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Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology
On-line version ISSN 1445-7377
Print version ISSN 2079-7222
Indo-Pac. j. phenomenol. (Online) vol.13 n.1 Grahamstown Jan. 2013
Nietzsche's Eternal Return: Unriddling the vision, a psychodynamic approach
Eva Cybulska
This essay is an interpretation of Nietzsche's enigmatic idea of the Eternal Return of the Same in the context of his life rather than of his philosophy. Nietzsche never explained his 'abysmal thought' and referred to it directly only in a few passages of his published writings, but numerous interpretations have been made in secondary literature. None of these, however, has examined the significance of this thought for Nietzsche, the man. The idea belongs to a moment of ecstasy which Nietzsche experienced during the summer of 1881 in Sils-Maria, in the Swiss Alps. Like Dante, in 'the middle of life', he walked down the wooded Alpine slope and entered his own Inferno. On the anniversary of long-buried loss and pain, his psyche was temporarily flooded by archetypal imagery. This event is interpreted in the light of Freud's theory of repetition compulsion, the uncanny, and the oedipal confrontation with the unconscious. From the turbulent and frightful experience, a symbol of transfiguration emerged in the shape of Eternal Return. Its likeness to Mandala, a Jungian archetype of wholeness and the self, is striking. In the years that followed, Nietzsche produced his greatest works that assured him an unassailable place in Western philosophy. And yet, there was something disturbing about this dream-thought, and Nietzsche shuddered at any mention of the thought. Linking it with the head of Medusa in his unpublished notes, he hinted at its petrifying quality. The beguiling beauty of Medusa makes her an ambiguous symbol of exhilaration, as well as terror. Under her captivating gaze, a hero's journey towards selfhood becomes a journey into the night of madness.
Solve for me the riddle that I saw, interpret to me the vision of the most solitary man!
(Nietzsche, 1883-1885/1969a, p. 180. Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Of the Vision and the Riddle)
It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy has hitherto been: a confession on the part of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir. (Nietzsche, 1886/1990, p. 37. Beyond Good and Evil)
Nietzsche's philosophy cannot be separated from his life. Everything he wrote evolved from himself and returned to him, and the idea of the Eternal Return of the Same (die ewige Wiederkunft des Gleichen) is no exception. Its two aspects, that of terror and that of exhilaration, reflect a duality in his soul. His thought-experiment invites a question of whether it is possible to transcend the terror, overcome resentment, and say yes to life full of pain and suffering. If it is possible, did Nietzsche himself, that great alchemist of pain, succeed in this task? He referred to Eternal Return variously as the "most scientific of all possible hypotheses" (1886-1887/2003, p. 118), as an "abysmal thought" (1883-1885/1969a, p. 178) and a "highest formula of affirmation" (1888/1986a, p. 99), but never offered any explication of the concept. The resultant hermeneutic vacuum provoked an abundance of interpretations in secondary literature. To give a few examples, Heidegger (1954/1984) read the idea as an existential choice, for Deleuze (1994) it was a "mystical game of loss and salvation" (p. 6), while in Kaufmann's (1974) view it represented a life-redeeming experience. Bertram (1918/2009) commented that Eternal Return was "a monomaniacal and a sublimely irrational and unfruitful private delusion" (p. 306), and Cybulska (2008) interpreted it as a manifestation of Nietzsche's manic psychosis.
The diagnosis of Nietzsche's mental condition as tertiary syphilis has now been discredited and a bipolar disorder with periodic psychosis was proposed by Cybulska (2000), a hypothesis recently endorsed by Young (2010). Karl Jaspers (1936/1997) thought that Nietzsche's pivotal psychic changes dated back to 1880-1881 and he put them down to a mysterious biological factor. More recent research suggests that Nietzsche's mood oscillations can be traced back to 1871, when he was writing The Birth of Tragedy. Relatively short manic psychotic episodes, probably dating from August 1881, were interspersed with longer periods of depression, accompanied by multiple somatic symptoms (Cybulska, 2000).
The argument of this essay is built on the premise that Nietzsche was in the grip of psychosis when the idea of Eternal Return came to him, and it employs Freudian and Jungian concepts in its interpretation. Several commentators have looked at Eternal Return from the perspective of Jung's depth psychology (e.g. Dixon, 1999; Huskinson, 2004), as well as Freud's psychoanalysis (e.g. Chapelle, 1993). While being indebted to their scholarship, in this essay I focus on the significance of Eternal Return in relation to Nietzsche's personal life. As philosophy was for him an involuntary memoir of his soul, such an approach seems justifiable. The psychodynamic interpretations put forward in this essay represent different, yet complementary, perspectives.
The Birth of Eternal Return from the Spectre of Hades
We have to give birth to our thoughts out of our pain... (Nietzsche, 1882/1974, p. 35. The Gay Science)
In the middle of the journey of our life, I woke to find myself, in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. (Dante, 1330/1971, Inferno, Canto I, Lines 23)
It was in early August of 1881 in Sils-Maria in the Swiss Alps when the thought of Eternal Return suddenly invaded Nietzsche's mind and became pivotal to his philosophy. The hauntingly beautiful scenery of the place has an air of Hades about it, not least because of a large, pyramidal boulder at the edge of Lake Silvaplana. It looks as though it has just been dropped from the skies by Sisyphus, that infernal hero of the absurd. His eternal struggle with this weighty stone can be seen as a metaphor for humanity's struggle with the pain of existence.
It was by that Sisyphean boulder that Eternal Return was born:
The Greatest Weight - What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence - even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!'
-Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a horrific moment (ungeheure Augenblick)1 when you would have answered him: 'You are a god, and never had I heard anything more divine!' If this thought were to gain possession of you, it would change you as you are, or perhaps crush you. The question in each and everything, 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed you would have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal conformation and seal? (Nietzsche, 1882/1974, p. 273, emphasis in original)
The cosmogonist idea of Eternal Return was not new to the history of human thought and Nietzsche, steeped in classical culture and pre-Socratic philosophy, would have been well acquainted with the concept. Yet there must have been something strange, compelling, and even frightening in this noontime (Mittags) experience. It is puzzling why Nietzsche refers directly to his most profound idea merely in one passage of The Gay Science (1882/1974, see above), in two passages of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885/1969a, Of the Vision and the Riddle and The Convalescent), once in Ecce Homo (1888/1986a), and once in The Will to Power (1883-1888/1969b). He does, however, make several oblique references to it as though he did not dare to look the idea in the face.
The scenery of Sils-Maria is one of high mountains reflected in the deep murky waters of a lake. It creates the impression of an intersection between light and darkness, the conscious and the unconscious, the past and the future. Nietzsche (1888/1986b) later called this spot jenseitsig (the beyond) and recorded his experience thus: "It was '6, 000 feet beyond man and time'. I was that day walking through the woods beside the lake of Silvaplana; I stopped beside a mighty pyramidal block of stone which reared itself up not far from Surlej. Then the idea came to me" (p. 99). An earlier letter to his friend Peter Gast reveals: "I am at the end of the thirty-fifth year of my life, in the 'the middle of life', as it has been called for a millennium and a half. Dante had his vision at this age and speaks of it in the first lines of his poem. Now I am in the middle of life, so 'surrounded by death' that it can get hold of me at any hour." (Nietzsche, 1875-1879/1986b, p. 441). The previous winter had been the most awful in his life; plagued by ill health and deep melancholy, he even forgot his own birthday. Nietzsche had now reached the age of was 36, the age his father had died, and the age at which he often feared he would die too. His father's burial was in early August of 1849, when Nietzsche was less than five years old:
On the second of August, the earthly remains of my father were consigned to the womb of the earth ... At one o'clock in the afternoon (Mittag2) the ceremonies began, with the bells pealing their loud knell. Oh, I shall never forget their hollow clangour in my ears ... Our pain was horrific (ungeheure). (Nietzsche, 1854-1861/1994a, pp. 5-6)
There was also another loss, possibly even more painful, closer in time to the 'epiphany of Sils-Maria'. It gradually dawned on Nietzsche that his notion of Richard Wagner as the new Aeschylus about to revive the ancient culture in his music-dramas was an illusion. He also realised that the composer treated him more like a precious piece of furniture to show off to his admirers than a beloved son-friend. During the Bayreuth Festival in early August 1876, Nietzsche observed Wagner courting the rich and famous in the hope that they would finance and promote his grand opera house project. Nietzsche walked out of their eight-year intense friendship feeling betrayed and wounded. To his sister he confessed, "My Wagner mania certainly cost me dear. Has not this nerve-shattering music ruined my health? And the disillusionment and leaving Wagner - was that not putting my very life in danger?" (Middleton, 1996, p. 180). His later philosophy can be seen as an attempt to transfigure the pain of this great disillusionment and loss:
There is probably a horrific (ungeheure) but invisible stellar orbit in which our very different ways and goals may be included as smaller parts of this path... Let us believe in our stellar friendship even if we should be compelled to be earth enemies. (Nietzsche, 1882/1974, p. 226, emphasis in original)
Nietzsche eradicated Wagner from his life, but not from his heart and mind. Two out of the six books which he wrote in his last creative year, 1888, bear the composer's name in the title, The Wagner Case, Nietzsche contra Wagner, and Twilight of the Idols sounds like a mocking echo of the final part of Der Ring. By his own admission, Wagner was the only man he had truly loved; the affection was unfortunately unrequited.
