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Domesticated Animals

"They have turned the wolf into a dog and man himself into the man's best domesticated animal." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra

How do your really feel there, Fred?!? :)

That's strong.

Society does one heck of a job of conditioning us, doesn't it? Nietzsche railed against this. He refused to be domesticated and was an ardent opponent of all people/institutions that seek to overwhelm people with conditioning.

How about you? Are you merrily plodding along getting pats on your back and stroked behind your ear while you behave well? Any possibility you might need to change that just a bit? :)

"Whoever must be a creator in good and evil, verily, he must first be an annihilator and break values." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra

And Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subject in his genius essay, Self-Reliance (Notes available):

"For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure."

"A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist."

"And truly it demands something godlike in him who cast off the common motives of humanity and ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster."