How did Empedocles or Nietzsche cultivate the existential defiance or courage that led each of them up the mountain? It probably started something like this—in a very simple refusal to act on behalf of one’s obvious self-interest. There remains a life-affirming glee in such a refusal—a quiet temptation that even the most well-adjusted person feels at various points. It is the freedom to be otherwise, to act against all odds. Turning the bathroom light off, I hoped—I’m sure not for the last time—that my daughter would not become a philosopher.