However, as Nietzsche was descending the wooded slope towards the lake, "in the middle of life [and] so surrounded by death" (1875-1879/1986b, p. 441), the memories of happier, yet irretrievably perished times must have returned to him with the force of an avalanche. Many years earlier he had been invited by Wagner to his Tribschen villa near Lake Luzerne, where he had become a frequent houseguest. Back in early August of 1869 he had climbed Mount Pilatus which overlooked the lake, also "6,000 feet above sea level", exulting his Tribschen Idyll (letter to Gustav Krug; Middleton, 1996, pp. 56-57). The similarity between this scenery and that of Sils-Maria is uncanny, certain to bring back haunting memories. And, as Dante said, "there is no greater pain than to remember, in our present grief, past happiness" (1330/1971, Inferno, Canto V, Lines 121-123). Whilst briefly revisiting Tribschen years later Nietzsche wept on the ruins of his hope. Paradise lost was briefly regained, only to be lost again.
Confrontation with the Unconscious and the Epiphany
The unspeakable strangeness of all my problems and illuminations ... (Nietzsche, letter to Overbeck, September 1884, cited in Jaspers, 1936/1997, p. 106)
Nietzsche was showing unmistakeable signs of manic psychosis at the beginning of August 1881. He reported to Gast: "the intensity of my feelings makes me shudder and laugh [...] on my hikes I wept tears of jubilation; I sang and talked nonsense, filled with a new vision that puts me ahead of men" (Middleton, 1996, p. 178). Sometimes he felt like a zig-zag doodle drawn on paper by a superior power wanting to try a new pen. He also believed that his brain was absorbing electricity from the atmosphere and that he ought to be put on display in a Parisian electricity exhibition (Hayman, 1995 p. 235).
Nietzsche's perception of time during that period may have been disrupted as his notes and postcards are uncharacteristically undated. It could be possible that this disturbed sense of time lay at the heart of his dream-thought. In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud (1900/1985a) stressed a complete lack of sense of time both in dreams and in psychosis. The Eternal Return of the Same was possibly an expression of the sameness of pain and the menacing timelessness of psychosis.
In Ecce Homo, Nietzsche (1888/1986a) recalled the moment of revelation thus:
The concept of revelation, in the sense of something suddenly, with unspeakable certainty and subtlety, becomes visible, audible, something that shakes and overturns one to the depths, simply describes the fact ... An ecstasy whose horrific (ungeheure) tension sometimes discharges itself in a flood of tears ... (pp. 102-103, emphasis in original)
Jung (1955-56/1989a) noted that upon entering the realm of the archetypal, we are convinced that "we know the ultimate truth concerning metaphysical things" (pp. 551-2) whilst in all other matters one would submit the subjective image to objective criticism.
Nietzsche's close friend Erwin Rohde, a famous academic writer, refused to speak of the doctrine as anything other than a symptom of his morbid state: "He was surrounded by an indescribable atmosphere of strangeness, by something that seemed to me to be completely uncanny" (cited by Hollingdale, 1999, p. 172, emphasis in original). In September 1881 an intimate friend, Professor Overbeck, received from Nietzsche a letter "written half in German, half in less-than-perfect Latin" (Klossowski, 1997, p. 212), which he took for a call of distress. Having observed Nietzsche's violent mood swings, and the manner in which he had tried to initiate him into his secret doctrine, Overbeck concluded that he was "no longer a master of his reason" (Klossowski, 1997, p. 212).
During Nietzsche's descent into the inferno of psychosis, the abyss of pain intersected with the apogee of elation and this conjunction would remain fixed in his mind. Moreover, he would crave the return of that moment - the more pain, the more overcoming, the more of the victorious elation. Thus the tears of pain were transfigured into the tears of jubilation. Melanie Klein (1981) asserted that in mania there is "the utilization of the sense of omnipotence for the purpose of controlling and mastering objects" (p. 277, emphasis in original), and that it is based on the mechanism of denial. This defence mechanism is particularly applicable to 'lost objects' and mania is often a reaction to painful loss and abandonment. Essentially, mania is a mask that hides despair. The tension between the opposites of pain and exhilaration, defeat and victory, became the driving force of Nietzsche's philosophy of overcoming and the will to power.
There are striking similarities between Nietzsche's and Jung's (1963/1983) "confrontations with the unconscious" (pp. 194-225). In many respects, Wagner was to Nietzsche what Freud was to Jung. Both Masters were self-centred, autocratic figures who demanded an undivided loyalty; both had magnetic personalities that invited an almost religious worship. Nietzsche was important for Wagner, as Jung was for Freud, mainly as a proselytiser of the Master's ideas. Freeing oneself from such relationship turned into a battle with the unconscious and led to psychosis in both cases. In the end, Jung (1963/1983) saved his sanity by anchoring his life in family and work, whilst Nietzsche perished alone in the abyss of his madness.
Eternal Return of the Repressed
If one has a character, one also has one's typical experience which returns repeatedly. (Nietzsche, 1886/1990, p. 91)
Uncanny (Unheimlich) is human existence and still without meaning. (Nietzsche, 1883-1885/1969a, p. 49)
'Repetition compulsion' is Freud's cardinal psychoanalytical concept that explains an individual's unconscious tendency to repeat his or her life pattern, and in particular to repeat traumatic experiences. Inspired by Nietzsche, Freud (1920/1984a) stated in Beyond the Pleasure Principle:
This 'perpetual recurrence of the same thing' (die ewige Wiederkehr des Gleichen) causes us no astonishment when it relates to active behaviour on the part of the person concerned and when we can discern in him the essential character-trait which always remains the same and which is compelled to find expression in a repetition of the same experiences. (pp. 292-3, emphasis in original)
According to Freud, the compulsion to repeat overrides the pleasure principle that prohibits the liberation of the repressed. However, the repressed trauma may have never entered the full light of consciousness and would constitute a case of primary repression. Mollon (2002, p. 133) has emphasised the brain's inability to encode early traumatic memories in the context of time and space, due to the incomplete myelinisation of the limbic system. Such trauma remains locked in the unconscious as a "pre-symbolic dread". The traumatically injured individual becomes frozen in time, constantly searching for the conditions through which it can be released (Waldron, 2010).
Nietzsche's enchantment with Wagner can be interpreted as an attempt to recreate the past and undo the early loss. His most cherished childhood memory was sitting on his father's lap whilst listening to his musical improvisations on the piano. Thus music and paternal love fused into one. Wagner, who was exactly the same age as his father, was slotted into the vacant position. But such 'willing of the past' was anything but straightforward. Not long after Nietzsche met the composer in person in 1868, he heard a terrifying, inarticulate voice behind his chair (Hayman, 1995, p. 103). It was to return as a voiceless voice in Zarathustra, as an oblique reference to Eternal Return:
Yesterday, at the stillest hour, the ground seemed to give way: my dream began ... Then, voicelessly, something said to me: You know, Zarathustra? And I cried out of terror at this whisper, and the blood drained from my face: but I kept silent. (Nietzsche, 1883-1885/1969a, p. 167, emphasis in original)
Freud (1915/1984b) recognised that "the ambivalence which has enabled repression through reaction-formation to take place is also the point at which the repressed succeeds in returning" (p. 157). The untimely death of his father left Nietzsche with an all-pervasive sense of deadness and abandonment. As often in grief, this was accompanied by repressed feelings of rage and resentment, which he later projected onto Wagner and also onto God. With some dreadful inevitability, the whole cycle of love, abandonment, resentment and rage had to repeat itself; the 'return of the dead' was complete. Wishing the lost paradise to return became bound up with the fear of losing it again; moreover the paradise had to be lost. Perhaps this is the ambiguous kernel of the Eternal Return of the Same.
In his paper The Uncanny Freud (1919/1985b) linked the return of the repressed with Schelling's idea of das Unheimliche (the uncanny), and commented that "whatever reminds us of this inner compulsion to repeat is perceived as uncanny" (p. 361). The experience of the uncanny has two aspects, the familiar and the unfamiliar one. Once a familiar, yet repressed, experience erupts suddenly through the threshold of consciousness in a historically unfamiliar situation it is as though past and present become fused. As Freud aptly commented, the "uncanny is frightening precisely because it is not known and yet familiar" (1919/1985b, p. 341). He also observed that it was liable to arise when "the distinction between imagination and reality is effaced" (1919/1985b, p. 367). Sass (1994) noted that in the state of 'uncanny particularity' of Wahnstimmung (delusional mood), which often accompanies psychosis, unfamiliar events and objects appear as repetitions or copies of themselves. Nietzsche (1883-1885/1969a) described the experience poetically in Thus Spoke Zarathustra:
For all things that can run must also run once again forward along the same lane. And this slow spider that creeps along in the moonlight, and this moonlight itself, and I and you at this gateway whispering together, whispering of eternal things-must we not all have been here before? (p. 179, emphasis in original)
In Nietzsche's memory, happy childhood moments were instilled with a sense of abandonment, and happy moments at Mount Pilatus were overshadowed by deep loss. Thus joy became wrapped up in pain.
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Who of us is Oedipus here? Who the Sphinx? It is a rendezvous, it seems, of questions and question marks. (Nietzsche, 1886/1990, p. 33)
Like Freud, Nietzsche identified with Oedipus, that archetypal hero of self-knowledge. During the meeting at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1908, Freud commented that "the degree of introspection achieved by Nietzsche had never been achieved by anyone, nor is it likely ever to be reached again" (Nunberg & Federn, 1967, pp. 31-32). As befitted an outstanding classical scholar, Nietzsche elected the Delphic imperative of 'know thyself' to be his life-long motto. He once wrote to his sister: "If you want to achieve a peace of mind and happiness, then have faith; if you want to be a disciple of truth, then search" (Middleton, 1996, p. 7). Prompted by curiosity, Oedipus left his home in Corinth and set off to Delphi in search of his identity. The word zêtein (to search for, investigate) appears frequently in Sophocles' Oidipous Tyrannos, and even the hero's name resonates with OIDiPOU (I know where). By unwittingly killing his father, the autocratic King Laius, where three roads meet, and then solving the riddle of the Sphinx at the Gate of Thebes, Oedipus sealed his fate. It was a mixture of curiosity, pride, intelligence and courage that led to his downfall, not his incestuous desires. The incest, the self-blinding and the banishment from his kingdom could be interpreted as a consequence of Oedipus' uncompromising search for truth (Cybulska, 2009).
