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Nice one Whitman!
>everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you
Yep, I know that feeling.
The only thing I ever tackled by Nietzsche so far was "Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie' (concerning the use and disadvantages of history). I like the extracts you provided though. Funny, the concept he describes is not really new to me - I've conceived of it before. It's nice to find a similar trail of concepts expressed in his ultra-sound logic and strict language though, eh. Eternal return gives new meaningless to deja-vu - doesn't it?
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Glad you enjoyed it, by! I only regret that I never kept up with my German (I studied 3 years in high school, and then let it go...dummy me) so I could read Nietzsche, Jung, Goethe, Herman Hesse, and others, in the original language. Eveything, of course, but especially works like these with their keen spiritual and psycological insight, lose so much in translation.
I would heartily recommend, by, that you put Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil on your must-read list. His "God is dead" quote is taken so out of context, and only half the quote, that it has been used as a banner by scientists and anti-secularists alike. The full quote, never intended to denigrate and dismiss spirituality IMHO (except perhaps in an organized religion sense) is: "God is dead; God died of his pity for man."
Here's the excerpt from Thus Spoke Zarathustra:
"And if a friend does you evil, then say: 'I forgive you what you did to me; but that you have done it to yourself -- how could I forgive that?' Thus speaks all great love: it overcomes even forgiveness and pity."
"Thus spoke the devil to me once more: 'God too has his hell: that is his love of man.' And most recently I heard him say this: 'God is dead; God died of his pity for man.'"
"All great love is even above all its pity: for it still wants to create the beloved."
Big difference than just those three "little" words, eh?
[Edit:] Here is another quote from TSZ where Nietzsche speaks of spirit, to show he is not dismissive of spiritual things:
"Spirit is the life that itself cuts into life; with its own agony it increases its own knowledge."
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Let the record show that I sent Angel a humble acknowledgement of my error...You did? When? Where?  ...without any resentment of her having blown the whistle on me. Awwwwww...thank you, Dr. Bill!  I am pezzo de venti due,not important enough to warrant a more elaborate peccavi.Uhmmmmm.....English please for we monolinguists! TYVM. 
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My, my. how wordy are you and Nietzsche, Whit-o,
(are we spelling his name right?) but wasn't Zoroaster the top daddy of supermanism?
Don't get me wrong, Nietzsche is my hero. Anyone who has read the song of zarathustra will likely agree.
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In another book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche invents a character named Zarathustra, a wandering philosopher who has many adventures. In one adventure, Zarathustra climbs a mountain and argues with his arch-enemy, a dwarf named the Spirit of Gravity (sort of the spirit of depression and despair).
This is very similar to a story written for children (I'm sure he borrowed heavily from Nietsche) by Tony Robinson - the very versatile actor and writer who played Baldrick in the Blackadder series and who cut his teeth on Who Dares Wins back in the 80s.
It was turned into a brilliant series on Children's television and Tony monologued the entire story whilst walking through appropriate sets.
In one story the hero meets a dwarf on a cliff top who, with distinct gloom, declares 'One of us will soon meet our doom'. The hero ponders this for a mo, says 'fair enough' and kicks the dwarf off the cliff.
I know I was a bit old to be watching Kids' TV (I was 20 or so at the time) but Tony Robinson is too good to be missed.
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(are we spelling his name right?) but wasn't Zoroaster the top daddy of supermanism?
Milum, I've seen his name spelled several different ways, but this is the most prevalent and widely accepted (YCLUI). I'm familiar with Zoroaster and Zoroasterism, but haven't researched it to the extent I would have liked. I tend to disagree with the superman interpretation of übermensch, though, and believe that, like may philospohical and spiritual texts, it has been widely misinterpretated over the years. Here is a passage of such a discussion I pasted over from the O'Neill thread because of its pertinence here:
From notes on Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Tad Beckman:
"Nietzsche has also framed this concept in his image of the "übermensch," or "overman." In this vision, man is a temporary creature, a "crossing over." Just as an individual must overcome himself, man himself must be overcome. The overman is not man as we know him; it is a new being, perhaps, unthinkably beyond us and living with new values in the spirit of Yes-saying to life."
(übermensch, of course, has been misinterpreted as superman rather than overman by the Nazis and others to fortify their message and for propaganda purposes).
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This is very similar to a story written for children (I'm sure he borrowed heavily from Nietsche) by Tony Robinson - the very versatile actor and writer who played Baldrick in the Blackadder series and who cut his teeth on Who Dares Wins back in the 80s.Yes, Rubrick! It is interesting that Tony Robinson borrows this Nietzschean scenario for his sketch. I love Black Adder! Funny stuff! They used to run the show regularly on Public Televison here, but it has vanished for the last 10 years or so. The scene you describe reminds me of a similar bit in Black Adder's Christmas where Scrooge kicks the beggar boy off the ladder at his window while nobody's looking. Dark humor, no doubt...but very effective! 
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Restraint... is... the... better... part... of... valor.
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Restraint... is... the... better... part... of... valor.Well, normally, Anna, I'd agree with you, but. For Dr. Bill I'm going to make an exception. C'mere, Dr. Bill: [kissing you all over your face e] (NOW let's see how much of anything you can remember!  )
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Dear Jackie: YARTS could become habit forming.
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