By the word
“unhistorical”
I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self.
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self.
Nietzsche - v05 - Untimely Meditations - b
Are we to continue to work for these
creations and write history from the standpoint of
'the masses; to look for laws in it, to be deduced
'from the needs of the masses, the laws of motion
t *j of the lowest loam and clay strata of society? The
j masses seem to be worth notice in three aspects
only: first as the copies of great men, printed on
bad paper from worn-out plates, next as a contrast
to the great men, and lastly as their tools: for the
rest, let the devil and statistics fly away with them!
How could statistics prove that there are laws in
history? Laws? Yes, they may prove how
common and abominably uniform the masses are:
and should we call the effects of leaden folly, imita-
tion, love and hunger—laws? We may admit it:
but we are sure of this too—that so far as there are
laws in history, the laws are of no value and the
history of no value either. And least valuable
of all is that kind of history which takes the great
popular movements as the most important events
of the past, and regards the great men only as their
clearest expression. the visible bubbles on the stream.
## p. 85 (#117) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 85
■
Thus the masses have to produce the great man,
chaos to bring forth order; and finally all the hymns
are naturally sung to. the teeming chaos. Every-
thing is called "great" that has moved the masses
for some long time, and becomes, as they say, a
"historical power. " But is not this really an in- j
tentional confusion of quantity and quality? When /
the brutish mob have found some idea, a religious""
idea for example, which satisfies them, when they
have defended it through thick and thin for cen-
turies; then, and then only, will they discover its
inventor to have been a great man. The highest
and noblest does not affect the masses at all. The
historical consequences of Christianity, its "historical
power," toughness and persistence prove nothing,
fortunately, as to its founder's greatness. They
would have been a witness against him. For be- ^ N
tween him and the historical success of Christianity \ ^"^
lies a dark heavy weight of passion and error, lust
of power and honour, and the crushing force of the /
Roman Empire. From this, Christianity had its /
earthly taste, and its earthly foundations too, that |
made its continuance in this world possible. Great-
ness should not depend on success; Demosthenes
is great without it. The purest and noblest ad-
herents of Christianity have always doubted and
hindered, rather than helped, its effect in the world,
its so-called "historical power "; for they were ac-
customed to stand outside the "world," and cared
little for the " process of the Christian Idea. " Hence
they have generally remained unknown to history,
and their very names are lost. In Christian terms,
<r
the devil is the prince of the world, and the lord of
## p. 86 (#118) #############################################
86 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
progress and consequence: he is the power behind
all " historical power," and so will it remain, how-
ever ill it may sound to-day in ears that are ac-
customed to canonise such power and consequence.
The world has become skilled at giving new names
to things and even baptizing the devil. It is truly
an hour of great danger. Men seem to be near the
discovery that the egoism of individuals, groups
or masses has been at all times the lever of the
"historical movements ": and yet they are in no
way disturbed by the discovery, but proclaim that
"egoism shall be our god. " With this new faith
in their hearts, they begin quite intentionally to
build future history on egoism: though it must be
a clever egoism, one that allows of some limitation,
that it may stand firmer; one that studies history
for the purpose of recognising the foolish kind of
egoism. Their study has taught them that the
state has a special mission in all future egoistic
systems: it will be the patron of all the clever
egoisms, to protect them with all the power of its
military and police against the dangerous outbreaks
of the other kind. There is the same idea in intro-
ducing history—natural as well as human history—
among the labouring classes, whose folly makes
them dangerous. For men know well that a grain of
historical culture is able to break down the rough,
blind instincts and desires, or to turn them to the
service of a clever egoism. In fact they are be-
ginning to think, with Edward von Hartmann, of
"fixing themselves with an eye to the future in
their earthly home, and making themselves comfort-
able there. " Hartmann calls this life the "man-
## p. 87 (#119) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 87
hood of humanity" with an ironical reference to
what is now called "manhood ";—as if only our
sober models of selfishness were embraced by it;
just as he prophesies an age of graybeards following
on this stage,—obviously another ironical glance at
our ancient time-servers. For he speaks of the ripe
discretion with which "they view all the stormy
passions of their past life and understand the vanity
of the ends they seem to have striven for. " No, a
manhood of crafty and historically cultured egoism
corresponds to an old age that hangs to life with
no dignity but a horrible tenacity, where the
"last scene of all
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. "
Whether the dangers of our life and culture come
from these dreary, toothless old men, or from the
so-called "men" of Hartmann, we have the right
to defend our youth with tooth and claw against
both of them, and never tire of saving the future
from these false prophets. But in this battle we
shall discover an unpleasant truth—that men in-
tentionally help, and encourage, and use, the worst
aberrations of the historical sense from which the
present time suffers.
