[1]The German word is "Naturalist," and really means "realist" in a bad sense.—Tr.
[1]The German word is "Naturalist," and really means "realist" in a bad sense.—Tr.
865.
The state of mind which calls itself "idealism," and which will neither allow mediocrity to bemediocre nor woman to be woman! Do not make everything uniform! We should have a clear idea of howdearly we have to pay for the establishment of a virtue;and that virtue is nothing generally desirable, but anoble piece of madness,a beautiful exception, which gives us the privilege of feeling elated....
866.
It isnecessaryto showthat a counter-movement is inevitably associatedwith any increasingly economical consumption of men and mankind, and with an ever more closely involved "machinery" of interests and services. I call this counter-movement theseparation of the luxurious surplus of mankind:by means of it a stronger kind, a higher type, must come to light, which has other conditions for its origin and for its maintenance than the average man. My concept, my metaphor for this type is, as you know, the word "Superman." Along the first road, which can now be completely surveyed, arose adaptation, stultification, higher Chinese culture, modesty in the Instincts, and satisfaction at the sight of the belittlement of man—a kind ofstationary level of mankind.If ever we get that inevitable and imminent, general control of the economy of the earth, then mankindcanbe used as machinery and find its best purpose in the service of this economy—as an enormous piece of clock-work consisting of ever smaller and ever more subtly adapted wheels; then all the dominating and commanding elementswill become ever more superfluous; and the whole gains enormous energy, while the individual factors which compose it represent but small modicums of strength and ofvalue.To oppose this dwarfing and adaptation of man to a specialised kind of utility, a reverse movement is needed -the procreation of thesyntheticman whoembodieseverything andjustifiesit; that man for whom the turning of mankind into a machine is a first condition of existence, for whom the rest of mankind is but soil on which he can devise hishigher modeof existence.
He is in need of theoppositionof the masses, of those who are "levelled down"; he requires that feeling of distance from them; he stands upon them, he lives on them. This higher form ofaristocracyis the form of the future. From the moral point of view, the collective machinery above described, that solidarity of all wheels, represents the most extreme example in theexploitation of mankind: but it presupposes the existence of those for whom such an exploitation would have somemeaning.[2]Otherwise it would signify, as a matter of fact, merely the general depreciation of the type man,—aretrograde phenomenonon a grand scale.
Readers are beginning to see what I am combating—namely,economicoptimism: as ifthe genera] welfare of everybody must necessarily increase with the growing self-sacrifice of everybody. The very reverse seems to me to be the case,the self-sacrifice of everybody amounts to a collective loss;man becomesinferior—so that nobody knows what end this monstrous purpose has served. A wherefore? anewwherefore?—this is what mankind requires.
[2]This sentence for ever distinguishes Nietzsche's aristocracy from our present plutocratic and industrial one, for which, at the present moment at any rate, it would be difficult to discover some meaning.—Tr.
[2]This sentence for ever distinguishes Nietzsche's aristocracy from our present plutocratic and industrial one, for which, at the present moment at any rate, it would be difficult to discover some meaning.—Tr.
867.
The recognition of theincrease of collective power:we should calculate to what extent the ruin of individuals, of castes, of ages, and of peoples, is included in this general increase.
The transposition of theballastof a culture. Thecostof every vast growth: who bears it?Why must it be enormous at the present time?
868.
General aspect of the future European: the latter regarded as the most intelligent servile animal, very industrious, at bottom very modest, inquisitive to excess, multifarious, pampered, weak of will,—a chaos of cosmopolitan passions and intelligences. How would it be possible for a stronger race to be bred from him?—Such a race as would have a classical taste? The classical taste: this is the will to simplicity, to accentuation, and to happiness made visible, the will to the terrible, and the courage for psychologicalnakedness(simplification is theoutcome of the will to accentuate; allowing happiness as well as nakedness to become visible is a consequence of the will to the terrible ...). In order to fight one's way out of that chaos, and up to this form, a certaindisciplinary constraintis necessary: a man should have to choose between either going to the dogs orprevailing.A ruling race can only arise amid terrible and violent conditions. Problem: where are thebarbariansof the twentieth century? Obviously they will only show themselves and consolidate themselves after enormous socialistic crises. They will consist of those elements which are capable of thegreatest hardness towards themselves,and which can guarantee themost enduring will-power.
869.
The mightiest and most dangerous passions of man, by means of which he most easily goes to rack and ruin, have been so fundamentally banned that mighty men themselves have either become impossible or else must regard themselves asevil,"harmful and prohibited." The losses are heavy, but up to the present they have been necessary. Now, however, that a whole host of counter-forces has been reared, by means of the temporary suppression of these passions (the passion for dominion, the love of change and deception), their liberation has once more become possible: they will no longer possess their old savagery. We can now allow ourselves this tame sort of barbarism: look at our artists and our statesmen!
