Three Metamorphoses: Camel, Lion, Child
This is a chapter from Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche. I made these Talismans for you to wear.
Three metamorphoses of the spirit I named for you: how the spirit became a camel, and the camel a lion, and finally a child.
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche(1844–1900)
Are you a fan of Friedrich Nietzsche? I was very inspired by The Three Metamorphoses Chapter written by Nietzsche in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra and I made the three main characters — camel, lion and child— into these Talismans. They are soft-enamel pin badges that you can wear on your suit, jacket, shirt, bag, or even your hat! Wearing them can express your unique aesthetics and your way of life. What’s more, when you imagine the characters as a part of you, their virtues can add to your own personal development process.
In Nietzsche’s philosophy, the purpose of human existence is to achieve one’s full potential. To achieve that, we need to live “dangerously”, to challenge ourselves and push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. A spirit goes through three stages of life: a camel, a lion, and a child.
The camel is the weight-bearing spirit. It can carry great weight and survive in the desert. “To the spirit there is much that is heavy; to the strong, carrying spirit imbued with reverence. Its strength demands what is heavy and heaviest.” I have found myself wearing the camel Talisman a lot lately. It’s hard to be an artist. I strive to survive. I carry weight on my back and that’s fine! The camel carried me through the desert and expectations. Yet being a camel isn’t enough. You cannot handle tasks forever and conform to the rules and expectation of other people and society. You need to stand up for things, for your own purpose.
Then you become a lion, the ruler. “Here the spirit becomes lion, it wants to hunt down its freedom and be master in its own desert.” The lion is at the top of the food chain. It wins its game by breaking the rules dictated by a higher power, which Nietzsche called “the great dragon”. The dragon can represent anything that places commands on you. “Thou shalt” is the name of the great dragon. In modern English, it means “You shall”. After you conquer the great dragon, you won’t need to say “I will” any more. However, although a lion can create freedom for itself, it is still not capable of creating new values.
The spirit than transforms into a child, the creator. “The child is innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, a game, a wheel rolling out of itself, a first movement, a sacred yes-saying.” Adults can have a lot of structures in their heads which make them do things in certain ways because they have accepted the rules and values society regarded as legitmate. A child doesn’t know much of the world. It doesn’t care about how others perceive it and it can come up with things that are totally new. Picasso once said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after he grows up.”
Which of the three transformation stages are you in?
Click here to buy these Talismans!
Why do I call them Talismans?
Traditional Talismans are objects with magic powers to bring good luck. In my Talismans, instead of “luck”, I use the term “virtue”. The purpose of my talismans is to bring virtues to the possessors. The virtue of the camel is the ability to take burden and weight without being crushed. With this virtue, the possessors will be more likely to achieve success in life.
I’ve never seen my art merely as an object. Of course it is something you can see and touch. It also gives you more than its physical representation. Sometimes, I would call it subject. Subject can change among different people and different places. An apple can mean very different things. It can mean a phone, a fruit, or knowledge; sometimes I’d rather not name it at all! A great work of art can have much more value than you can see with your eyes or hear with your ears.
Your mom gave you a necklace. Maybe you didn’t like its shape and color, or maybe you did. You kept it with you, because it meant a lot to you. She wished you the very best. That object is the manifestation of her wish. It also protected you.
That’s what I’m doing when designing these characters. In each of my designs, I used my imagination to think what these characters were like in each of life’s transformations. I hope for everyone who possesses them to be able to go through the transformations in their life smoothly. That wish is contained within each Talisman.
My name is Lihui. I am the creator and storyteller at CounterReality.
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