I’m trying to grasp the significance of this idea and I just don’t feel that I am. I understand the basic idea that we will experience everything as it once occurred and that this reoccurrence with happen ad infinitum. It seems to me if things were only to occur once then they would mean nothing but in eternally returning they carry the weight of occurring infinitely. I really just don’t feel I’m grasping the weight of this concept, which seems important considering Nietzsche called eternal return the heaviest of burdens, so I was hoping for some outside perspectives and insight. Thanks.

Well, Mushin, for what it's worth, I've given this a ton of thought, and here's what I've concluded: even with the "eternal return", if an event/decision matters x to me now, it'll matter x to me to the nth degree... It won't be more weighty the second, third, or billionth time around, since everything else will be exactly as it is, and all things being relative, it'll all weigh the same. (Hmm. I actually feel stupid in this forum. Y'all humble me, really.)

Mushin:
Within Nietzche's concept of 'eternal return' we find the early seeds of existentialism. Basically what we're dealing with here is the same idea expressed by Camus in 'The Myth of Sisyphus': given the nature of man's existence, we are doomed to struggle (pointlessly) forever. In essence, what Nietzche means is that the ordinary person will never achieve satisfaction in life and that humanity will continue to perpetually repeat mistakes of the past. Why? Because we are limited by our self-imposed (and created ) restraints that keep us from developing. Limitations are culturally supported phenomena like social caste systems, religion and ethical systems. For Nietzche, it is a rare individual ( ubermensch, or say, Zarathustra) that has the will to overcome these limitations. However, usually these individuals are drawn back down by the rest of society (the 'herd').
Ahhh... gotta love Nietzche.
:-)

Thanks to both I appreciate the insights.