WANDERERS OR TRAVELERS?

(See the discussion of wanderer versus traveler in this entry in conjunction with the continuing discussion in my next entry The Wanderer And His Shadow.)

***

In Menschliches (638), Nietzsche makes this exceptionally profound distinction: “He who has come only in part to a freedom of reason cannot feel on earth other than as a wanderer, though not as a traveler toward a final goal, for this does not exist.”

Compare this to Christ’s peculiar command to His disciples, in Matthew 10:16¾“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” The word sheep has long acquired unpleasant connotations, and to be sure, nobody wants to be a sheep. But isn’t it true that sheep, by their nature, are wanderers, rather than travelers toward a final goal?

It is hard to be a wanderer, perhaps, much harder than being a traveler, whose journey, even if endless, still promises the hope of an end. And here are yet further similarities between Nietzsche’s Menschliches (638) and St. Matthew’s rendering of the words of Christ:

“But he wants to observe and keep his eyes open for everything that actually occurs in the world…” (638)

“…Be ye therefore wise as serpents…” (Matthew 10:16)

“…therefore he must not attach his heart too firmly to any individual thing, (sic!) there must be something wandering within him, which takes its joy in change and transitoriness.” (638)

“Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves…” (Matthew 10:9-10)

“To be sure, such a man will have bad nights, when he is tired and finds closed the gates to the city that should offer him rest; perhaps in addition, as in the Orient, the desert reaches up to the gate; predatory animals howl now near, now far; a strong wind stirs; robbers lead off his pack-animals. Then for him the frightful night sinks over the desert like a second desert, and his heart becomes tired of wandering. If the morning sun then rises, glowing like a divinity of wrath, and the city opens up, he sees in the faces of its inhabitants, perhaps, more of desert, dirt, deception, uncertainty, than outside the gates -- and the day is almost worse than the night.” (638)

“…But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and scourge you in their synagogues.” (Matthew 10:17)

As my life has turned out, I am myself a wanderer. Looking at my evolution of character over half-a-century or more, it could not have been otherwise…