READ ON TO BECOME WHAT YOU ARE.
Human, all too human...
"Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beings invented knowing. The was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of "world history," but nevertheless, it was only a minute."
"There were eternities during which knowledge did not exist. And when it is all over with the human intellect, nothing will have happened. For this intellect has no additional mission which would lead it beyond human life. Rather, it is human, and only its possessor and begetter takes it so solemnly-as though the world's axis turned within it."
This is how a minute can last a lifetime. This quote by Nietzsche leads me to the conclusion that we are not as important as we think we are. We are just an arrogant species, in my opinion.
However, when I read Ecce homo, I learned the solution isn’t to abandon our arrogance altogether. It’s to transform it—using our arrogance not as a claim to inherent importance, but as a drive to overcome limitations and pursue greatness, even if we’re just a fleeting moment in the vastness of time. While I do have this time that was given to me, I'm not only discovering or recognizing an essential, pre-existing “self” that I've always been. Rather, Nietzsche suggests that becoming who I truly am is a process, one that involves constant struggle, choice, and overcoming.
Here is where Nietzsche and I might lose each other a bit though: To become what one is, in his view, is to transcend the herd mentality, to refuse to conform to what is expected or imposed, and to instead forge a unique path—one that is truly your own, not something given to you by others. Inspired by what Slavoj Zizek has said about the topic of authenticity, here is my most important idea: Contrary to the question "who are you when nobody's watching?", I prefer if you'd ask me who I am when everybody's watching. I believe we are our truest, most powerful selves precisely with our masks on.
Again, while Nietzsche does have a point when he preaches chasing our own dreams, he is unaware of Lacan's very deep and unconscious idea that our dreams are often fragmented and shaped by the desires of others.