1. The true path is along a rope, not a rope
suspended way up in the air, but rather only just
over the ground. It seems more like a tripwire
than a tightrope.

Franz Kafka, Zurau Aphorisms

 “Tightrope Walkers” by Remedios Varo (1944)

Prologue:

When Zarathustra arrived at the edge of the forest, he came upon a town. Many people had gathered there in the marketplace to see a tightrope walker who had promised a performance. The crowd, believing that Zarathustra was the ringmaster come to introduce the tightrope walker, gathered around to listen. And Zarathustra spoke to the people:

I teach you the Overman! Mankind is something to be overcome. What have you done to overcome mankind?

–Friedrich Nietzsche
Thus Spoke Zarathustra