870.
The root of all evil:that the slave morality of modesty, chastity, selflessness, and absolute obedience should have triumphed. Dominating natures were thus condemned (1) to hypocrisy, (2) to qualms of conscience,—creative natures regarded themselves as rebels against God, uncertain and hemmed in by eternal values.
The barbarians showed that the ability of keeping within the bounds of moderationwas not in the scope of their powers: they feared and slandered the passions and instincts of nature—likewise the aspect of the ruling Cæsars and castes. On the other hand, there arose the suspicion that allrestraintis a form of weakness or of incipient old age and fatigue (thus La Rochefoucauld suspects that "virtue" is only a euphemism in the mouths of those to whom vice no longer affords any pleasure). The capacity for restraint was represented as a matter of hardness, self-control, asceticism, as a fight with the devil, etc. etc. The naturaldelightof æsthetic natures, in measure;the pleasure derived from the beauty of measure,wasoverlookedanddenied,because that which was desired was an anti-eudæmonistic morality. The belief in the pleasure which comes of restraint has been lacking hitherto—this pleasure of a rider on a fiery steed! The moderation of weak natures was confounded with the restraint of the strong!
In short, the best things have been blasphemed because weak or immoderate swine have thrown abad light upon them—the best men haveremained concealed—and have oftenmisunderstoodthemselves.
871.
Viciousandunbridled people: their depressing influence upon thevalue of the pussions.It was the appalling barbarity of morality which was principally responsible in the Middle Ages for the compulsory recourse to a veritable "leagueofvirtue"—and this was coupled with an equally appalling exaggeration of all that which constitutes the value of man. Militant "civilisation" (taming) is in need of all kinds of irons and tortures in order to maintain itself against terrible and beast-of-prey natures.
In this case, contusion, although it may have the most nefarious influences, is quite natural: that whichmen of power and will are able to demand of themselvesgives them the standard for what they may also allow themselves. Such natures are the very opposite of theviciousand theunbridled;although under certain circumstances they may perpetrate deeds for which an inferior man would be convicted of vice and intemperance.
In this respect the concept, "all men are equal before God" does an extraordinary amount of harm; actions and attitudes of mind were forbidden which belonged to the prerogative of the strong alone, just as if they were in themselves unworthy of man. All the tendencies of strong men were brought into disrepute by the fact that the defensive weapons of the most weak (even ofthose who were weakest towards themselves) were established as a standard of valuation.
The confusion went so far that precisely the greatvirtuososof life (whose self-control presents the sharpest contrast to the vicious and the unbridled) were branded with the most opprobrious names. Even to this day people feel themselves compelled to disparage a Cæsar Borgia: it is simply ludicrous. The Church has anathematised German Kaisers owing to their vices: as if a monk or a priest had the right to say a word as to what a Frederick II. should allow himself. Don Juan is sent to hell: this is verynaïf.Has anybody ever noticed that all interesting men are lacking in heaven? ... This is only a hint to the girls, as to where they may best find salvation. If one think at all logically, and also have a profound insight into that which makes a great man, there, can be no doubt at all that the Church has dispatched all "great men" to Hades—its fight isagainstall "greatness in man."
872.
The rights which a man arrogates to himself are relative to the duties which he sets himself, and to the tasks which he feelscapable of performing.The great majority of men have no right to life, and are only a misfortune to their higher fellows.
873.
The misunderstanding of egoism:on the part ofignoble natureswho know nothing of the lust ofconquest and the insatiability of great love, and who likewise know nothing of the overflowing feelings of power which make a man wish to overcome things, to force them over to himself, and to lay them on his heart, the power which impels an artist to his material. It often happens also that the active spirit looks for a field for its activity. In ordinary "egoism" it is precisely the ... "non-ego," theprofoundly mediocre creature,the member of the herd, who wishes to maintain himself—and when this is perceived by the rarer, more subtle, and less mediocre natures, it revolts them. For the judgment of the latter is this: "We are thenoble! It is much more important to maintainusthanthatcattle!"
874.
The degeneration of the ruler and of the ruling classeshas been the cause of all the great disorders in history! Without the Roman Cæsars and Roman society, Christianity would never have prevailed.
When it occurs to inferior men to doubt whether higher men exist, then the danger is great I It is then that men finally discover that there are virtues even among inferior, suppressed, and poor-spirited men, and that everybody is equal before God: which is thenon plus ultraof all confounded nonsense that has ever appeared on earth! For in the end higher men begin to measure themselves according to the standard of virtues upheld by the slaves—and discover thatthey are "proud," etc., and that all theirhigherqualities should be condemned.