They use it, however, against youth, in order to
transform it into that ripe "egoism of manhood"
they so long for: they use it to overcome the natural
reluctance of the young by its magical splendour,
which unmans while it enlightens them. Yes, we
know only too well the kind of ascendency history
## p. 88 (#120) #############################################
88 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
can gain; how it can uproot the strongest instincts
of youth, passion, courage, unselfishness and love;
can cool its feeling for justice, can crush or repress
its desire for a slow ripening by the contrary desire
to be soon productive, ready and useful; and cast
a sick doubt over all honesty and downrightness
of feeling. It can even cozen youth of its fairest
privilege, the power of planting a great thought
with the fullest confidence, and letting it grow of
itself to a still greater thought. An excess of
history can do all that, as we have seen, by no
longer allowing a man to feel and act unhistorically:
for history is continually shifting his horizon and
removing the atmosphere surrounding him. From
an infinite horizon he withdraws into himself, back
into the small egoistic circle, where he must become
dry and withered: he may possibly attain to clever-
ness, but never to wisdom. He lets himself be
talked over, is always calculating and parleying
with facts. He is never enthusiastic, but blinks
his eyes, and understands how to look for his own
profit or his party's in the profit or loss of some-
body else. He unlearns all his useless modesty,
and turns little by little into the "man" or the
"graybeard" of Hartmann. And that is what
they want him to be: that is the meaning of the
present cynical demand for the "full surrender of
the personality to the world-process"—for the
sake of his end, the redemption of the world, as
the rogue E. von Hartmann tells us. Though
redemption can scarcely be the conscious aim
of these people: the world were better redeemed
by being redeemed from these "men" and
## p. 89 (#121) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 89
"graybeards. " For then would come the reign
of youth.
And in this kingdom of youth I can cry Land!
Land! Enough, and more than enough, of the
wild voyage over dark strange seas, of eternal
search and eternal disappointment! The coast is
at last in sight. Whatever it be, we must land
there, and the worst haven is better than tossing
again in the hopeless waves of an infinite scepticism.
Let us hold fast by the land: we shall find the
good harbours later and make the voyage easier
for those who come after us.
The voyage was dangerous and exciting. How
far are we even now from that quiet state of
contemplation with which we first saw our ship
launched! In tracking out the dangers of history,
we have found ourselves especially exposed to them.
We carry on us the marks of that sorrow which an
excess of history brings in its train to the men of
the modern time. And this present treatise, as I
will not attempt to deny, shows the modern note"
of a weak personality in the intemperateness of its
criticism, the unripeness of its humanity, in the too
frequent transitions from irony to cynicism, from
arrogance to scepticism. And yet I trust in the
inspiring power that directs my vessel instead of
genius; I trust in youth, that has brought me on I
the right road in forcing from me a protest against
the modern historical education, and a demand that
the man must learn to live, above all, and only
## p. 90 (#122) #############################################
90 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
use history in the service of the life that he has
learned to live. He must be young to understand
this protest; and considering the premature gray-
ness of our present youth, he can scarcely be young
enough if he would understand its reason as well.
An example will help me. In Germany, not more
than a century ago, a natural instinct for what is
called " poetry " was awakened in some young men.
Are we to think that the generations who had lived
before that time had not spoken of the art, however
really strange and unnatural it may have been
to them? We know the contrary; that they had
thought, written, and quarrelled about it with all
their might—in "words, words, words. " Giving
life to such words did not prove the death of the
word-makers; in a certain sense they are living
still. For if, as Gibbon says, nothing but time—
though a long time—is needed for a world to
perish, so nothing but time—though still more
time—is needed for a false idea to be destroyed in
Germany, the "Land of Little-by-little. " In any
event, there are perhaps a hundred men more now
than there were a century ago who know what
poetry is: perhaps in another century there will be
a hundred more who have learned in the meantime
what culture is, and that the Germans have had
as yet no culture, however proudly they may talk
about it. The general satisfaction of the Germans
at their culture will seem as foolish and incredible
to such men as the once lauded classicism of
Gottsched, or the reputation of Ramler as the
German Pindar, seemed to us. They will perhaps
think this "culture" to be merely a kind of know-
## p. 91 (#123) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 91
ledge about culture, and a false and superficial
knowledge at that. False and superficial, because
the Germans endured the contradiction between
life and knowledge, and did not see what was
characteristic in the culture of really educated
peoples, that it can only rise and bloom from life.
But by the Germans it is worn like a paper flower,
or spread over like the icing on a cake; and so
must remain a useless lie for ever.
The education of youth in Germany starts from
this false and unfruitful idea of culture. Its aim,
when faced squarely, is not to form the liberally
educated man, but the professor, the man of science,
who wants to be able to make use of his science
as soon as possible, and stands on one side in order
to see life clearly. The result, even from a ruth-
lessly practical point of view, is the historically and
aesthetically trained Philistine, the babbler of old
saws and new wisdom on Church, State and Art,
the sensorium that receives a thousand impressions,
the insatiable belly that yet knows not what true
hunger and thirst is. An education with such an
aim and result is against nature. But only he who
is not quite drowned in it can feel that; only youth
can feel it, because it still has the instinct of nature,
that is the first to be broken by that education.
But he who will break through that education in
his turn, must come to the help of youth when
called upon; must let the clear light of under-
standing shine on its unconscious striving, and
bring it to a full, vocal consciousness. How is he
to attain such a strange end?
