Padded, rumpless daughters

October of Zarathustra

This morning, I read about Zarathustra heading back to his cave, to be alone again.

First he stops at a city, but he doesn't go in.

Then he stops by The Motley Cow, his favorite little town, and gives a little talk.

Then he goes back to his cave and has a little silence and solitude.

Yes, he has been complaining about loneliness, about missing his friends, about neglecting his friends, but he hasn't gone back to his followers yet. He has gone back to his animals. 

A lot of people who have a weird way of thinking and seeing the world need to be alone a lot. We have this fundamental human need to be around other people, but if you're weird it can be really hard.

One night I was driving somewhere and I was listening to an interview with Aella (the internet-famous sex worker and former OnlyFans top earner). She said something on that interview that I think about all the time. I think about it not because it was so wise, but because it was so foolish.

The story she told was about how she would go to parties and ask people, "What is your most controversial opinion?" And she was surprised to find that many people said that they didn't have any controversial opinions. 

This doesn't surprise me at all. At least, it doesn't surprise me that people either:

A) Didn't want to reveal controversial opinions if they had them to a stranger (I'm sure this was the smaller group of the two), or

B) Didn't have any opinions that would have been controversial to anyone they would have cared to share opinions with.

I've come to believe that maybe as much as 90% of humanity doesn't really have opinions of their own so much as they have a worldview constructed for them to get along with the people they interact with on a daily basis. Opinions are just how they signal social cohesion. 

I think this is very hard for people naturally inclined to curiosity about the world to understand. For people who just arrive at their own opinions without worrying much about conforming with peers, it's hard to imagine mainly just repeating what other people around you think.

And, honestly, I don't think 90% of people believe they don't come to opinions on their own. I doubt it feels that way to them. And I can't prove my thesis at all. It just looks to me like most people arrive at most their opinions by participating in the hivemind of their social structure. It's not that they aren't thinking. They just aren't thinking alone.

And that's why I think a guy like Zarathustra has to go be alone a lot, even if he's lonely, because he likes people and misses them but he often finds himself creating an unpleasant dissonance in the hivemind. 

• He calls himself "a well of wine among empty buckets." 

And that gets unpleasant. He needs to recharge, as we contemporaries might say.

Silence, as he says, never misunderstands him. Silence probably doesn't understand him, either. The silence is most likely indifferent to him. But the silence doesn't say either way. He can project whatever he wants onto his buddy, silence. 

On passing by

On his way back to his cave, he stops outside the city and meets up with someone who seems to be riding his coattails, so much so that he's called "Zarathustra's ape." The ape tells him the city is awful. Don't go in the city!

To which Zarathustra replies: "If it's so awful, then why do you live there yourself, dummy? If your advice is good for me, why is it bad for you?" Fair enough.

Though I think Zarathustra is a bit unfair to the ape. This whole book is about dividing people into two classes: the many and the exceptional. All along Zarathustra has been telling us that there are two sets of rules for the two kinds of people. So maybe the city does work for the ape but really wouldn't for Zarathustra? 

Anyway, Zarathustra keeps moving, but not because the ape told him to. 

On Apostates

Zarathustra stops in The Motley Cow to give a lecture on how anyone who prays, who believes in God, is a big dummy who's doing nothing more than seeking consolation. Rough stuff. I'm not with him, but I get the mood. 

The return home

Zarathustra is back in his cave, with his eagle and his snake and his friend silence, and he's glad again to be alone. 

One line

“—Ah there are only a few whose hearts have a long courage and playfulness; and in these the spirit also stays patient. But the rest are cowards.” —Zarathustra.

• In other words, exceptional people are both brave and fun. 🤩👍🤩

—Brady Dale
October 17, 2026

Next Zarathustra: To all wormy wood, to all stinking rags