Nietzsche (1883-1885/1969a) introduced the concept of Eternal Return in a chapter entitled Of the Vision and the Riddle, an undeniable allusion to the myth of Oedipus. The thought comes to Zarathustra at the gateway called Moment (reminiscent of the Gate of Thebes) where two paths meet: "This long lane behind us: it goes on for an eternity. And that long lane ahead of us - that is another eternity" (p. 178). In his early book The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche (1872/1993) had already exposed the danger in pursuing truth: "What the myth [of Oedipus] seems to whisper to us is that wisdom, and a Dionysiac wisdom in particular, is an abominable crime against nature; that anyone who, through his knowledge, casts nature into the abyss of destruction, must himself experience the dissolution of nature" (p. 47). The image of a 'lame-foot' tight-rope walker falling to his death in the Prologue to Zarathustra is as chilling as it is prophetic (Nietzsche, 1883-1885/1969a).
Having been deprived of the possibility of resolving the oedipal rivalries with his father, Nietzsche recreated his Laius in the form of Wagner, complete with Wagner's wife Cosima in the role of Jocasta. When his reason and inhibition were eclipsed by madness, he sent her, by then a widow, a letter "Ariadne, I love you. Dionysus" (Hayman, 1995, pp. 335, 339). In addition, it was the agon (contest) with Wagner that lay at the heart of Nietzsche's overtures towards Cosima rather than any 'incestuous' desire. She represented to him a kind of trophy for winning an oedipal contest, the contest that he both wished, and wished not, to win. Nietzsche's life-long longing to have a loving mentor only matched his urge to be free from any influences for the sake of "independence of the soul" (1882/1974, p. 150). Eternal Return, far from being a scientific hypothesis, became for him a defensive effort to recreate his own past, to become his own father and begetter (Rudnytsky, 1987).
Equally strong was Nietzsche's affinity with the Sphinx:
The Sphinx
Here you sit, unrelenting like my curiosity, Which forced me to you: so be it, Sphinx, I ask questions, like you; This abyss is common to us both- Is it possible that we speak with the same mouth?
(from unpublished notes, cited by Bertram, 1918/2009, p. 190)
He wrote this fragment in the fall of 1881, shortly after the revelation of Eternal Return. The riddle-posing Sphinx and riddle-solving Oedipus had thus merged into one. Ultimately, they shared the same fate of dissolution into the abyss.
Nietzsche often feared insanity, which he thought he may have inherited from his father, who died from "softening of the brain (Gehirnerweichung)" (1854-1861/1994a, p. 4). In 1876, he wrote to a friend, "I could no longer doubt that I am suffering from a serious brain illness, and that pains in the stomach and eyes are only symptomatic" (cited by Hayman, 1995, p. 183). Shortly after the epiphany, he wrote to another friend, "I am living an extremely dangerous life, for I am one of those machines that can explode" (cited by Middleton, 1996, p. 178). Reading about J. R. von Mayer's conservation of energy law, convinced Nietzsche (1883-1888/1969b) that it 'demanded' Eternal Return. This seemed like a plausible answer to his own riddle; it normalised his uncanny experience and calmed his inner Sphinx. Klossowski (1997) was convinced that Nietzsche had perceived Eternal Return as his own madness, and this terrified him.
A Healing Mandala?
My endeavour [was] to oppose decay and increasing weakness of personality. I sought a new 'centre'... To the paralysing sense of general disintegration and incompleteness, I opposed the 'eternal return'. (Nietzsche, 1883-1888/1969b, p. 224)
In Ecce Homo, Nietzsche (1888/1986a) proclaimed that Eternal Return was the ultimate life-affirming formula for embracing one's fate: "My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wishes nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely to endure what happens of necessity ... -but to love it ... " (p. 68, emphasis in original). It seemed like a counterpoint to the Wagnerian leitmotif of redemption, and this was to be achieved not through the sacrifice of a loving woman (as in Tristan and Isolde), or a self-renouncing figure like Parsifal, but through an idea. However, this raises questions regarding whether an idea alone can redeem a life; whether an idea can become a healing mandala.
In his Zarathustra Seminars, Jung (1934-9/1989b) discussed Eternal Return as a symbol of life that, akin to a river, seeks its own source to which it returns in a circular movement. It is related to the Christian concept of redemption as leading back to the original state of completeness and innocence. Jung (1934-9/1989b) also referred to the apocatastasis, which means "the return of everything that has been lost, a complete restoration of whatever has been" (p. 1341). Nietzsche (1883-5/1969a) called Eternal Return the "ring of rings", and then announced that he had "turned [his] ultimate depth into the light" (p. 233). Thus, his abysmal thought can be seen as mandala that descended upon him in that horrific moment when his entire being was threatened with disintegration. In Sanskrit mandala means 'circle' and, as Jung (1934-54/1990) proposed, this archetypal symbol represents "a kind of new centring" and the "the traditional antidote for chaotic states of mind" (pp. 10, 360). Mandala usually has a round or rectangular shape and expresses the movement of the self towards unity and wholeness; its appearance is accompanied by a sense of inner order, balance and peace. It represents the self-healing tendency of the mind to rescue itself from a state of overwhelming dread and disintegration. Following the emergence of Eternal Return, Nietzsche enjoyed seven years of great creativity and wrote some of his most lucid and insightful philosophical works.
However, nothing is ever straightforward with Nietzsche. If his mentor Heraclitus taught about coincidentia oppositorum (the coincidence of opposites) then Nietzsche lived this teaching. A man of passion and an advocate of Dionysian existence, he led the life of an ascetic hermit; a man of deeply religious nature, he became known as one of God's most famous assassins. His tragic flaw (hamartia) was the urge to erect and consecrate altars in the deepest depth of [his] heart (1861-1864/1994b), which only equalled his fervour to smash them. Two antithetical forces of his psyche - that of separation and that of the unification of opposites - seemed to have entered a truly gladiatorial agon. Living by the Heraclitean motto that all things come into being by conflict of opposites, he turned his most cherished ideals (such as Christianity and Wagner) into monsters needing to be overcome. By "taking sides against himself (quoted by Salome, 1894/2001, p. 60), he waged an almighty war with himself; his philosophy became not only an involuntary and unconscious memoir, but a war diary. He gradually turned into a tragic mythical hero, destined for his own destruction. As Jung (1951/1991) warned, "the progressive development and differentiation of consciousness leads to an ever more menacing awareness of the conflict and involves nothing less than the crucifixion of the ego, the agonising suspension between the irreconcilable opposites" (p. 44). Ominously, just before succumbing to permanent insanity, Nietzsche signed one of his last letters 'The Crucified'. The symbol of mandala may indicate an urgent need for self-integration, rather than be an antidote to inner chaos.
Medusa's Head
The great thought as Head of Medusa: all the world's features petrify; a frozen death-head. (Nietzsche, 1884-1885/1980, p. 360)
In his unpublished notes, Nietzsche (1884-5/1980, p. 360) likened Eternal Return to the Head of Medusa, a truly petrifying image. Lou Salomé (1894/2001) witnessed Nietzsche's horror when in 1882 he shared the idea with her:
Unforgettable for me are those hours in which he first confided to me his secret, whose inevitable fulfilment and validation he anticipated with shudder. Only with a quiet voice and with all signs of deepest horror did he speak about this secret. Life, in fact, produced such suffering in him that the certainty of an eternal return of life had to mean something horrifying to him. The quintessence of the teaching of Eternal Return, later constructed by Nietzsche as a shining apotheosis to life, formed such a deep contrast to his own painful feelings about life that it gives us intimations of being an uncanny mask. (p. 130)
Another friend, Resa von Schirnhofer, observed in April of 1884:
With a petrified expression on his face, casting shy looks around him as if a horrible danger threatened should a listener hear his words, muting the sound with his hand over his mouth he announced to me in a whisper the secret ... There was something bizarre, even uncanny in what Nietzsche told me of the eternal return of the same ... (cited in Gilman, 1987, p. 157).
But what was it that terrified Nietzsche? Discussing Medusa in Aion, Jung (1934-54/1991) equated it with the "diabolical element whose destructiveness is an essential part of every psyche. Seen in this light, the stella maris stands for the fiery centre in us from which creative and destructive influences come" (p. 137). He also emphasised the danger in man's journey towards selfhood: "on returning to his true self, he enters an abyss deeper than hell itself" (193454/1991, p. 135). The reason why Nietzsche - that most articulate of philosophers - never explained his abysmal thought may well have been because it petrified him. It was like staring the medusa of psychosis in the face. Even delegating the task of teaching Eternal Return to his imaginary companion, Zarathustra, produced no direct disclosure.
Medusa is a highly ambiguous symbol. In one version of the myth, she was a chthonic monster with snakes writhing around her contorted face. She could only be approached indirectly and Perseus killed the monster by using her mirror reflection on his shield. It therefore seems possible that Nietzsche's great thought was perhaps designed to ward off the dread of madness. In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion (Γοργόνειον) was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon's head, and it was used by the Olympian Gods Zeus and Athena. This function of Medusa tallies with Nietzsche's (1872/1993) early view of the monster as a guardian against the Dionysian frenzy and intoxication: "The figure of Apollo rose up in all its pride and held the Gorgon's head to the grotesque, barbaric Dionysiac, the most dangerous force it had to contend with" (p. 19). This quotation suggests that perhaps only terror can effectively ward off terror. Intriguingly, Lucian (c. 120-180), well known to Nietzsche, emphasised that it was the beauty of Medusa that stunned her beholders and made them speechless so that they turned to stone in wonder (Garber & Vickers, 2003). In this respect, the seductive aspect of Medusa is reminiscent of the alluring sirens in Odysseus' journey into the Underworld (see below).
A Hero's Quest for Wholeness
It returns, what finally comes home to me is my own Self and what of myself has long been in strange lands and scattered among all things and accidents. (Nietzsche, 1883-1885/1969a, p. 173)
Self-knowledge is an adventure that carries us unexpectedly far and deep. (Jung, 1955-56/1989a, p. 520)