Principally by destroying the superstition that
## p. 92 (#124) #############################################
92 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
this kind of education is necessary. People think
nothing but this troublesome reality of ours is
possible. Look through the literature of higher
education in school and college for the last ten
years, and you will be astonished—and pained—
to find how much alike all the proposals of reform
have been; in spite of all the hesitations and violent
controversies surrounding them. You will see how
blindly they have all adopted the old idea of the
"educated man" (in our sense) being the necessary
and reasonable basis of the system. The mono-
tonous canon runs thus: the young man must
begin with a knowledge of culture, not even with a
knowledge of life, still less with life and the living
of it. This knowledge of culture is forced into the
young mind in the form of historical knowledge;
which means that his head is filled with an enormous
mass of ideas, taken second-hand from past times
and peoples, not from immediate contact with life.
He desires to experience something for himself, and
feel a close-knit, living system of experiences grow-
ing within himself. But his desire is drowned and
dizzied in the sea of shams, as if it were possible to
sum up in a few years the highest and notablest
experiences of ancient times, and the greatest times
too. It is the same mad method that carries our
young artists off to picture-galleries, instead of the
studio of a master, and above all the one studio
of the only master, Nature. As if one could dis-
cover by a hasty rush through history the ideas and
technique of past times, and their individual outlook
on life! For life itself is a kind of handicraft that
must be learned thoroughly and industriously, and
## p. 93 (#125) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 93
diligently practised, if we are not to have mere
botchers and babblers as the issue of it all!
Plato thought it necessary for the first generation
of his new society (in the perfect state) to be brought
up with the help of a "mighty lie. " The children
were to be taught to believe that they had all lain
dreaming for a long time under the earth, where
they had been moulded and formed by the master-
hand of Nature. It was impossible to go against
the past, and work against the work of gods! And
so it had to be an unbreakable law of nature, that
he who is born to be a philosopher has gold in his
body, the fighter has only silver, and the workman
iron and bronze. As it is not possible to blend
these metals, according to Plato, so there could
never be any confusion between the classes: the
belief in the (sterna Veritas of this arrangement was
the basis of the new education and the new state.
So the modern German believes also in the ceterna
Veritas of his education, of his kind of culture:
and yet this belief will fail—as the Platonic state
would have failed—if the mighty German lie be
ever opposed by the truth, that the German has no
culture because he cannot build one on the basis of
his education. He wishes for the flower without
the root or the stalk; and so he wishes in vain.
That is the simple truth, a rude and unpleasant
truth, but yet a mighty one.
But our first generation must be brought up in
this " mighty truth," and must suffer from it too;
for it must educate itself through it, even against
its own nature, to attain a new nature and manner
of life, which shall yet proceed from the old. So
## p. 94 (#126) #############################################
94 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
"Defienda me Dios de my," God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time:—" We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no "animal," but at most a
"cogital. " "Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it"—will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it—only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#127) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison; it is
not yet withered or dead—ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons:—the antidotes to history are the "un-
historical" and the "super-historical. " With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word "unhistorical" I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power "super-
historical" which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science—for it is science that makes us speak of
"poisons "—sees in these powers contrary powers:
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#128) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my,” God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time :-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it"-will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#129) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY.
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical" and the “super-historical. " With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power “super-
historical” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science—for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons"-sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#130) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my," God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time :-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it "-will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#131) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY.
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison ; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves !
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :-the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical” and the “super-historical. ” With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power “super-
historical” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science-for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons”-sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#132) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my," God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time:-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it ”—will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#133) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY,
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :—the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical ” and the "super-historical. " With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power "super-
historical ” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science—for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons”_sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#134) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my,” God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time :-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. ” We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side ;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it”—will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#135) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY,
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison ; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :—the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical ” and the “super-historical. ” With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power, !
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power "super-
historical ” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science-for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons”_sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 96 (#136) #############################################
96 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
something as finished and historical, not as con-
tinuing and eternal. Thus it lives in a deep
antagonism towards the powers that make for
eternity—art and religion,—for it hates the forget-
fulness that is the death of knowledge, and tries
to remove all limitation of horizon and cast men
into an infinite boundless sea, whose waves are
bright with the clear knowledge—of becoming!
If they could only live therein! Just as towns
are shaken by an avalanche and become desolate,
and man builds his house there in fear and for a
season only; so life is broken in sunder and
becomes weak and spiritless, if the avalanche of
ideas started by science take from man the founda-
tion of his rest and security, the belief in what is
stable and eternal. Must life dominate knowledge,
or knowledge life? Which of the two is the
higher, and decisive power? There is no room
for doubt: life is the higher, and the dominating
power, for the knowledge that annihilated life
would be itself annihilated too. Knowledge pre-
supposes life, and has the same interest in main-
taining it that every creature has in its own pre-
servation. Science needs very careful watching:
there is a hygiene of life near the volumes of
science, and one of its sentences runs thus:—The
unhistorical and the super-historical are the natural
antidotes against the overpowering of life by
history; they are the cures for the historical
disease. We who are sick of the disease may
suffer a little from the antidote. But this is no
proof that the treatment we have chosen is wrong.