When Nero and Caracalla stood at the helm, it was then that the paradox arose: "The lowest man is of more value than that one on the throne!" And thus the path was prepared for animage of Godwhich was as remote as possible from the image of the mightiest,—God on the Cross!
875.
Higher man and gregarious man.—When great men arewanting,the great of the past are converted into demigods or whole gods: the rise of religions proves that mankind no longer has any pleasure in man ("nor in woman neither," as in Hamlet's case). Or a host of men are brought together in a heap, and it is hoped that as a Parliament they will operate just as tyrannically.
Tyrannising is the distinctive quality of great men; they make inferior men stupid.
876.
Buckle affords the best example of the extent to which a plebeian agitator of the mob is incapable of arriving at a clear idea of the concept, "higher nature." The opinion which hecombatsso passionately—that "great men," individuals, princes, statesmen, geniuses, warriors, are the levers andcausesof all great movements, is instinctively misunderstood by him, as if it meant that all that was essential and valuable in sucha "higher man," was the fact that he was capable of setting masses in motion; in short, that his sole merit was the effect he produced.... But the "higher nature" of the great man resides precisely in being different, in being unable to communicate with others, in the loftiness of his rank—notin any sort of effect he may produce even though this be the shattering of both hemispheres.
877.
The Revolution made Napoleon possible: that is its justification. We ought to desire the anarchical collapse of the whole of our civilisation if such a reward were to be its result. Napoleon made nationalism possible: that is the latter's excuse.
The value of a man (apart, of course, from morality and immorality: because with these concepts a man'sworthis not even skimmed) does not lie in his utility; because he would continue to exist even if there were nobody to whom he could be useful. And why could not that man be the very pinnacle of manhood who was the source of the worst possible effects for his race: so high and so superior, that in his presence everything would go to rack and ruin from envy?
878.
To appraise the value of a man according to hisutilityto mankind, or according to what he costs it, or thedamagehe is able to inflict upon it,is just as good and just as bad as to appraise the value of a work of art according to itseffects.But in this way the value of one man compared with another is not even touched upon. The "moral valuation," in so far as it issocialmeasures men altogether according to their effects. But what about the man who has his own taste on his tongue, who is surrounded and concealed by his isolation, uncommunicative and not to be communicated with; a man whom no one has fathomed yet—that is to say, a creature of a higher, and, at any rate,differentspecies, how would ye appraise his worth, seeing that ye cannot know him and can compare him with nothing?
Moral valuationwas the cause of the most enormous obtuseness of judgment: the value of a man in himself isunderrated,well-nighoverlooked,practicallydenied.This is the remains of simple-minded teleology: the value of mancan only be measured with regard to other men.
879.
To be obsessed by moral considerationspresupposes a very low grade of intellect: it shows that the instinct for special rights, for standing apart, the feeling of freedom in creative natures, in "children of God" (or of the devil), is lacking. And irrespective of whetherhepreaches a ruling morality orcriticisesthe prevailing ethical code from the point of view of his own ideal: by doing these things a man shows that he belongsto the herd—even though he may be what it is most in need of—that is to say, a "shepherd."
880.
We should substitute morality by the will to our own ends, andconsequentlyto the means to them.
881.
Concerning the order of rank.—What is it that constitutes themediocrityof the typical man? That he does not understand that things necessarily havetheir other side;that he combats evil conditions as if they could be dispensed with, that he will not take the one with the other; that he would fain obliterate and erase thespecific character of a thing,of a circumstance, of an age, and of a person, by calling only a portion of their qualities good, and suppressing the remainder. The "desirability" of the mediocre is that which we others combat: theiridealis something which shall no longer contain anything harmful, evil, dangerous, questionable, and destructive. We recognise the reverse of this: that with every growth of man his other side must grow as well; that the highest man, if such a concept be allowed, would be that man who would representthe antagonistic character of existencemost strikingly, and would be its glory and its only justification.... Ordinary men may only represent a small corner and nook of this natural character; they perish the moment the multifariousness of the elements composing them, and the tension between theirantagonistic traits, increases: but this is the prerequisite for greatness in man. That man should become better and at the same time more evil, is my formula for this inevitable fact.
The majority of people are only piecemeal and fragmentary examples of man: only when all these creatures are jumbled together does one whole man arise Whole ages and whole peoples in this sense, have a fragmentary character about them; it may perhaps be part of the economy of human development that man should develop himself only piecemeal. But, for this reason, one should not forget that the only important consideration is the rise of the synthetic man; that inferior men, and by far the great majority of people, are but rehearsals and exercises out of which here and there a whole man may arise; a man who is a human milestone, and who indicates how far mankind has advanced up to a certain point. Mankind does not advance in a straight line,—often a type is attained which is again lost (for instance, with all the efforts of three hundred years, we have not reached the men of the Renaissance again, and in addition to this we must not forget that the man of the Renaissance was already behind his brother of classical antiquity).