A quest for wholeness is a quest for cosmic unity; it is also a quest for God. Jung (1951/1991) believed that the emergence of the archetype of the Self is a revelation of religious nature; a revelation of God and also of man. The manner in which the thought occurred to Nietzsche had a character of visitation, and he would fall silent when passing by the pyramidal stone, as if entering a holy prescient. The term Wiederkunft has a religious aura, as Christians spoke of Wiederkunft Christi - the 'second coming' (Young, 2010). Did Nietzsche, in that moment of ecstasy, think that he was the second coming of Christ, or rather did he see himself as the dark side of Christ - the Antichrist? He claimed that Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885/1969a; an alternative Book of Revelation) would divide history into two halves. In March of 1884, he wrote to Overbeck: "I don't exactly know how I have come to this - but it is possible that for the first time a thought has come to me that will break the history of humanity in two" (cited by Klossowski, 1997, p. 100). Did he anticipate human history to be divided into BN and AN, instead of BC and AD? Maybe even for Nietzsche the Antichrist, a quest for wholeness was in essence a quest for God.
While still under Schopenhauer's spell, Nietzsche (1872/1993) viewed Dionysian ecstasy as a return to a mysterious "primal Oneness" (p. 25). According to Schopenhauer (1819/1969), our suffering comes from the strivings of the Will and from being tormented by memories. As a means of saving one's life, the mind seeks refuge in madness by destroying the thread of memory and returning to the undifferentiated state of oneness. The quest to return to primary oneness may become more urgent at a time of the disintegration of the self, such as psychosis. Rather paradoxically, the search for centeredness can turn into a search for dissolution. Despite Nietzsche's later attacks on Schopenhauer's philosophy, he may have lived what his early mentor had taught.
Nietzsche (1879/1976b) also identified with that subterranean, wandering hero, Odysseus: "I too have been in the Underworld, like Odysseus, and I shall yet return there often" (p. 67). In his journey to Hades, Odysseus plugged his sailors' ears with wax and tied himself to the mast of his ship in order not be lured by the beguiling songs of the sirens. (Although he still wanted to hear their songs.) The greatest danger for a hero who ventures into the realm of the Unconscious is the temptation to remain there; the world of phantasm can become more attractive than the world of the real and the rational. Campbell (1988, p. 218) has put it thus: "The first problem of the returning hero is to accept as real, after an experience of the soul-satisfying vision of fulfilment, the passing joys and sorrows, banalities and noisy obscenities of life. Why to re-enter such a world?"
The ecstasy that permeates the uroboric state of Oneness, coupled with a sense of omnipotence, can prove impossible to resist. Nietzsche intimated this sense of elation and omnipotence shortly before his total mental collapse. He wrote to Overbeck "anything is possible in my life now" (cited in Middleton, 1996, p. 338); to his sister "I hold, quite literally, the future of mankind in the palm of my hand" (cited in Middleton, 1996, p. 339); and to Carl Fuchs he boasted "since the old God has abdicated, I shall rule the world from now on" (cited in Middleton, 1996, p. 335, emphasis in original). What a contrast to the grim reality of a homeless, unloved man and a largely unrecognised genius.
Discussion and Closing Remarks
He who fights the monsters should watch it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze for too long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. (Nietzsche, 1886/1990, p. 102)
A spectre of undecidability haunts Nietzsche's writings. As a poet-writer he must have felt compelled to veil the communications of his intimate experiences, whilst as a philosopher, he aimed at presenting these experiences as universal truth. The enduring fascination he holds for poets, writers, philosophers and psychoanalysts may well rest on the open-endedness of interpretations his writings evoke. There cannot be a definitive reading of Eternal Return and the analysis presented in this essay is not exclusive but complementary to others.
The idea of Eternal Return descended upon Nietzsche at a time of a multiple anniversary: that of his father's death at the age he himself had now reached, and that of the happy beginning and the bitter end of his cherished friendship with Wagner. His repeated use of the word ungeheure (horrific, monstrous) can be seen as a semiotic leitmotif that suggests a link between these events. Nietzsche's longing for a loving mentor never abated, and his friendship with Wagner could be seen as an unconscious attempt to undo his early loss. By implicitly promising to fulfil this longing, and then disappointing the immense promise it had created, Wagner inflicted a deep wound in Nietzsche's soul. That wound would never heal. This second trauma was deeper because it shattered a great, albeit unrealistic, expectation. It resulted in a psychotic eruption at the anniversary of both losses, which culminated with the epiphany of Eternal Return. Psychotic reactions have been reported to occur at the anniversary of parental death as expressions of incomplete mourning and unresolved identification (Gabriel, 1992). In circumstances uncannily reminiscent of the past, the emotions surrounding earlier traumas returned to Nietzsche with great intensity and compelling vividness; he must have felt as if life was repeating itself. In trying to universalise this experience he christened it Eternal Return.
The passages in part III of Zarathustra (1883-1885/1969a), where Nietzsche refers directly to Eternal Return, are imbued with the imagery from the myth of Oedipus. He wrote them in January of 1884, shortly before the first anniversary of Wagner's death. If the untimely death of his father left Nietzsche with the guilt for winning 'the oedipal duel', Wagner's death must have amplified this guilt. However, Oedipus never wished his father's death, consciously or unconsciously. That proud man wanted only to assert his right where 'the three roads meet' and his unintentional killing of King Laius was a consequence of Laius' intransigence and self-centredness. Had Oedipus been given due recognition by his father, he would have never killed him (and we would not have one of the most spellbinding legends). Unconsciously, Nietzsche may have hoped to undo the myth and win the duel without 'killing' the father figure. However, this was not to be. Self-absorbed Wagner, reminiscent of King Laius, was unable to contain his projections and facilitate their resolution. The tragic myth was thus re-enacted and the vicious circle of repetition compulsion was complete.
The vision of Eternal Return can be seen as an attempt to reconcile the inner opposites and to symbolise the redemptive, healing mandala. However, when Nietzsche wrote to a friend in relation to his August epiphany that it "filled [him] with a new vision that put [him] ahead of men" (letter to Gast, cited in Middleton, 1996, p. 178), he knew well the peril of such visions. Earlier the same year, he had declared visions as "a profound mental disturbance" and warned against the religiosi who "see things that others do not see" (Nietzsche, 1881/1982 p. 39). Instead of reconciling the opposites, Eternal Return turned into a menace and an indication of the much-feared madness. It became his Medusa.
Nietzsche's asceticism and solitariness, fortified by pride, rendered his yearnings for love and intimacy unfulfilled. Yet he recognised that "the perpetual lack of a really refreshing and healing human love, the absurd isolation which it entails, making almost any residue of connection with people merely something that wounds one - that is all very bad indeed..." (Letter to Overbeck, cited in Middleton, 1996, p. 282, emphasis in original). He often spoke of Ariadne, that faithful companion of the great, mythical hero Theseus who slew Minotaur in the Cretan labyrinth. Unlike Theseus who held onto Ariadne's thread, Nietzsche ventured into the labyrinth of the unconscious all by himself. However, although one can get in alone, one needs the help and guidance of another human being to get out. Even he, the advocate of hardness and self-sufficiency, needed his Ariadne with her embodied love and wisdom to lead him back to reality. An idea such as Eternal Return was no substitute for real human love.
Eternal Return also symbolised a transfiguration of loss and pain into a love of fate, accompanied by an elation of victorious overcoming. Nietzsche was unable to resist the temptation of returning to that alchemical moment again and again. A reality full of suffering and unremitting loneliest loneliness could not compete with the beguiling pull towards the Dionysian world of dream and intoxication. Ultimately, the alluring sounds of the sirens and the bewitching gaze of the Medusa proved too powerful. In his words: "I often look back in wrath at the most beautiful things that could not hold me - because they could not hold me" (Nietzsche, 1882/1974, p. 247). The compulsion to repeat turned into a vicious circle, a maddening tarantella dance that culminated in his total mental collapse at the age of forty-four. Thus a hero's journey into the light of reason became a journey into the night of madness. As other great tragic heroes before him, Nietzsche perished in full consciousness of his fate. The fate, he proclaimed, one must love.
I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their invigorating criticism, the Editor-in-Chief of the IPJP, Professor Chris Stones, for his generosity and open-mindedness, Tatiana Rucinska for her editorial help, and Eric Phipps for being a midwife to my thoughts.
Referencing Format
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About the Author
Dr Eva M. Cybulska graduated from Gdansk medical school in Poland in the early seventies and received her postgraduate degrees and training in London, UK. During a long clinical career as a consultant psychiatrist, she has applied psychoanalytic understanding to mental disorders, and particularly to psychotic illnesses. She has published many articles in her field and has also served as a reviewer for professional journals. Many years ago a combined interest in literature, philosophy and psychiatry found its outlet in a close study of Nietzsche. Cybulska was the first to challenge the century-old diagnosis of tertiary syphilis in his case. Since taking an early retirement, she has been devoting her time to reading, writing and travelling - often in Nietzsche's footsteps. She is currently writing a book entitled Nietzsche: a Hero's Journey into Night. Dr Cybulska's website is: http://emcybulska.blogspot.co.uk. E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com.
1 I have translated ungeheure as 'horrific' to convey the onomatopoeic and physiological effect of the word; the literal meaning is 'monstrous'. The first time Nietzsche used this word was probably when recounting the death of his father (see below). Later, it recurred as a leitmotif in many emotionally charged passages such as 'God is dead' in The Gay Science (1882/1974); also 'Star friendship' (see below), and in his description of ecstasy/inspiration in Ecce Homo (1888/1986a, see below).
2 Strictly speaking the word Nachmittag (afternoon) should have been used. Nietzsche wrote this fragment at the age of 14, and it is intriguing that he used exactly the same word in Zarathustra when referring to Eternal Return (see below).


