Key Arguments

• He defines redemption explicitly as the re-creation of ‘It was’ into a willed affirmation.
• The will is ‘the liberator and joy-bringer’; through creation it can address the riddle and coincidence of what has been.
• He contrasts this with madness and revenge-based doctrines that treat existence as punishment; true redemption requires creative willing, not punitive metaphysics.

Source Quotes

‘And how could I bear to be human if the human being were not also a composer-poet and riddle-guesser and the redeemer of coincidence! ‘To redeem that which has passed away and to re-create all “It was” into a “Thus I willed it!”–that alone should I call redemption! ‘Will–that is the liberator and joy-bringer: that is what I taught you, my friends!

‘To redeem that which has passed away and to re-create all “It was” into a “Thus I willed it!”–that alone should I call redemption! ‘Will–that is the liberator and joy-bringer: that is what I taught you, my friends! And now learn this as well: the will itself is still a prisoner.

‘I led you away from such fable-songs when I taught you: “The will is a creator.” ‘All “It was” is a fragment, a riddle, a cruel coincidence–until the creating will says to it: “But thus I willed it!” ‘–Until the creating will says to it: “But thus do I will it! Thus shall I will it!”

‘I led you away from such fable-songs when I taught you: “The will is a creator.” ‘All “It was” is a fragment, a riddle, a cruel coincidence–until the creating will says to it: “But thus I willed it!” ‘–Until the creating will says to it: “But thus do I will it! Thus shall I will it!” ‘But has it ever spoken thus?

Key Concepts

• To redeem that which has passed away and to re-create all “It was” into a “Thus I willed it!”–that alone should I call redemption!
• Will–that is the liberator and joy-bringer: that is what I taught you, my friends!
• All “It was” is a fragment, a riddle, a cruel coincidence–until the creating will says to it: “But thus I willed it!”
• –Until the creating will says to it: “But thus do I will it! Thus shall I will it!”

Context

Central doctrinal turn in ‘On Redemption’: after diagnosing fragmentation, Zarathustra gives his definition of redemption via the creative will’s relation to the past.

Perspectives

Nietzsche

This is a programmatic thesis of affirmative ethics: transfiguration of the past by creative valuation, prefiguring amor fati and eternal recurrence.

Zarathustra

Proposes an existential practice: to bear and transform fate by willing it, thereby overcoming ressentiment and victimhood.