882.
The superiority of the Greek and the man of the Renaissance is recognised, but people would like to produce them without the conditions and causes of which they were the result.
883.
"Purification of taste"can only be the result of thestrengtheningof the type. Our society to-day represents only the cultivating systems, the cultivated man islacking.The greatsynthetic man,in whom the various forces for attaining a purpose are correctly harnessed together, is altogether wanting. The specimen we possess is themultifariousman, the most interesting form of chaos that has ever existed: butnotthe chaosprecedingthe creation of the world, but that following it:Goetheas the most beautiful expression of the type (completely and utterly un-Olympian!)[3]
[3]The Germans always call Goethe the Olympian.—Tr.
[3]The Germans always call Goethe the Olympian.—Tr.
884.
Handel, Leibniz, Goethe, and Bismarck, are characteristic of thestrong German type.They lived with equanimity, surrounded by contrasts. They were full of that agile kind of strength which cautiously avoids convictions and doctrines, by using the one as a weapon against the other, and reserving absolute freedom for themselves.
885.
Of this I am convinced, that if the rise of great and rare men had been made dependent upon the voices of the multitude (taking for granted, ofcourse, that the latter knew the qualities which belong to greatness, and also the price that all greatness pays for its self-development), then there would never have been any such thing as a great man!
The fact that things pursue their courseindependentlyof the voice of the many, is the reason why, a few astonishing things have taken place on earth.
886.
The Order of Rank in Human Values.
(a)A man should not be valued according to isolated acts.Epidermal actions.Nothing is more rare than apersonalact. Class, rank, race, environment, accident—all these things are much more likely to be expressed in an action or deed than the "personality" of the doer.
(b)We should on no account jump to the conclusion that there are many people who are personalities. Some men are but conglomerations of personalities, whilst the majority are not evenone.In all cases in which those average qualities preponderate, which ensure the maintenance of the species, to be a personality would involve unnecessary expense, it would be a luxury in fact, it would be foolish to demand of anybody that he should be a personality. In such circumstances everybody is a channel or a transmitting vessel.
(c)A "personality" is a relativelyisolatedphenomenon; in view of the superior importance of the continuation of the race at an average level, apersonality might even be regarded as somethinghostile to nature.For a personality to be possible, timely isolation and the necessity for an existence of offence and defence, are prerequisites; something in the nature of a walled enclosure, a capacity for shutting out the world; but above all, a muchlower degree of sensitivenessthan the average man has, who is too easily infected with the views of others.
The firstquestionconcerning theorder of rank:how far is a man disposed to besolitaryorgregarious?(in the latter case, his value consists in those qualities which secure the survival of his tribe or his type; in the former case, his qualities are those which distinguish him from others, which isolate and defend him, and make hissolitude possible).
Consequence:the solitary type should not be valued from the standpoint of the gregarious type, orvice versâ.
Viewed from above, both types are necessary; as is likewise their antagonism,—and nothing ismorethoroughly reprehensible than the "desire" which would develop athirdthing out of the two ("virtue" as hermaphroditism). This is as little worthy of desire as the equalisation and reconciliation of the sexes. Thedistinguishing qualities must be developed ever more and more,the gulf mustbe made ever wider....
The concept ofdegenerationin both cases: the approximation of the qualities of the herd to those of solitary creatures: andvice versâ—in short, when they begin toresembleeach other. This concept of degeneration is beyond the sphere of moral judgments.
887.
Where thestrongest naturesare to be sought. The ruin and degeneration of thesolitaryspecies is much greater and more terrible: they have the instincts of the herd, and the tradition of values, against them; their weapons of defence, their instincts of self-preservation, are from the beginning insufficiently strong and reliable—fortune must be peculiarly favourable to them if they areto prosper(they prosper best in the lowest ranks and dregs of society; if ye are seekingpersonalitiesit is there that ye will find them with much greater certainty than in the middle classes!)
When the dispute between ranks and classes, which aims at equality of rights, is almost settled, the fight will begin against thesolitary person.(In a certain sensethe latter can maintain and develop himself most easily in a democratic society:there where the coarser means of defence are no longer necessary, and a certain habit of order, honesty, justice, trust, is already a general condition.) Thestrongestmust be most tightly bound, most strictly watched, laid in chains and supervised: this is the instinct of the herd. To them belongs a régime of self-mastery, of ascetic detachment, of "duties" consisting in exhausting work, in which one can no longer call one's soul one's own.
888.
I am attempting aneconomicjustification of virtue. The object is to make man as useful aspossible, and to make him approximate as nearly as one can to an infallible machine: to this end he must be equipped withmachine-like virtues(he must learn to value those states in which he works in a most mechanically useful way, as the highest of all: to this end it is necessary to make him as disgusted as possible with the other states, and to represent them as very dangerous and despicable).
