test my tether to see if i'm still free...

A good friend of mine recently informed me that he was getting engaged. I was, of course, shocked and happy for him. I suppose we're getting old enough to start contemplating such things. Well, some of us, anyways.

It just so happens that I was reading Nietzsche's The Wagner Case today, and I came across this rather pointedly ironic piece. (Surely, such a description is unnecessary for Nietzsche!) It said:

The Flying Dutchman preaches the sublime doctrine that woman settles even the most unsettled man--in Wagnerian terms, she "redeems him." Here we permit ourselves a question: Suppose this were true--does that also make it desirable? What becomes of the eternal "Wandering Jew" whom a wife adores and settles? He merely ceases to be eternal; he gets married and does not concern us anymore...

So much reason have we for staying single! Eternity is at stake! But seriously, this passage I think reflects more Nietzsche's fallout with Wagner's turn towards religious sentiment, than Nietzsche's own doubts about marriage. Or maybe not. Nietzsche never married. It could very well be a personal justification for that. Or it could be that he was actually on to something. Nietzsche is notorious for praising one's faults because of their capacity to individualize. Robbing someone of their faults is akin to robbing them of what makes them who they are. I found the passage rather provocative at any rate.