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Arts Education 5
Curriculum Arts Education Grade 5 PDF Grade-Set: k-9
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Core Competencies
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Big Ideas
Grandes idées
Engaging in creative expression and experiences expands people's sense of identity and belonging.
experiment in a variety of ways to discover new possibilities and perspectives.
Artistspeople who create works in any of the arts disciplines (e.g., dancers, actors, musicians, visual artists); also means the students themselves
Dance, drama, music and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating
communicatingthe art itself is a form of communication
Works of art
influence and are influenced by the world around us.
Works of artthe results of creative processes in disciplines such as dance, drama, music, and visual arts
Learning Standards
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Curricular Competencies
Students will be able to use creative processes to:
Exploring and creating
Intentionally select artistic elements
, processes, materials, movements, technologies
elementscharacteristics of dance, drama, music, and visual arts
, tools, techniques, and environments to express meaning in their work
technologiesrefers to both digital and non-digital implements and the processes that artists employ in the creation of art, in traditional and
Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play
purposeful playlearning that uses real-life and/or imaginary situations to engage and challenge learners' thinking. Through planned purposeful play, students express their natural curiosity while exploring the world around them. It also provides a means for high-level reasoning and problem solving in a variety of ways
Explore connections to identity, place, culture, and belonging through creative expression
Explore a range of cultures, and the relationships among cultures, societies, and the arts
Reasoning and reflecting
Observe, listen, describe, inquire and predict how artists
(dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists) use processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, techniques, and environments to create and communicate
artistspeople who create works in any of the arts disciplines (e.g., dancers, actors, musicians, visual artists); also includes the students themselves
Develop and refine ideas, processes, and technical skills in a variety of art forms
to improve the quality of artistic creations
variety of art formsmediums of creative or artistic expression, such as painting, sculpture, plays, improvisations, dances, songs, and performances
Reflect on creative processes
as an individual and as a group, and make connections to other experiences
creative processesthe means by which an artistic work (in dance, drama, music, or visual arts) is made; includes but is not limited to exploration, selection, combination, refinement, and reflection
Connect knowledge and skills from other areas of learning
in planning, creating, interpreting, and analyzing works for art
areas of learningin BC's provincial curriculum program, the discipline-based fields of knowledge, such as Science, Arts Education and Social Studies; each area of learning contains a set of learning standards
Examine relationships between the arts and the wider world
Communicating and documenting
Adapt learned skills, understandings, and processes for use in new contexts and for different purposes and audiences
audiencesone or more individuals viewing or engaging with an artistic work (a completed work or one in progress)
Interpret and communicate ideas using symbols
and elements to express meaning through the arts
symbolscan be representative of an idea ("symbolism") or a means for communicating performance instructions (i.e., dynamic markings in music)
Express, feelings, ideas, and experiences through the arts
Describe and respond to works of art and explore artists' intent
Experience, document
and present
documentactivities that help students reflect on their learning (e.g., through drawing, painting, journaling, taking pictures, making video clips or audio-recordings, constructing new works, compiling a portfolio)
creative works in a variety of ways
presentincludes any form of presentation or sharing as outlined in the Connecting, Creating, Presenting, and Responding in Arts Education resource
Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated application and/or engagement of curricular content
Students are expected to know the following:
elements and principles that together create meaning in the arts, including but not limited to:
- dance: bodydancethe elements of dance are universally present in all dance forms and grow in sophistication over time, spacebodywhat the body is doing, including whole or partial body action, types of movement (locomotor and non-locomotor), etc., dynamicsspacewhere the body is moving, including place, level, direction, pathway, size/reach, shape, etc., timedynamicshow energy is expended and directed through the body in relation to time (quick/sustained), weight (strong/light), space (direct/indirect), and flow (free/bound), relationshipstimehow the body moves in relation to time, including beat (underlying pulse), tempo, and rhythmic patterns, formrelationshipswith whom or what the body is moving; movement happens in a variety of relationship including pairs, groups, objects, and environments, and movement principlesformThe shape or structure of a dance; the orderly arrangement of thematic material. For example: phrase, beginning, middle, end, ABA, canon, call and response, narrative, abstractmovement principlesalignment (mobility, stability, plumbline), weight transfer, flexibility, strength, balance, coordination
- drama: character, time, place, plot, tension, mood and focuscharacterin drama, taking on and exploring the thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and beliefs of another
- music: beat/pulse, metre, durationmetregroupings or patterns of strong and weak beats, rhythmdurationthe length of a sound or silence in relation to the beat, temporhythmthe arrangement of sounds and silences over time, pitchtempothe frequency or speed of the beat, timbrepitchhow high or low a note is, dynamicstimbrethe characteristic quality of a sound independent of pitch and dynamics; tone colour, formdynamicsrelative and changing levels of sound volume (e.g., forte, piano, decrescendo), textureformthe structure of a musical work (e.g., ABA, rondo form)texturesimultaneous layering of sounds (e.g., multi-part music making)
- visual arts: elements of design: line, shape, space, texture, colour, form, valueformthe visual element that pertains to an actual or implied three-dimensional shape of an image; visual art forms can be geometric; principles of designvaluedescribes lightness or darkness: balanceprinciples of designthe planned use of the visual elements to achieve a desired effect, patternbalancea principle of design concerned with the arrangement of one or more of the elements so that they give a sense of equilibrium in design and proportion (e.g., radial, symmetrical, or asymmetrical), repetitionpatterna design in which shapes, colours or lines repeat with regularity, contrast, emphasis, rhythmrepetitionusing the same object, colour, marking, or type of line more than once, unity, harmonyrhythmthe combination of pattern and movement to create a feeling of organized energy, varietyunity, harmonythese concepts are closely related and often overlap; elements are used to create a sense of completeness
processes, materials, technologies
, tools and techniques to support creative works
technologiesincludes both manual and digital technologies (e.g., electronic media, production elements, information technology, sound equipment and recording technologies, etc.); in visual arts, any visual image-making technology (e.g., paintbrush, scissors, pencil, stamp) and includes the improvisational use of miscellaneous items
choreographic devices
choreographic devicesways of developing movement (e.g., change level, dynamics, time, size, repetition)
a variety of dramatic forms
dramatic formsa medium for the expression of dramatic meaning (e.g., improvisation, tableau, role-play, mime, readers theatre, story theatre); may involve the integration of a variety of media and a combination of the arts
in music and dance to represent sounds, ideas, movement, elements, and actions
notationany written, visual, or kinetic form of representing music compositions; for example, invented and standard notation can be used to represent rhythmic and melodic patterns; in dance, this can include written formal and informal systems of symbols, shapes, and lines that represent body position and movement; in drama this can include diagrams indicating stage directions
image development strategies
image development strategiesprocesses that transform ideas and experiences into visual images (e.g., elaboration, repetition, and simplification)
and metaphor to explore ideas and perspective
symbolismuse of objects, words, or actions to represent abstract ideas; includes but is not limited to colours, images, movements, and sounds (e.g., identity can be represented by abstraction in a self-portrait, melodies, or animal forms in Aboriginal hoop dancing)
traditional and contemporary Aboriginal arts
and arts-making processes
Aboriginal artsdances, songs, stories, and objects created by Aboriginal peoples for use in daily life or to serve a purpose inspired by ceremonies as part of cultural tradition
a variety of regional and national works of art
and artistic traditions from diverse cultures, communities, times, and places
works of artthe results of creative processes in disciplines such as dance, drama, music, and visual arts
personal and collective responsibility
associated with creating, experiencing, or presenting
personal and collective responsibilityensuring the physical and emotional safety of self and others when engaging in the arts; being considerate of sensitive content, facilities, and materials
in a safe learning environment
presentingincludes any form of presentation or sharing as outlined in the Connecting, Creating, Presenting, and Responding in Arts Education resource
Note: Some of the learning standards in the PHE curriculum address topics that some students and their parents or guardians may feel more comfortable addressing at home. Refer to ministry policy regarding opting for alternative delivery.