Here is the first stumbling-block: the tediousness and monotony which all mechanical activity brings with it. To learn to endurethis—and not only to endure it, but to see tedium enveloped in a ray of exceeding charm: this hitherto has been the task of all higher schools. To learn something which you don't care a fig about, and to find precisely your "duty" in this "objective" activity; to learn to value happiness and duty as things apart; this is the invaluable task and performance of higher schools. It is on this account that the philologist has, hitherto, been the educatorper se:because his activity, in itself, affords the best pattern of magnificent monotony in action; under his banner youths learn to "swat": first prerequisite for the thorough fulfilment of mechanical duties in the future (as State officials, husbands, slaves of the desk, newspaper readers, and soldiers). Such an existence may perhaps require a philosophical glorification and justification more than any other: pleasurable feelings must be valued by some sort of infallible tribunal, as altogether of inferior rank; "dutyper se" perhaps even the pathos of reverence in regard to everything unpleasant,—must be demanded imperatively as that which is above alluseful, delightful, and practical things.... A mechanical form of existence regarded as the highest and most respectable form of existence, worshipping itself (type: Kant as the fanatic of the formal concept "Thou shalt").
889.
The economic valuation of all the ideals that have existed hitherto—that is to say, the selection and rearing of definite passions and states at the cost of other passions and states. The lawgiver (or the instinct of the community) selects a number of states and passions the existence of which guarantees the performance of regular actions (mechanical actions would thus be the result of the regular requirements of those passions and states).
In the event of these states and passions containing ingredients which were painful, a means would have to be found for overcoming this painfulness by means of a valuation; pain would have to be interpreted as something valuable, as something pleasurable in a higher sense. Conceived in a formula: "How does something unpleasant become pleasant?" For instance, when our obedience and our submission to the law become honoured, thanks to the energy, power, and self-control they entail. The same holds good of our public spirit, of our neighbourliness, of our patriotism, our "humanisation," our "altruism," and our "heroism." Theobject of all idealismshould, be to induce people to do unpleasant things cheerfully.
890.
Thebelittlementof man must be held as the chief aim for a long while: because what is needed in the first place is a broad basis from which a stronger species of man may arise (to what extent hitherto hasevery strongerspecies of man arisen from asubstratum of inferior people?).
891.
The absurd and contemptible form of idealism which would not have mediocrity mediocre, and which instead of feeling triumphant at being exceptional, becomesindignantat cowardice, falseness, pettiness, and wretchedness.We should not wish things to be any different,we should make the gulfs evenwider!—The higher types among men should be compelled to distinguish themselves by means of the sacrifices which they make to their own existence.
Principal point of view; distancesmust be established, butno contrasts must be created.Themiddle classesmust be dissolved, and their influence decreased: this is the principal means of maintaining distances.
892.
Who would dare to disgust the mediocre of their mediocrity! As you observe, I do precisely the reverse: every step away from mediocrity—thus do I teach—leads toimmorality.
893.
To hate mediocrity is unworthy of a philosopher: it is almost a note of interrogation to his "rightto philosophy." It is precisely because he is the exception that he must protect the rule and ingratiate all mediocre people.
894.
What I combat: that an exceptional form should make war upon the rule—instead of understanding that the continued existence of the rule is the first condition of the value of the exception. For instance, there are women who, instead of considering their abnormal thirst for knowledge as a distinction, would fain dislocate the whole status of womanhood.
895.
Theincrease of strengthdespite the temporary ruin of the individual:—
A new level must be established;
We must have a method of storing up forces for the maintenance of small performances, in opposition to economic waste;
Destructive nature must for once be reduced to aninstrumentof this economy of the future;
The weak must be maintained, because there is an enormous mass offinickingwork to be done;
The weak and the suffering must be upheld in their belief that existence is still possible;
Solidaritymust be implanted as an instinct opposed to the instinct of fear and servility;
War must be made upon accident, even upon the accident of "the great man."
896.
War upongreatmen justified on economic grounds. Great men are dangerous; they are accidents, exceptions, tempests, which are strong enough to question things which it has taken time to build and establish. Explosive material must not only be discharged harmlessly, but, if possible, its discharge must bepreventedaltogether, this is the fundamental instinct of all civilised society.
897.
He who thinks over the question of how the type man may be elevated to its highest glory and power, will realise from the start that he must place himself beyond morality; for morality was directed in its essentials at the opposite goal—that is to say, its aim was to arrest and to annihilate that glorious development wherever it was in process of accomplishment. For, as a matter of fact, development of that sort implies that such an enormous number of men must be subservient to it, that acounter-movementis only too natural: the weaker, more delicate, more mediocre existences, find it necessary to take up sidesagainstthat gloryof life and power; and for that purpose they must get a new valuation of themselves by means of which they are able to condemn, and if possible to destroy, life in this high degree of plenitude. Morality is therefore essentially the expression of hostility to life, in so far as it would overcome vital types.