And here I see the mission of the youth that
## p. 97 (#137) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 97
forms the first generation of fighters and dragon-
slayers: it will bring a more beautiful and blessed
humanity and culture, but will have itself no more
than a glimpse of the promised land of happiness
and wondrous beauty. This youth will suffer both
from the malady and its antidotes: and yet it
believes in strength and health and boasts a nature
closer to the great Nature than its forebears, the
cultured men and graybeards of the present. But
its mission is to shake to their foundations the
present conceptions of " health" and " culture," and
erect hatred and scorn in the place of this rococo
mass of ideas. And the clearest sign of its own
strength and health is just the fact that it can
use no idea, no party-cry from the present-day
mint of words and ideas to symbolise its own
existence: but only claims conviction from the
power in it that acts and fights, breaks up and
destroys; and from an ever heightened feeling of
life when the hour strikes. You may deny this
youth any culture—but how would youth count
that a reproach? You may speak of its rawness
and intemperateness—but it is not yet old and wise
enough to be acquiescent. It need not pretend to
a ready-made culture at all; but enjoys all the
rights—and the consolations—of youth, especially
the right of brave unthinking honesty and the con-
solation of arrinspiring hope.
I know that such hopeful beings understand all
these truisms from within, and can translate them
into a doctrine for their own use, through their
personal experience. To the others there will
appear, in the meantime, nothing but a row of
VOL. II. G
## p. 98 (#138) #############################################
98 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
covered dishes, that may perhaps seem empty:
until they see one day with astonished eyes that
the dishes are full, and that all ideas and impulses
and passions are massed together in these truisms
that cannot lie covered for long. I leave those
doubting ones to time, that brings all things «to
light; and turn at last to that great company of
hope, to tell them the way and the course of their
salvation, their rescue from the disease of history,
and their own history as well, in a parable; where-
by they may again become healthy enough to study
history anew, and under the guidance of life make
use of the past in that threefold way—monumental,
antiquarian, or critical. At first they will be more
ignorant than the "educated men" of the present:
for they will have unlearnt much and have lost any
desire even to discover what those educated men
especially wish to know: in fact, their chief mark
from the educated point of view will be just their
want of science; their indifference and inaccessi-
bility to all the good and famous things. But at
the end of the cure, they are men again and have
ceased to be mere shadows of humanity. That
is something; there is yet hope, and do not ye
who hope laugh in your hearts?
How can we reach that end? you will ask. The
Delphian god cries his oracle to you at the begin-
ning of your wanderings, "Know thyself. " It is a
hard saying: for that god "tells nothing and con-
ceals nothing but merely points the way," as
Heraclitus said. But whither does he point?
In certain epochs the Greeks were in a similar
danger of being overwhelmed by what was past
## p. 99 (#139) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. QQ
and foreign, and perishing on the rock of " history. "
They never lived proud and untouched. Their
"culture" was for a long time a chaos of foreign
forms and ideas,—Semitic, Babylonian, Lydian and
Egyptian,—and their religion a battle of all the
gods of the East; just as German culture and
religion is at present a death-struggle of all foreign
nations and bygone times. And yet, Hellenic
culture was no mere mechanical unity, thanks to
that Delphic oracle. The Greeks gradually learned
to organise the chaos, by taking Apollo's advice
and thinking back to themselves, to their own true
necessities, and letting all the sham necessities
go. Thus they again came into possession of
themselves, and did not remain long the Epigoni
of the whole East, burdened with their inheritance.
After that hard fight, they increased and enriched
the treasure they had inherited by their obedience
to the oracle, and they became the ancestors and
models for all the cultured nations of the future. /
This is a parable for each one of us: he must
organise the chaos in himself by " thinking himself
back" to his true needs. He will want all his
honesty, all the sturdiness and sincerity in his
character to help him to revolt against second-
hand thought, second-hand learning, second-hand
action. And he will begin then to understand
that culture can be something more than a
"decoration of life "—a concealment and disfigur-
ing of it, in other words; for all adornment hides
what is adorned. And thus the Greek idea, as
against the Roman, will be discovered to him, the
idea of culture as a new and finer nature, without
## p. 100 (#140) ############################################
IOO THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
distinction of inner and outer, without convention
or disguise, as a unity of thought and will, life
and appearance. He will learn too, from his own
experience, that it was by a greater force of moral
character that the Greeks were victorious, and that
everything which makes for sincerity is a further
step towards true culture, however this sincerity
may harm the ideals of education that are rever-
enced at the time, or even have power to shatter
a whole system of merely decorative culture.
## p. 101 (#141) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS
EDUCATOR.
## p. 102 (#142) ############################################
## p. 103 (#143) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS
EDUCATOR.
i.