subset: commoncrawl


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Legal professionals greatly rely on mobile technology to help stay connected while on the go. In fact, the American Bar Association's 2011 Legal Technology Survey Report states that 88 percent of lawyers use a smartphone for law-related tasks while away from the office*. Why slow them down with no way to print from a wireless laptop, smartphone or tablet?
Close the argument at your firm with Ricoh HotSpot Printing. From mobile employees to visiting attorneys and consultants, the convenience of printing from a wireless device to a HotSpot Printer/MFP is critical in maintaining productivity amongst mobile legal professionals.
With client confidentiality and HIPPA laws, firms don't give non-employees access to their network. Ricoh HotSpot Printing allows visitors an easy method of printing that does not compromise security. Hired attorneys and paralegals will also appreciate having 24/7 access to an office printer that provides a secure release code to print, ensuring no one else will see their documents.
Make the case for mobile printing at your firm with Ricoh HotSpot Printing
Law Firms


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TechMix introduces its latest product Tech Dry. Tech Dry is a high-quality drying agent (desiccant) primarily used to dry piglets quickly after birth to reduce chilling. By reducing chills and conserving the newborn's energy, piglets are more aggressive toward colostrum and feeding which may result in better survival and weight gain.
Tech Dry is a pleasant-smelling powder that can be used in any situation or environment where excessive moisture is a problem. The moisture absorbency of Tech Dry makes it ideal for reducing the risk of slipping on wet surfaces, reducing the potential for bacteria or mold growth and suitable for use on all animal species. Tech Dry is available in 40-pound heat-sealed bags from major animal health and distribution channels throughout the U.S.
Tech Dry is manufactured in the United States.


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The search found 1 result in 0.009 seconds.
Spring 2016 Vol. 15 No. 2
Feature articles include "How to Do Ethnography Right," U.S. Attitudes toward Lesbian and Gay People are Better than Ever," "Social Mobility among Second-Generation Latinos," "Immigrant Rights are Civil Rights," "Transitioning Out Loud and Online," "Celebrating New Citizens, Defining the Nntion," and " A Hand Up for Low-Income Families."


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2012 All Mopar Southern Nationals - Southern Shindig
The Southeast's biggest multi-day, multi-event Mopar gathering, and you should've been there.
It happens every year during the Memorial Day weekend, and this year, the All-Mopar Southern Nationals was once again a blast to attend. This year, the show had to endure an incoming Tropical Storm that was slated to make landfall on Sunday night, but we still managed to have a great weekend of show cars and racing. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and the racing action was already in full swing with bracket test and tune, and a cool arm drop starts racing. Saturday morning saw the racing and show action get started with the gates opening at 8:00 a.m. Sunday was another great day of racing and car showing, and even though Tropical Storm Beryl was coming on shore and caused some havoc with the event for Sunday afternoon, we still think that it's a great event. Over the years, the event has been one that we have regularly attended, and on Saturday, we decided to meet with the track manager, and see what we can do to help make the event grow.
What's going to happen, is that there will be some changes to the event that will make it easier--and less expensive for vendors, and more enjoyable and event-filled for racers, show participants, and spectators alike. So please, stay tuned for upcoming announcements that we will be making of things that will be going on at the event for Memorial Weekend 2013 to make it even better, and once again make it an event you can't miss.


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Engraved Door Signs
Direct visitors with easy-to-read, custom door signs.
- 4 holder options
- 2 size options
- Durable plastic material
- Laser engraved
- Multiple text & plate color options
Need a hand? Get help from one of our designers.
Sorry, we don't offer this design in
Draw attention to conference rooms, offices and more with engraved office door signs.
Ready to help customers, employees or visitors make their way around your workplace? Provide clear, consistent guidance with engraved door name plates. Easy to create and attach to walls, cubicles and doors, our laser engraved, ABS plastic door plaques can help improve flow through a variety of business settings – doctor's offices, hospitals, administrative offices among them.To create the right business door sign for your needs, first decide upon look you're trying to create. You can pair text and plate colors into combinations that are classic (black text on a silver or gold plate), colorful (white text on a colored plate) or contemporary (colored text on a black or white plate). Show off your creation with your choice of durable aluminum or plastic holders. Make setup simple with your choice of optional display accessories: adhesive hook and loop fasteners, suction cups or magnetic mounts. Then enjoy the advantages of a more efficient, user-friendly business environment.
Holder Options
Gold Aluminum
Gold top and bottom borders with a solid back.
Silver Aluminum
Silver top and bottom borders with a solid back.
Black Aluminum
Black top and bottom borders with a solid back.
Designer Black
Black plastic frame with rounded corners.
Hanging & Display Options
Hook and Loop Fastener Mounts
Stick one square to your sign, another to the wall. Press the two together to hold.
Suction Cups
Included metal hooks are designed to fit into holes in the back of your holder.
Magnetic Mounts
6" long. The adhesive side sticks to your holder, the magnet clings to metal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do you sell name plates without a holder?
A: Yes. To do so, check out our desk name plates – you'll be able to select the "Name plate only" option under "Holders." You'll be all set!
Q: Can I replace the name plate in a holder with another name plate?
A: Yes, these are changeable office door signs. You can take name plates out of the holders, then swap in a different plate if you'd like.
Q: How many lines of text can I fit on an engraved office door sign?
A: We recommend a maximum of two lines per name plate.
Q: Can I add a custom design or logo to my door sign?
A: Not at this time.
Q: What is a hook and loop fastener mount?
A: Hook and loop fastener mounts are pieces of material designed to stick together. One piece of material features tiny hooks that attach to the other piece. Hook and loop fasteners are cut into strips, with adhesive on the back – if you put one piece of on your sign, the other piece on a wall and then press the two pieces together, your sign will securely stay in place.
Q: I want to attach a sign to a plexiglass door. What accessories would you recommend?
A: Our suction cups are a great option. They provide a good hold and are easy to remove or reposition without damaging the plexiglass.
Q: Can I attach a door sign to a window?
A: We recommend that you find a wall (cubicle or office) or door for these signs.
Q: Can I mount an engraved door sign to an outside door or wall?
A: We recommend these office door signs for indoor use only. If you're looking for a sturdy outdoor-friendly option, you can check out our metal signs or acrylic signs.


