the inner wealth is concerned, the poor man is as endowed by nature as any rich man. The rich man is too engaged with the outside world and perhaps may not find the way or the time to enter inwards. But the poor man is in a fortunate condition: He has nothing to be engaged with on the outside; he can close his eyes and go in. Zarathustra is saying that unless the wise are so wise that even foolishness becomes just playfulness, and the poor are so happy as if they have found the greatest treasure....
TO THAT END, I MUST DESCEND INTO THE DEPTHS: AS YOU DO AT THE EVENING, WHEN YOU GO BEHIND THE SEA AND BRING LIGHT TO THE UNDERWORLD TOO, SUPERABUNDANT STAR!
LIKE YOU, I MUST GO DOWN -- AS MEN, TO WHOM I WANT TO DESCEND, CALL IT.
SO BLESS ME THEN, TRANQUIL EYE, THAT CAN BEHOLD WITHOUT ENVY, EVEN AN EXCESSIVE HAPPINESS!
BLESS THE CUP THAT WANTS TO OVERFLOW, THAT THE WATERS MAY FLOW GOLDEN FROM HIM AND BEAR THE REFLECTION OF YOUR JOY OVER ALL THE WORLD!
BEHOLD! THIS CUP WANTS TO BE EMPTY AGAIN, AND ZARATHUSTRA WANTS TO BE MAN AGAIN.
This is the rare quality of Zarathustra. There have been thousands of men who wanted to be supermen -- who wanted to be Buddhas, Jainas, Christs, Avataras -- but Zarathustra, alone in the whole of history, wants to be a man again. Seeing the heights, seeing the depths, knowing the ultimate solitude, being full of wisdom, he wants to go down and be just a man amongst men -- not anybody superior.
THUS BEGAN ZARATHUSTRA'S DOWN-GOING. This "down-going" of Zarathustra is so unique and so significant that unless every wise man has the same courage, humanity's destiny cannot be changed.
If all the Gautam Buddhas and all the Jesus Christs, all the Moseses and all the Mohammeds, had come back to humanity just as men, they would have given dignity to humanity; they would have given great courage to humanity -- they would have become sources of great inspiration. But they are far above; the distance is so great that it creates discouragement. Not only they, but their disciples have been trying in every possible way to create more and more distance.
For example, Jesus was born out of a virgin
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