When the traveller, who had seen many countries
and nations and continents, was asked what common
attribute he had found everywhere existing among
men, he answered, " They have a tendency to sloth. "
Many may think that the fuller truth would have
been, " They are all timid. " They hide themselves
behind "manners" and "opinions. " At bottom
every man knows well enough that he is a unique
being, only once on this earth; and by no extra-
ordinary chance will such a marvellously picturesque
piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put to-
gether a second time. He knows this, but hides
it like an evil conscience;—and why? From fear
of his neighbour, who looks for the latest conven-
tionalities in him, and is wrapped up in them
himself. But what is it that forces the man to
fear his neighbour, to think and act with his herd,
and not seek his own joy? Shyness perhaps, in
a few rare cases, but in the majority it is idleness,
/*
## p. 104 (#144) ############################################
104 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
the " taking things easily," in a word the "tendency
to sloth," of which the traveller spoke. He was
right; men are more slothful than timid, and their
greatest fear is of the burdens that an uncom-
promising honesty and nakedness of speech and
action would lay on them. It is only the artists
who hate this lazy wandering in borrowed manners
and ill-fitting opinions, and discover the secret of
the evil conscience, the truth that each human
being is a unique marvel. They show us, how in
every little movement of his muscles the man is
an individual self, and further—as an analytical
deduction from his individuality—a beautiful and
interesting object, a new and incredible phenomenon
(as is every work of nature), that can never become
tedious. If the great thinker despise mankind, it
is for their laziness; they seem mere indifferent
bits of pottery, not worth any commerce or im-
provement. The man who will not belong to the
general mass, has only to stop "taking himself
easily"; to follow his conscience, which cries out
to him, "Be thyself! all that thou doest and
thinkest and desirest, is not—thyself! "
Every youthful soul hears this cry day and night,
and quivers to hear it; for she divines the sum
of happiness that has been from eternity destined
for her, if she think of her true deliverance; and
towards this happiness she can in no wise be
helped, so long as she lies in the chains of Opinion
and of Fear. And how comfortless and unmeaning
may life become without this deliverance! There
is no more desolate or Ishmaelitish creature in nature
than the man who has broken away from his true
## p. 105 (#145) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR. I05
genius, and does nothing but peer aimlessly about
him. There is no reason to attack such a man at
all, for he is a mere husk without a kernel, a
painted , cloth, tattered and sagging, a scarecrow
ghost, that can rouse no fear, and certainly no pity.
And though one be right in saying of a sluggard
that he is " killing time," yet in respect of an age
that rests its salvation on public opinion,—that is,
on private laziness,—one must be quite determined
that such a time shall be " killed," once and for all:
I mean that it shall be blotted from life's true
History of Liberty. Later generations will be
greatly disgusted, when they come to treat the move-
ments of a period in which no living men ruled,
but shadow-men on the screen of public opinion;
and to some far posterity our age may well be
the darkest chapter of history, the most unknown
because the least human. I have walked through
the new streets of our cities, and thought how of
all the dreadful houses that these gentlemen with
their public opinion have built for themselves, not
a stone will remain in a hundred years, and that
the opinions of these busy masons may well have
fallen with them. But how full of hope should
they all be who feel that they are no citizens of
this age! If they were, they would have to help
on the work of " killing their time," and of perish-
ing with it,—when they wish rather to quicken the
time to life, and in that life themselves to live.
But even if the future leave us nothing to hope
for, the wonderful fact of our existing at this
present moment of time gives us the greatest en-
couragement to live after our own rule and measure;
## p. 106 (#146) ############################################
106 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
so inexplicable is it, that we should be living just
to-day, though there have been an infinity of time
wherein we might have arisen; that we own
nothing but a span's length of it, this "to-day,"
and must show in it wherefore and whereunto we
have arisen. We have to answer for our existence
to ourselves; and will therefore be our own true
pilots, and not admit that our being resembles a
blind fortuity. One must take a rather impudent
and reckless way with the riddle; especially as the
key is apt to be lost, however things turn out. Why
cling to your bit of earth, or your little business,
or listen to what your neighbour says? It is so
provincial to bind oneself to views which are no
longer binding a couple of hundred miles away.
East and West are signs that somebody chalks up
in front of us to fool such cowards as we are. "I
will make the attempt to gain freedom," says the
youthful soul; and will be hindered, just because
two nations happen to hate each other and go to
war, or because there is a sea between two parts
of the earth, or a religion is taught in the vicinity,
which did not exist two thousand years ago. "And
this is not—thyself," the soul says. "No one can
build thee the bridge, over which thou must cross
the river of life, save thyself alone. There are paths
and bridges and demi-gods without number, that
will gladly carry thee over, but only at the price
of thine own self: thy self wouldst thou have to
give in pawn, and then lose it. There is in the
world one road whereon none may go, except thou:
ask not whither it lead, but go forward. Who was
it that spake that true word—' A man has never
## p. 107 (#147) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR. 107
risen higher than when he knoweth not whither his
road may yet lead him'? "
But how can we " find ourselves" again, and how
can man "know himself"? He is a thing obscure
and veiled: if the hare have seven skins, man can
cast from him seventy times seven, and yet will
not be able to say " Here art thou in very truth;
this is outer shell no more. " Also this digging
into one's self, this straight, violent descent into the
pit of one's being, is a troublesome and dangerous
business to start. A man may easily take such
hurt, that no physician can heal him. And again,
what were the use, since everything bears witness
to our essence,—our friendships and enmities, our
looks and greetings, our memories and forgetful-
nesses, our books and our writing! This is the
most effective way:—to let the youthful soul look
back on life with the question, " What hast thou
up to now truly loved, what has drawn thy soul
upward, mastered it and blessed it too? " Set up
these things that thou hast honoured before thee,
and, maybe, they will show thee, in their being
and their order, a law which is the fundamental
law of thine own self. Compare these objects,
consider how one completes and broadens and
transcends and explains another, how they form
a ladder on which thou hast all the time been
climbing to thy self: for thy true being lies not
deeply hidden in thee, but an infinite height above
thee, or at least above that which thou dost
commonly take to be thyself. The true educators
and moulders reveal to thee the real groundwork
and import of thy being, something that in itself
## p. 108 (#148) ############################################
108 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
cannot be moulded or educated, but is anyhow
difficult of approach, bound and crippled: thy
educators can be nothing but thy deliverers. And
that is the secret of all culture: it does not give
artificial limbs, wax noses, or spectacles for the
eyes—a thing that could buy such gifts is but
the base coin of education. But it is rather a libera-
tion, a removal of all the weeds and rubbish and
vermin that attack the delicate shoots, the stream-
ing forth of light and warmth, the tender dropping
of the night rain; it is the following and the
adoring of Nature when she is pitifully-minded as
a mother;—her completion, when it bends before
her fierce and ruthless blasts and turns them to
good, and draws a veil over all expression of her
tragic unreason—for she is a step-mother too,
sometimes.
