Among the many structuring devices of this experimental text we find parable, poetry, and song. The fictitious Zarathustra, a character that Nietzsche "remixed" from his particular understanding and from Greek treatments of the real historical 4th century BC Persian poet Zoroaster, frequently invokes dancing. Indeed, at different times in the narrative, Zarathustra stages dances, and these "Dance Songs" appear as entire "chapters" of the text. Dancing, in the teachings Zarathustra shares in his wandering travels, is a primary means of stepping outside of, or overcoming, one's self. In this sense, ecstatic, embodied, and often "chaotic" practices such as dancing are the simplest steps one can take, not only to break into lifeless mechanical order, but also to order life out of teaming complexity teetering on the brink of chaos. The simple and repeatable actions of dance, harness and transform available order and energy, and, as James discusses in his blog, help "break the mold" and free our ideas. Reversing the Funkadelic formula: Free your ass and your mind will follow! To find inspiration and to create new possibilities for life, one must laugh, and dance, Zarathustra insists. Ryan gets to this in his reading of the metaphor of the "dancing star" within--to make ourselves available to new possibilities and responses to an increasingly information-rich and complex world, we have to sometimes let go of pre-planned logistics.

Later, in the retrospective Ecce Homo, Nietzsche samples his own Zarathustra writings to articulate his sense of true inspiration:

"With the smallest residue of superstition within oneself, one would indeed hardly escape the idea of being merely the incarnation, the mouth-piece, the medium of super-human powers. The idea of revelation, in the sense that suddenly with incredible certainty and subtlety, something becomes visible and audible, shaking us and overpowering us in our deepest being: all this is merely a description of facts. One listens, one does not search; one accepts, one does not ask, who is giving; like lightning a thought flashes up, with necessity, without hesitation with regard to its form--I never had a choice" - Friedrich Nietzsche