Superhumanism
By Robert M. Price
My favorite philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, looked forward
to the coming of what he called the Superman. He meant, I think, a new type of
human being who will live up to the full human potential, who will decide for
himself (and herself) about the real meaning of life and choose standards of
right and wrong for himself. This Superman would throw off all the chains that
have bound most of us for the whole history of humanity. Some of the strongest
of those chains are the chains that religion has clamped on the minds of men
and women, telling us not to think for ourselves, telling us to believe
whatever the church says without evidence or doubt. Scientific knowledge has
always had to fight against religion’s threats that to know too much is to
forfeit salvation and to go to hell. The Superman is the courageous human being
who will laugh at such empty and childish threats, and who will have the daring
to pursue the truth wherever it leads.
I’ll bet
you have not been able to read this far without thinking of the comic book
character Superman, Kal-el from the planet Krypton, just as no one can now hear
The William Tell Overture without thinking of The Lone Ranger, since most of us
heard that great piece of music for the first time when it was used as the
theme music for the masked man’s TV show. And why not? The Lone Ranger is just
as much a genuine hero as William Tell, even though probably neither one of them
actually existed as historical figures. And it is just as appropriate to think
of the Kryptonian Superman when we read of Nietzsche’s Superman. That’s because
one is a great symbol for the other.
I am
thinking of a favorite Superman comic book I read back in 1967. In it Superman
has to defeat an enemy with powers equal to his own. He is twice Superman’s
height with a flaming red beard, a yellow tunic, and winged sandals. He is
called Zha-Vam, and his name is made from the first letters of the six Olympian
gods who gave him their powers: Zeus, Hercules, Achilles, Vulcan, Apollo, and
Mercury. It seems the ancient gods of the Greeks and Romans foresaw the day
when Superman would appear and steal all their glory. With Superman doing all
his superhuman feats of rescue and help, no one would remember the old gods
anymore. So the gods decided to create the titan Zha-Vam to be their champion
to defeat and humiliate Superman. If Zha-Vam succeeded, the ancient gods hoped
the human race would worship them again. Well, Zha-Vam gave Superman a run for
his money all right. It took the Man of Tomorrow three whole issues to defeat
Zha-Vam, and he finally did it by using his brain, not his muscles.
In those
three comic books I see the whole history of human beings striving to gain
their independence, their right to fulfill their own great destiny. We have to
argue against all the preaching of religions which tell us we are wicked and
weak, and that we must trust God or the gods, which really means obeying their
self-appointed servants, the clergy. (Often they, too, have great powers of
mind and character and are chafing at the restrictions their faith places on
them.) Zha-Vam stands for religions that demand we worship their gods. Superman
is like Galileo, Charles Darwin, Nicolai Copernicus, Annie Besant. They used
their talents to advance human knowledge, but the church didn’t like it, tried
to stop them. Zha-Vam represents all the inquisitors, the religious armies, the
persecutors who have tried to whittle down the super powers of the human race.
It is a long battle that never seems to end. But if we are to rise to our own
destined greatness, we must fight it. And to fight it means to be confident in
the unlimited potential of the human race, and of ourselves as members of it,
no matter what anyone may say to the contrary.