There are other means of "finding ourselves," of
coming to ourselves out of the confusion wherein
we all wander as in a dreary cloud; but I know
none better than to think on our educators. So
I will to-day take as my theme the hard teacher
Arthur Schopenhauer, and speak of others later.
II.
In order to describe properly what an event my
first look into Schopenhauer's writings was for me, I
must dwell for a minute on an idea, that recurred
more constantly in my youth, and touched me more
nearly, than any other. I wandered then as I
pleased in a world of wishes, and thought that
## p. 109 (#149) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR. 109
destiny would relieve me of the dreadful and
wearisome duty of educating myself: some philo-
sopher would come at the right moment to do it
for me,—some true philosopher, who could be
obeyed without further question, as he would be
trusted more than one's self. Then I said within
me: "What would be the principles, on which he
might teach thee? " And I pondered in my mind
what he would say to the two maxims of education
that hold the field in our time. The first demands
that the teacher should find out at once the strong
point in his pupil, and then direct all his skill and
will, all the moisture and all the sunshine, to bring
the fruit of that single virtue to maturity. The
second requires him to raise to a higher power all
the qualities that already exist, cherish them and
bring them into a harmonious relation. But, we
may ask, should one who has a decided talent for
working in gold be made for that reason to learn
music? And can we admit that Benvenuto
Cellini's father was right in continually forcing
him back to the "dear little horn "—the "cursed
piping," as his son called it? We cannot think so
in the case of such a strong and clearly marked
talent as his, and it may well be that this maxim
of harmonious development applies only to weaker
natures, in which there is a whole swarm of desires
and inclinations, though they may not amount to
very much, singly or together. On the other hand,
where do we find such a blending of harmoni-
ous voices—nay, the soul of harmony itself—as we
see in natures like Cellini's, where everything—
knowledge, desire, love and hate—tends towards a
## p. 109 (#150) ############################################
108
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
cannot be moulded or educated, but is anyhow
difficult of approach, bound and crippled: thy
educators can be nothing but thy deliverers. And
that is the secret of all culture: it does not give
artificial limbs, wax noses, or spectacles for the
eyes—a thing that could buy such gifts is but
the base coin of education. But it is rather a libera-
tion, a removal of all the weeds and rubbish and
vermin that attack the delicate shoots, the stream-
ing forth of light and warmth, the tender dropping
of the night rain; it is the following and the
adoring of Nature when she is pitifully-minded as
a mother ;-her completion, when it bends before
her fierce and ruthless blasts and turns them to
good, and draws a veil over all expression of her
tragic unreason—for she is a step-mother too,
sometimes.
There are other means of “finding ourselves,” of
coming to ourselves out of the confusion wherein
we all wander as in a dreary cloud; but I know
none better than to think on our educators. So
I will to-day take as my theme the hard teacher
Arthur Schopenhauer, and speak of others later.
II.
In order to describe properly what an event my
first look into Schopenhauer's writings was for me, I
must dwell for a minute on an idea, that recurred
more constantly in my youth, and touched me more
nearly, than any other. I wandered then as I
pleased in a world of wishes, and thought that
## p. 109 (#151) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR.
destiny would relieve me of the dreadful and
wearisome duty of educating myself: some philo-
sopher would come at the right moment to do it
for me,-some true philosopher, who could be
obeyed without further question, as he would be
trusted more than one's self. Then I said within
me: “What would be the principles, on which he
might teach thee?
creations and write history from the standpoint of
'the masses; to look for laws in it, to be deduced
'from the needs of the masses, the laws of motion
t *j of the lowest loam and clay strata of society? The
j masses seem to be worth notice in three aspects
only: first as the copies of great men, printed on
bad paper from worn-out plates, next as a contrast
to the great men, and lastly as their tools: for the
rest, let the devil and statistics fly away with them!