898.
The strong of the future.—To what extent necessity on the one hand and accident on the other have attained to conditions from which astronger speciesmay be reared: this we are now able to understand and to bring about consciously; we can now create those conditions under which such an elevation is possible.
Hitherto education has always aimed at the utility of society:notthe greatest possible utility for the future, but the utility of the society actually extant. What people required were "instruments" for this purpose. Provided thewealth of forces were greater,it would be possible to think of a draft being made upon them, the aim of which would not be the utility of society, but some future utility.
The more people grasped to what extent the present form of society was in such a state of transition as sooner or later to beno longer able to exist for its own sake,but only as a means in the hands of a stronger race, the morethis task would have to be brought forward.
The increasing belittlement of man is precisely the impelling power which leads one to think ofthe cultivation of astronger race:a race which would have a surplus precisely there where the dwarfed species was weak and growing weaker (will, responsibility, self-reliance, the ability to postulate aims for one's self).
The means would be those which history teaches:isolationby means of preservative interests which would be the reverse of those generally accepted; exercise in transvalued valuations; distance as pathos; a clean conscience in what to-day is most despised and most prohibited.
Thelevellingof the mankind of Europe is the great process which should not be arrested; it should even be accelerated. The necessity ofcleaving gulfs,ofdistance,of theorder of rank,is therefore imperative; but not the necessity of retarding the process above mentioned.
Thislevelled-downspecies requires justification as soon as it is attained: its justification is that it exists for the service of a higher and sovereign race which stands upon it and can only be elevated upon its shoulders to the task which it is destined to perform. Not only a ruling race whose task would be consummated in ruling alone: but a race withvital spheresof its own, with an overflow of energy for beauty, bravery, culture, and manners, even for the most abstract thought; a yea-saying race which would be able to allow itself every kind of great luxury—strong enough to be able to dispense with the tyranny of the imperatives of virtue, rich enough to be in no need of economy or pedantry; beyond good and evil; a forcing-house for rare and exceptional plants.
899.
Our psychologists, whose glance dwells involuntarily upon the symptoms of decadence, lead us to mistrust intellect ever more and more. People persist in seeing only the weakening, pampering, and sickening effects of intellect, but there are now going to appear:—
900.
I point to something new: certainly for such a democratic community there is a danger of barbarians; but these are sought only down below. There is alsoanother kind of barbarianswho come from the heights: a kind of conquering and ruling natures, which are in search of material that they can mould. Prometheus was a barbarian of this stamp.
901.
Principal standpoint:one should not suppose the mission of a higher species to be theleadingof inferior men (as Comte does, for instance); but the inferior should be regarded as thefoundationupon which a higher species may live their higher life—upon which alone theycan stand.The conditions under which astrong, noblespecies maintains itself (in the matter of intellectual discipline) are precisely the reverse of those under which the industrial masses—the tea-grocersà laSpencer—subsist. Those qualities which are within the grasp only of thestrongestand mostterriblenatures, and which make their existence possible leisure, adventure, disbelief, and even dissipation—would necessarily ruin mediocre natures —and does do so—when they possess them. In the case of the latter industry, regularity, moderation, and strong "conviction" are in their proper place—in short, all "gregarious virtues": under their influence these mediocre men become perfect.
902.
Concerning the ruling types.The shepherd as opposed to the "lord" (the former is only a means to the maintenance of the herd; the latter, thepurposefor which the herd exists).
903.
The temporary preponderance of social valuations is both comprehensible and useful; it is a matter of building afoundationupon which astrongerspecies will ultimately be made possible. The standard of strength: to be able to live under the transvalued valuations, and to desire them for all eternity. State and society regarded as a sub-structure: economic point of view, education conceived as breeding.
904.
A consideration which "free spirits"lack: that the same discipline which makes a strong nature still stronger, and enables it to go in for big undertakings,breaks up and withers the mediocre: doubt —la largeur de cœur—experiment—independence.
905.
The hammer. How should men who must value in the opposite way be constituted?—Men who possessallthe qualities of the modern soul, but are strong enough to convert them into real health? The means to their task.
906.
The strong man, who is mighty in the instincts of a strong and healthy organisation, digests his deeds just as well as he digests his meals; he even gets over the effects of heavy fare: in the main, however, he is led by an inviolable and severe instinct which prevents his doing anything which goes against his grain, just as he never does anything against his taste.
907.
Canweforeseethe favourable circumstances under which creatures of the highest value might arise? It is a thousand times too complicated, and the probabilities of failure arevery great:on that account we cannot be inspired by the thought ofstriving after them! Scepticism.—To oppose this we can enhance courage, insight, hardness, independence, and the feeling of responsibility; we can also subtilise and learn to forestall the delicacy of the scales, so that favourable accidents may be enlisted on our side.