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This young sailor is James Elmer Ball, James' dad. He joined the Navy at 17 and never graduated high school. He was a welder, a truck driver and the man who taught James to fish and drive a boat. Lately we see him on birthdays and this January he is turning 73. James looks so much like him that the first time I met James' dad he was sitting in a restaurant with his wife, Jean. I walked straight over to the table and introduced myself because as soon as I saw him, I knew he had to be James' dad. Happy Birthday, Poppop Jim!
23 January 2017
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Web Seminar Participant Information
Thank you for registering. Below are important instructions and materials you will need to participate in the web seminar.
Accountable Care Organizations—Key Considerations for California Hospitals
Date: October 12, 2010
Time: 10:00 a.m.– Noon, Pacific Time
Test Instructions
IMPORTANT: Test your computer today
- Click here to go to the Adobe Connect Enterprise Server Connection test page.
- Follow instructions to ensure that your computer and network connections are properly configured.
If your internal security settings block access to Adobe Connect, contact your IT department to grant you access. The web seminar runs on Adobe Connect and you won't be able to view the program without access.
Web Access & Dial-in Info
Join the web seminar
Step 1 – On Oct. 12 go to seminar website
Step 2 – Log-in (Do not enter as a guest.)
Login Name: The e-mail address provided when registering
Password: 101210
Step 3 – Dial-in to hear
Dial: 1-888-317-6003
Pass code: 2107847#
Note: Program registration allows for one computer connection. The system will disconnect any second computer that enters your user ID. Please do not share your access information.
Print presentation slides for note-taking purposes
To view the CHA Memo dated 10-11-10 regarding "FTC/CMS/OIG Workshop on ACOs" please click here.
Having problems joining the web seminar?
- Did you test your computer and pass the connectivity
If not, see the Test Instructions tab.
- For the Login Name, make sure to use the same e-mail address that was used when registering. If you don't know what e-mail address was used, call CHA at (916) 552-7637.
- Make sure you type in the password correctly. The password for this program is 100710.
- Make sure no one else is using your Login Name. The system will disconnect any additional computers that use the same Login Name.
- Contact your IT department for help with computer problems. Technical support is not available through Adobe Connect.
Note: If you cannot meet the system requirements to access the presentation online, you can follow along with the audio portion of the seminar using the presentation slides PDF available on the Materials tab.
For additional assistance and other inquiries, call CHA's Education Department at 916.552.7637.


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A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
1752 - 1821
Historical Period:
The 18th Century
Vicesimus Knox (1752-1821) was an English minister who ran afoul of the British authorities in the 1790s with his sermons opposing the war against the French. He was educated at home by his father, attended St. John's College, Oxford, where he became a fellow, and then was headmaster of Tonbridge School from 1778 to 1812. His main work, The Spirit of Despotism, is an analysis of how political despotism at home can arise under the cover of fighting a foreign war.


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|Academic Reading and Writing for International Students
|This course is designed to help advanced multilingual students to effectively orient themselves when reading complex academic texts, develop skills in organizing information from such readings, and write papers that build on the knowledge they acquired in their reading process. Additional emphases will be placed on vocabulary development and grammar and stylistics.
|Academic Orientation for International Students
|A course to prepare international students for study at an American college. The course supports students' needs with intensive reading, information literacy, academic vocabulary, test taking strategies, and editing writing assignments. Prerequisites: None
|Information Literacy Intensive for International Students
|This course provides international students an introduction to Information Literacy skills including: locating information, evaluating information, managing information, and presenting information. Emphasis in the course will be on writing with sources, including summarizing and paraphrasing, citing sources correctly in APA and/or MLA, and critically reading sources.
|Academic Communication for International Students
|This course provides international student with an introduction to interaction in academic settings. Emphasis on communication typical in a liberal arts college classroom setting, including active listening, asking questions, and contributing ideas and opinions. Strategies include communication outside of the classroom with instructors such as emailing, using office hours, and communicating via an LMS (e.g., assignments and discussion boards). Prerequisites: None.
|English in the Disciplines for International Students
|This course is based on specific content such as business, science, or culture. The focus of the course is three-fold: it integrates academic content with academic language skills and learning strategies essential to college success. The course also exposes international students to vocabulary and genres specific to the different disciplines; therefore, it prepares students to succeed in the relevant mainstream courses.
|Advanced ESL Grammar & Vocabulary
|Advanced ESL grammar and vocabulary course with emphasis on editing, written grammar, and academic vocabulary. Students develop an understanding of the meaning, use, and form of up to 570 on the Academic Word List. This includes the grammatical features of these words and common lexical chunks such as collocations. Alongside vocabulary learning, students learn how to use a variety of grammatical structures effectively. Emphasis is on editing and written grammar.
|Writing in the Disciplines for International Students
|A writing course for international students with an emphasis on authentic college writing assignments. Course includes preparing for college writing in various disciplines with an emphasis on the students' chosen fields of study. Students develop an in-depth knowledge of their degree program, including major courses, teacher expectations, classroom styles, and writing styles. See the English course descriptions for a description of ENGL 166, Communicating Across Cultures.
|Communicating Across Cultures, LE
|This course encourages students to examine cultural values and behaviors, both their own and those of others, as a means to develop intercultural communication skills. The course provides students the opportunity to do the following: explore their adjustment to living in a new culture; improve their cross-cultural communicative competence; learn about global cultures; understand how cultural attitudes and beliefs influence behaviors; and learn how cultural values are expressed through language.
|American Culture and Society for International Students
|Advanced multi-skill English language course with a focus on American culture, including American cultural values and beliefs. Course includes a survey of American history and current events which may be relevant across academic courses in college. Students develop English reading, writing, listening and speaking skills through authentic materials, including podcasts, newspapers, films, and novels.


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On August 5, 2011 Stories at the Cemetery provided a self-guided walk through Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, featuring presentations by costumed actors at ten pre-selected grave sites.
The event was the result of a collaboration between Rob Jones, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery Director; Bruce and Audrey Kelly, historians and Linda Benson, theatrical director.
Townsquare49.org sent our mobile video crew to capture the action. Here's the third installment, featuring local actor Nate Benson as Dick Francis, unwitting victim in the Cache Creek murders.
The program could not have been done without the help of: Ruth Quinlan, Bruce Kelly, Christie Benson, Elisa Hitchcock, Storyteller's Guild of Anchorage, Cyrano's Theatre Company, and Anchorage Community Theatre.


