Nietzsche claims a man who leaves his culture will be weaker
for it, but his creation—what he tries for in his lifetime but won’t get—will
be stronger than the culture he left.
This is right, and is describes the pain frustration, isolation, and
loneliness of a man who has left his primary culture and has moved on to start
a new one.
When a man has such space, a vacuum is created. If he had
many ideas that could not flourish in his old land, they explode in size and
depth in the new land--so much so that we can call these 'new ideas.'
Yet in the new land there are new people and new
languages. These new people and new languages compete with the man’s ideas
which are now flourishing in the new land. The language competes with his new
ideas and soon his mind grows exhausted.
He admires the new culture and wants
all the new women. He must make a living and find shelter and explain himself
constantly. All of this competes with the strength of his new ideas. Nietzsche
means to say that the ideas are stronger and better than ever, but the man
himself cannot handle both his new ideas and his new surroundings.
Only his
children will know the ease of a familiar culture and the strength of their
father’s new ideas.
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