908.
Before we can even think of acting, an enormous amount of work requires to be done. In the main, however,a cautious exploitationof the present conditions would be our best and most advisable course of action. The actualcreationof conditions such as those which occur by accident, presupposes the existence ofironmen such as have not yet lived. Our first task must be to make the personal idealprevailandbecome realised! He who has understood the nature of man andthe origin of mankind's greatest specimens, shudders before man and takes flight from all action: this is the result of inherited valuations!!
My consolation is, that the nature of man isevil,and this guarantees hisstrength!
909.
The typical forms of self-development, or the eight principal questions:—
1. Do we want to be more multifarious or more simple than we are?
2. Do we want to be happier than we are, or more indifferent to both happiness and unhappiness?
3. Do we want to be more satisfied with ourselves, or more exacting and more inexorable?
4. Do we want to be softer, more yielding, and more human than we are, or more inhuman?
5. Do we want to be more prudent than we are, or more daring?
6. Do we want to attain a goal, or do we want to avoid all goals (like the philosopher, for instance, who scents a boundary, acul-de-sac,a prison, a piece of foolishness in every goal)?
7. Do we want to become more respected, or more feared, or moredespised?
8. Do we want to become tyrants, and seducers, or do we want to become shepherds and gregarious animals?
910.
The type of my disciples.—To such men asconcern vie in any wayI wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities of all kinds. I wish them to be acquainted with profound self-contempt, with the martyrdom of self-distrust, with the misery of the defeated: I have no pity for them; because I wish them to have the only thing which to-day proves whether a man has any value or not, namely,the capacity of sticking to his guns.
911.
The happiness and self-contentedness of the lazzaroni, or the blessedness of "beautiful souls,"or the consumptive love of Puritan pietists, proves nothing in regard tothe order of rankamong men. As a great educator one ought inexorably to thrash a race of such blissful creatures into unhappiness. The danger of belittlement and of a slackening of powers follows immediately I amopposedto happinessà laSpinoza orà laEpicurus, and to all the relaxation of contemplative states. But when virtue is the means to such happiness, well then,one must master even virtue.
912.
I cannot see how any one can make up for having missed going toa good schoolat the proper time. Such a person does not know himself; he walks through life without ever having learned to walk. His soft muscles betray themselves at every step. Occasionally life itself is merciful enough to make a man recover this lost and severe schooling: by means of periods of sickness, perhaps, which exact the utmost will-power and self-control; or by means of a sudden state of poverty, which threatens his wife and child, and which may force a man to such activity as will restore energy to his slackened tendons, and atough spiritto his will to life. The most desirable thing of all, however, is, under all circumstances to have severe disciplineat the right time, i.e.at that age when it makes us proud that people should expect great things from us. For this is what distinguishes hard schooling, as good schooling, from every other schooling, namely, that a good deal is demanded, that a gooddeal is severely exacted; that goodness, nay even excellence itself, is required as if it were normal; that praise is scanty, that leniency is non-existent; that blame is sharp, practical, and without reprieve, and has no regard to talent and antecedents. We are in every way in need of such a school: and this holds good of corporeal as well as of spiritual things; it would be fatal to draw distinctions here! The same discipline makes the soldier and the scholar efficient; and, looked at more closely, there is no true scholar who has not the instincts of a true soldier in his veins. To be able to command and to be able to obey in a proud fashion; to keep one's place in rank and file, and yet to be ready at any moment to lead; to prefer danger to comfort; not to weigh what is permitted and what is forbidden in a tradesman's balance; to be more hostile to pettiness, slyness, and parasitism than to wickedness. What is it that onelearnsin a hard school?—to obeyandto command.
913.
We shouldrepudiatemerit—and do only that which stands above all praise and above all understanding.
914.
The new forms of morality:—
Faithful vows concerning that which one wishes to do or to leave undone; complete and definite abstention from many things. Tests as to whether one isripefor such discipline.
915.
It is my desire tonaturalise asceticism:I would substitute the old intention of asceticism, "self-denial," by my own intention,self-strengthening:a gymnastic of the will; a period of abstinence and occasional fasting of every kind, even in things intellectual; a casuistry in deeds, in regard to the opinions which we derive from our powers; we should try our hand at adventure and at deliberate dangers. (Dîners chez Magny:all intellectual gourmets with spoilt stomachs.)Testsought also to be devised for discovering a man's power in keeping his word.
916.