How could statistics prove that there are laws in
history? Laws? Yes, they may prove how
common and abominably uniform the masses are:
and should we call the effects of leaden folly, imita-
tion, love and hunger—laws? We may admit it:
but we are sure of this too—that so far as there are
laws in history, the laws are of no value and the
history of no value either. And least valuable
of all is that kind of history which takes the great
popular movements as the most important events
of the past, and regards the great men only as their
clearest expression. the visible bubbles on the stream.
## p. 85 (#117) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 85
■
Thus the masses have to produce the great man,
chaos to bring forth order; and finally all the hymns
are naturally sung to. the teeming chaos. Every-
thing is called "great" that has moved the masses
for some long time, and becomes, as they say, a
"historical power. " But is not this really an in- j
tentional confusion of quantity and quality? When /
the brutish mob have found some idea, a religious""
idea for example, which satisfies them, when they
have defended it through thick and thin for cen-
turies; then, and then only, will they discover its
inventor to have been a great man. The highest
and noblest does not affect the masses at all. The
historical consequences of Christianity, its "historical
power," toughness and persistence prove nothing,
fortunately, as to its founder's greatness. They
would have been a witness against him. For be- ^ N
tween him and the historical success of Christianity \ ^"^
lies a dark heavy weight of passion and error, lust
of power and honour, and the crushing force of the /
Roman Empire. From this, Christianity had its /
earthly taste, and its earthly foundations too, that |
made its continuance in this world possible. Great-
ness should not depend on success; Demosthenes
is great without it. The purest and noblest ad-
herents of Christianity have always doubted and
hindered, rather than helped, its effect in the world,
its so-called "historical power "; for they were ac-
customed to stand outside the "world," and cared
little for the " process of the Christian Idea. " Hence
they have generally remained unknown to history,
and their very names are lost. In Christian terms,
<r
the devil is the prince of the world, and the lord of
## p. 86 (#118) #############################################
86 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
progress and consequence: he is the power behind
all " historical power," and so will it remain, how-
ever ill it may sound to-day in ears that are ac-
customed to canonise such power and consequence.
The world has become skilled at giving new names
to things and even baptizing the devil. It is truly
an hour of great danger. Men seem to be near the
discovery that the egoism of individuals, groups
or masses has been at all times the lever of the
"historical movements ": and yet they are in no
way disturbed by the discovery, but proclaim that
"egoism shall be our god. " With this new faith
in their hearts, they begin quite intentionally to
build future history on egoism: though it must be
a clever egoism, one that allows of some limitation,
that it may stand firmer; one that studies history
for the purpose of recognising the foolish kind of
egoism. Their study has taught them that the
state has a special mission in all future egoistic
systems: it will be the patron of all the clever
egoisms, to protect them with all the power of its
military and police against the dangerous outbreaks
of the other kind. There is the same idea in intro-
ducing history—natural as well as human history—
among the labouring classes, whose folly makes
them dangerous. For men know well that a grain of
historical culture is able to break down the rough,
blind instincts and desires, or to turn them to the
service of a clever egoism. In fact they are be-
ginning to think, with Edward von Hartmann, of
"fixing themselves with an eye to the future in
their earthly home, and making themselves comfort-
able there. " Hartmann calls this life the "man-
## p. 87 (#119) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 87
hood of humanity" with an ironical reference to
what is now called "manhood ";—as if only our
sober models of selfishness were embraced by it;
just as he prophesies an age of graybeards following
on this stage,—obviously another ironical glance at
our ancient time-servers. For he speaks of the ripe
discretion with which "they view all the stormy
passions of their past life and understand the vanity
of the ends they seem to have striven for. " No, a
manhood of crafty and historically cultured egoism
corresponds to an old age that hangs to life with
no dignity but a horrible tenacity, where the
"last scene of all
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. "
Whether the dangers of our life and culture come
from these dreary, toothless old men, or from the
so-called "men" of Hartmann, we have the right
to defend our youth with tooth and claw against
both of them, and never tire of saving the future
from these false prophets. But in this battle we
shall discover an unpleasant truth—that men in-
tentionally help, and encourage, and use, the worst
aberrations of the historical sense from which the
present time suffers.
They use it, however, against youth, in order to
transform it into that ripe "egoism of manhood"
they so long for: they use it to overcome the natural
reluctance of the young by its magical splendour,
which unmans while it enlightens them. Yes, we
know only too well the kind of ascendency history
## p. 88 (#120) #############################################
88 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
can gain; how it can uproot the strongest instincts
of youth, passion, courage, unselfishness and love;
can cool its feeling for justice, can crush or repress
its desire for a slow ripening by the contrary desire
to be soon productive, ready and useful; and cast
a sick doubt over all honesty and downrightness
of feeling. It can even cozen youth of its fairest
privilege, the power of planting a great thought
with the fullest confidence, and letting it grow of
itself to a still greater thought. An excess of
history can do all that, as we have seen, by no
longer allowing a man to feel and act unhistorically:
for history is continually shifting his horizon and
removing the atmosphere surrounding him. From
an infinite horizon he withdraws into himself, back
into the small egoistic circle, where he must become
dry and withered: he may possibly attain to clever-
ness, but never to wisdom. He lets himself be
talked over, is always calculating and parleying
with facts. He is never enthusiastic, but blinks
his eyes, and understands how to look for his own
profit or his party's in the profit or loss of some-
body else. He unlearns all his useless modesty,
and turns little by little into the "man" or the
"graybeard" of Hartmann. And that is what
they want him to be: that is the meaning of the
present cynical demand for the "full surrender of
the personality to the world-process"—for the
sake of his end, the redemption of the world, as
the rogue E. von Hartmann tells us. Though
redemption can scarcely be the conscious aim
of these people: the world were better redeemed
by being redeemed from these "men" and
## p. 89 (#121) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 89
"graybeards. " For then would come the reign
of youth.
