How deep is your foundation?

“Whence come the highest mountains? I once asked. Then I learned that they came out of the sea. The evidence is written in their rocks and in the walls of their peaks. It is out of the deepest depth that the highest must come to its height.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Commentary by Brian Johnson of Philosophers Notes: I love that. I like to look at it two different ways: First, Nietzsche’s talking about suffering here. It’s out of our greatest suffering that our greatness rises. Look at a Lincoln or an Oprah. It’s out of their deepest suffering that their greatness (and compassion!) rises.

I also think of the “foundation” on which a skyscraper is built. You’ve probably heard the truism that if you want to see how tall a building is going to be you need to look at how deeply they’re digging the foundation. Want a 2-story house? No big deal. Don’t need to dig too deep. Don’t need to spend much time or energy on the foundation. Want a 200-story building? Totally (!) different story. Your foundation is perhaps your most important work. It had better be deep. How about you? Are you willing to go deep?

…More Friedrich love:

“I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.”

“It is out of the deepest depth that the highest must come to its height.”