for its vices are often nobler than its virtues, and nearly always closer to a revelation....
Well, I think it speaks for itself, Max...but in my humble attempt to qualify the words of O'Neill, here goes:
To perservere while enduring, or indulging in, the dregs of life requires and engenders more of a nobility of spirit that to cruise through an ideal existence. The truth lies in the reality of life, not in some idealized confection. There may be more inspiration gained by examining the life of a prostitute than that of a virgin (or happily married woman), through whatever spirit it is that propels her and enables her to slog through each day of her seemingly mundane existence. Remember, O'Neill was a student of Nietzsche who said, "Man must overcome himself." IMHO
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 for propaganda purposes).
And who's Juan?