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Source: Adapted from LilaLoa, who calls them the end-all for chocolate cookies.
It's summer, which means we have shed the daily routine of breakfast and school and homework in favor of a new routine. It goes like this: everyday, my children say, "Can I have a friend sleep over?" and I reply, "Did you practice the piano? Clean your room? Pick up your dirty socks?" and they reply with that sound of complete frustration that is impossible to convey through the written word. My hope that they will actually do these things without a breakout of world war three is dying quickly.
But, world war three led to a sleepover, which led to a desperate need for Chex Muddy Buddies, which led to this sage motherly advice: "Read. The. Directions."
I'll spare you the details, but long story short, the directions begin with Chex and end with powdered sugar, but my daughter began with Chex, and added powdered sugar second.
After this kitchen disaster and the inevitable dirtying of way too many dishes, I was not much in the mood for baking, myself. However, the thought of this Oreo Cookie has been distracting me for several days and it just needed to happen. Besides, I figured it would keep the kids and friends happy for a few minutes.
My husband is a sucker for an Oreo cookie. Him and the rest of the planet. They are literally the most popular cookie at the grocery store, and one of the few packaged cookies that I periodically purchase. I've been making these homemade oreo cookies for years, and developed something of a reputation around the neighborhood for them. They are soft and fudgy and wonderful. But, Robb likes the real thing; small, crispy, and milk-dunk worthy. So, back to the drawing board for me.
This was a new recipe for me, and a pretty worthy one. I did make one change from the original recipe… instead of 2/3 cup cocoa powder, I used 1/3 cup regular and 1/3 cup dark cocoa powder. It makes them all dark-black and oreo-looking. And I know I called them crispy, but they aren't crispy, exactly. They are just not as soft as the cake-mix oreos.
This frosting is your basic butter-cream-cheese-and-sugar combination. I seriously considered adding fresh cherries to the frosting, and honestly, if I had had any cherries in my fridge, I probably could not have stopped myself. Or oranges, or my favorite thing, blackberries, for that matter. The creativity is in the frosting if you ask me. You can just pick your favorite fruit (wouldn't these taste fantastic with grapefruit frosting?!) or other flavor. I'm partial to peanut butter.
And mint.
And chocolate. Chocolate fudge. Double chocolate fudge.
- 1 cup butter
- ¼ cup shortening
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup dark cocoa powder
- 3½ cups flour
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- powdered sugar
- Cream butter, shortening, and sugar.
- Add milk and vanilla and beat well.
- Add salt, baking powder, and cocoas and mix well.
- Add flour and mix just until combined. (If you intend to chill the dough before rolling, reduce flour to 3 cups.)
- Roll dough on floured surface to about ⅜" thickness. Cut 2" circles.
- Bake circles at 350 degrees for 8-10 min. Cool before frosting.
- For frosting, combine butter and sugar, and add powdered sugar, until frosting reaches desired consistency. (About 1½ - 2 cups)
- Frost bottom side of one cookie and sandwich with the bottom side of another cookie.
If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:
Chocolate Sugar Cookies from Jen's Favorite Cookies
Mini Oreo Cheesecakes from Bake Your Day
Oreo Truffles from Mother Thyme
Light Cookies-N-Cream Cheesecake Squares from Realistic Nutritionist


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The "days without an arrest" meter once again has made its way to double digits, possibly to be reset by one of the last players anyone would have expected to be charged with battery. Coincidentally, news of Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew's battery charges came from TMZ just as I was wrapping up a story applauding all NFL players for a Memorial Day free from criminal charges.
The Florida Times-Union has since reported that Jones-Drew has not been charged, and may never be.
Regardless of what happens with Jones-Drew, 20 players have been charged or arrested since the 2012 regular season ended. That's four more than last year's total through May 27 of 17.
And the NFL's equivalent of the witching hour is coming. In the six-week donut hole between the end of offseason workouts and the launch of training camps, players looking to unwind could end up doing so in the backseat of a cruiser, debating the proper amount to tip a chambermaid.
Last year, 15 players were arrested or charged during the months of June and July. This year, who knows? In every year, the goal should be zero.
On one hand, people from all walks of life get arrested or charged with crimes. On the other hand, players have access to greater resources aimed at helping them avoid trouble, and a much stronger incentive to remain out of it. Here's hoping that more players realize the best approach is to figure out where the proverbial line is, and to stay as far away from it as possible.


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After a week of watching images of Ahmedinejad being interviewed by Piers Morgan -- surreal at best -- Netanyahu offering the UN a scarily cartoonish version of his worldview, and Romney spouting war-mongering malaprops, I took refuge in music.
Thank God for Vancouver's Music on Main (cited by Gramaphone magazine as "one of the finest windows into the post-classical scene") whose annual Modulus Festival -- now in its third year -- came along just as it seemed the sky was falling.
Not only was its vaguely 18th century feeling -- a return to an intimate musical salon vibe -- sweet relief from our oversaturated and increasingly digitized culture, the opening night's program actually gave me some hope for humanity.
A rather tall order, restoring hope, for a little festival that could, but the opening night of the four-day festival alone made me think that music could still soothe the savage beast -- or even several beasts.
The beast of tweeting, bleeping, creeping pop culture was kept at bay by the acoustic serenity of Heritage Hall and the surprisingly retro pleasure of assembling in a small group to sit and celebrate the joy of listening to live music -- albeit the edgy and inventive "post-classical" kind.
Indeed, perhaps it should be a recommended activity for the lost generation of texting, iPhoning 20-somethings, many of whom seem to have come of age without having had the experience of sitting still for an hour listening to live cello reverberate through their being. (Please forgive me any hipster, post-classical 20-somethings reading this. I do acknowledge that some of you have rebelled against your peers' cultural programming.)
The entire opening evening offered a program that spanned the range of human experience -- from love, to rage, to grief and eventually a kind of peace and acceptance -- quite an emotional and musical work out.
The first hour opened and closed with performances of Montreal-based composer Richard Reed Parry's works (of Arcade Fire fame) based on the rhythm of the musicians' own heart beats and the simple inhaling and exhaling of breath, performed admirably by the L.A.-based Calder Quartet.
In between, the world premiere of Mercy and Mankind and Sesto Libro di Gesualdo by Michael Finnissy- (featuring Mark McGregor on flute and Muge Buyukcelen on violin) evoked murder, temptation, jealousy and forgiveness. (A post-intermission performance of Oliver Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen by the Bergmann Piano Duo was a masterful reminder of the power of human creativity.) And Tom Cone Songs -- two new works by Music on Main's composer-in-residence, Jocelyn Morolock, sung by mezzo-soprano Melanie Adams -- proved moving odes to the late great Cone, a champion of independent cutting edge arts and cross-cultural projects, and a generous friend and patron to many in Vancouver.
I found myself, sitting in the front row where I could literally feel the vibration of the music in my chest, weeping at the sound of Somewhere Along the Line, a song Cone wrote with Morlock a few months before his death earlier this year. Magically, and in keeping with the community-based feeling of Music on Main, some mutual friends of Cone's sitting beside me offered a tissue.
Happily, I was restored to a more peaceful state by the performance of Parry's Sextet for Heart and Breath. With musicians wearing stethoscopes so they could hear their own heartbeats, the piece unfolded like a concerto for humanity, a powerful but minimalist journey into the soul of man. A series of sliding, suspended notes played on strings, recalled air raid sirens -- or perhaps a post-apocalyptic wail for peace -- and suddenly I was reminded of the news on Iran.
But it was not images of Netanyhu and Ahmedinejad, or grimacing commentators that flashed in my mind. Rather I thought of a film maker friend, an Iranian-American named Nezam Manouchehri whose film Letters from America has taken him back and forth between his home in California and his house in Tehran for a gruelling seven years. He still doesn't know how the film will end.
I suddenly wanted him to hear this gorgeous, moving ode to the power of shared humanity, of heart and breath and possibilities, composed by a Canadian, and played by a young quartet from L.A.
In fact, a crazy idea was hatched. If the New York Philharmonic could visit North Korea, why couldn't Parry and the Calder Quartet fly to Tehran and perform this piece on Iranian national television? After all, there's a strong classical music presence in Tehran, and the spirit of Parry's piece naturally transcends borders.
Visas for hostile nations and closed embassies notwithstanding, I knew that friends like Nezam in Tehran, would love and greatly appreciate the gesture. As the young American musicians played to the rhythms of their own heartbeats, I felt my own breath rise and fall. I thought of other cellists in other war zones, and remembered my friends in the Iraqi National Orchestra.
For a few transcendent moments, the Modulus Festival drowned out the drum beats of war with the sweet sound of strings, and I dreamed of a return to a truly human culture.


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The new rocket-propelled grenade RPG-30 anti-armor weapon recently unveiled in Russia has a sneaky trick to help it get past active defenses—it fires a tiny decoy rocket flying ahead of the main warhead. This is to confuse defensive systems into attacking the decoy, meaning they're too busy to successfully defeat the real weapon inbound just a tenth of a second or so behind. The RPG then has a 105-mm tandem warhead that is apparently capable of penetrating 650mm of steel armor, and can defeat reactive explosive armor too, earning it the "Abrams killer" label.
Which is, of course, interestingly ironic since the Abrams M1 typically doesn't use reactive armor, neither does its UK equivalent main battle tank the Challenger 2—they rely on advanced solid armor instead. And you'd need either a very lucky strike, or many impacts to seriously damage one of these beasts with any type of RPG. Russian tanks, like the T72 and T80, on the other hand, do rely on reactive armor and sometimes employ active defense systems like Arena. Would be interesting to see the RPG-30 pitted against the Future Combat System's Quick Kill defenses, don't you think?
Still, makers Bazalt got some military chaps to demonstrate the system recently on TV:


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Klaste wrote:I haven't even taken my turn yet in game 3250536 (fog is on, so the number probably won't help), but already I've noticed I started with 3 armies on w7 (my starting position was the blue home and shop in the blue neighborhood). It just seemed out of place with the 20 armies on my starting shop, and the 30 on my starting home. I did read up, though, and your neutral armies correction looks like it covers that spot - just thought I'd mention it anyways, since that's the reason for playing beta maps.
Yeah - the 8 territories that weren't set to Neutral will cause that - and is fixed in the latest XML - once DiM gets the GFX changed - we can upload a newer version.