The things which have becomespoiltthrough having been abused by the Church:—
(1)Asceticism.—People have scarcely got the courage yet to bring to light the natural utility and necessity of asceticism for the purpose of theeducation of the will.Our ridiculous world of education, before whose eyes the useful State official hovers as an ideal to be striven for, believes that it has completed its duty when it has instructed or trained the brain; it never even suspects that something else is first of all necessary —the education ofwill-power;tests are devised for everything except for the most important thing of all: whether a man canwill,whether he canpromise;the young man completes his education without a question or an inquiry having beenmade concerning the problem of the highest value of his nature.
(2)Fasting:—In every sense—even as a means of maintaining the capacity for taking pleasure in all good things (for instance, to give up reading for a while, to hear no music for a while, to cease from being amiable for a while: one ought also to have fast days for one's virtues).
(3)The monastery.—Temporary isolation with severe seclusion from all letters, for instance; a kind of profound introspection and self-recovery, which does not go out of the way of "temptations," but out of the way of "duties"; a stepping out of the daily round of one's environment; a detachment from the tyranny of stimuli and external influences, which condemns us to expend our power only in reactions, and does not allow it to gather volume until it bursts into spontaneous activity (let anybody examine our scholars closely: they only think reflexively,i.e.they must first read before they can think).
(4)Feasts.—A man must be very coarse in order not to feel the presence of Christians and Christian values as oppressive, so oppressive as to send all festive moods to the devil. By feasts we understand: pride, high-spirits, exuberance; scorn of all kinds of seriousness and Philistinism; a divine saying of Yea to one's self, as the result of physical plenitude and perfection—all states to which the Christian cannot honestly say Yea.A feast is a pagan thing par excellence.
(5) Thecourage of ones own nature: dressing-up in morality,—To be able to call one's passionsgood without the help of a moral formula: this is the standard which measures the extent to which a man is able to say Yea to his own nature, namely, how much or how little he has to have recourse to morality.
(6)Death.—The foolish physiological fact must be converted into a moral necessity. One should live in such a way thatone may have the will to die at the right time!
917.
To feel ones self strongeror, expressed otherwise: happiness always presupposes a comparison (not necessarily with others, but with one's self, in the midst of a state of growth, and without being conscious that one is comparing).
Artificialaccentuation: whether by means of exciting chemicals or exciting errors ("hallucinations.")
Take, for instance, the Christian's feeling ofsecurity; he feels himself strong in his confidence, in his patience, and his resignation: this artificial accentuation he owes to the fancy that he is protected by a God. Take the feeling ofsuperiority,for instance: as when the Caliph of Morocco sees only globes on which his three united kingdoms cover four-fifths of the space. Take the feeling ofuniqueness,for instance: as when the European imagines that culture belongs to Europe alone, and when he regards himself as a sort of abridged cosmic process; or, as when the Christian makes all existence revolve round the "Salvation of man."
The question is, where does one begin to feel thepressure of constraint: it is thus that different degrees are ascertained. A philosopher for instance, in the midst of the coolest and most transmontane feats of abstraction feels like a fish that enters its element: while colours and tones oppress him; not to speak of those dumb desires—of that which others call "the ideal."
918.
A healthy and vigorous little boy will look up sarcastically if he be asked: "Wilt thou become virtuous?"—but he immediately becomes eager if he be asked: "Wilt thou become stronger than thy comrades?"
***
How does one become stronger?—By deciding slowly; and by holding firmly to the decision once it is made. Everything else follows of itself. Spontaneous and changeable natures: both species of the weak. We must not confound ourselves with them; we must feel distance—betimes!
Beware of good-natured people!. Dealings with them make one torpid. All environment is good which makes one exercise those defensive and; aggressive powers which are instinctive in man. All one's inventiveness should apply itself to putting one's power of will to the test....Herethe determining factor must be recognised as something which is not knowledge, astuteness, or wit.
One must learn to command betimes,—likewise to obey. A man must learn modesty and tact inmodesty: he must learn to distinguish and to honour where modesty is displayed; he must likewise distinguish and honour wherever he bestows his confidence.
What does one repent most? One's modesty; the fact that one has not lent an ear to one's most individual needs; the fact that one has mistaken one's self; the fact that one has esteemed one's self low; the fact that one has lost all delicacy of hearing in regard to one's instincts.—This want of reverence in regard to one's self is avenged by all sorts of losses: in health, friendship, well-being, pride, cheerfulness, freedom, determination, courage. A man never forgives himself, later on, for this want of genuine egoism: he regards it as an objection and as a cause of doubt concerning his real ego.
919.
I should like man to begin byrespectinghimself: everything else follows of itself. Naturally a man ceases from being anything to others in this way: for this is precisely what they are least likely to forgive. "What? a man who respects himself?"[4]This is something quite different from the blind instinct toloveone's self. Nothing is more common in the love of the sexes or in that duality which iscalled ego, than a certain contempt for that which is loved the fatalism of love.