And in this kingdom of youth I can cry Land!
Land! Enough, and more than enough, of the
wild voyage over dark strange seas, of eternal
search and eternal disappointment! The coast is
at last in sight. Whatever it be, we must land
there, and the worst haven is better than tossing
again in the hopeless waves of an infinite scepticism.
Let us hold fast by the land: we shall find the
good harbours later and make the voyage easier
for those who come after us.
The voyage was dangerous and exciting. How
far are we even now from that quiet state of
contemplation with which we first saw our ship
launched! In tracking out the dangers of history,
we have found ourselves especially exposed to them.
We carry on us the marks of that sorrow which an
excess of history brings in its train to the men of
the modern time. And this present treatise, as I
will not attempt to deny, shows the modern note"
of a weak personality in the intemperateness of its
criticism, the unripeness of its humanity, in the too
frequent transitions from irony to cynicism, from
arrogance to scepticism. And yet I trust in the
inspiring power that directs my vessel instead of
genius; I trust in youth, that has brought me on I
the right road in forcing from me a protest against
the modern historical education, and a demand that
the man must learn to live, above all, and only
## p. 90 (#122) #############################################
90 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
use history in the service of the life that he has
learned to live. He must be young to understand
this protest; and considering the premature gray-
ness of our present youth, he can scarcely be young
enough if he would understand its reason as well.
An example will help me. In Germany, not more
than a century ago, a natural instinct for what is
called " poetry " was awakened in some young men.
Are we to think that the generations who had lived
before that time had not spoken of the art, however
really strange and unnatural it may have been
to them? We know the contrary; that they had
thought, written, and quarrelled about it with all
their might—in "words, words, words. " Giving
life to such words did not prove the death of the
word-makers; in a certain sense they are living
still. For if, as Gibbon says, nothing but time—
though a long time—is needed for a world to
perish, so nothing but time—though still more
time—is needed for a false idea to be destroyed in
Germany, the "Land of Little-by-little. " In any
event, there are perhaps a hundred men more now
than there were a century ago who know what
poetry is: perhaps in another century there will be
a hundred more who have learned in the meantime
what culture is, and that the Germans have had
as yet no culture, however proudly they may talk
about it. The general satisfaction of the Germans
at their culture will seem as foolish and incredible
to such men as the once lauded classicism of
Gottsched, or the reputation of Ramler as the
German Pindar, seemed to us. They will perhaps
think this "culture" to be merely a kind of know-
## p. 91 (#123) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 91
ledge about culture, and a false and superficial
knowledge at that. False and superficial, because
the Germans endured the contradiction between
life and knowledge, and did not see what was
characteristic in the culture of really educated
peoples, that it can only rise and bloom from life.
But by the Germans it is worn like a paper flower,
or spread over like the icing on a cake; and so
must remain a useless lie for ever.
The education of youth in Germany starts from
this false and unfruitful idea of culture. Its aim,
when faced squarely, is not to form the liberally
educated man, but the professor, the man of science,
who wants to be able to make use of his science
as soon as possible, and stands on one side in order
to see life clearly. The result, even from a ruth-
lessly practical point of view, is the historically and
aesthetically trained Philistine, the babbler of old
saws and new wisdom on Church, State and Art,
the sensorium that receives a thousand impressions,
the insatiable belly that yet knows not what true
hunger and thirst is. An education with such an
aim and result is against nature. But only he who
is not quite drowned in it can feel that; only youth
can feel it, because it still has the instinct of nature,
that is the first to be broken by that education.
But he who will break through that education in
his turn, must come to the help of youth when
called upon; must let the clear light of under-
standing shine on its unconscious striving, and
bring it to a full, vocal consciousness. How is he
to attain such a strange end?
Principally by destroying the superstition that
## p. 92 (#124) #############################################
92 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
this kind of education is necessary. People think
nothing but this troublesome reality of ours is
possible. Look through the literature of higher
education in school and college for the last ten
years, and you will be astonished—and pained—
to find how much alike all the proposals of reform
have been; in spite of all the hesitations and violent
controversies surrounding them. You will see how
blindly they have all adopted the old idea of the
"educated man" (in our sense) being the necessary
and reasonable basis of the system. The mono-
tonous canon runs thus: the young man must
begin with a knowledge of culture, not even with a
knowledge of life, still less with life and the living
of it. This knowledge of culture is forced into the
young mind in the form of historical knowledge;
which means that his head is filled with an enormous
mass of ideas, taken second-hand from past times
and peoples, not from immediate contact with life.
He desires to experience something for himself, and
feel a close-knit, living system of experiences grow-
ing within himself. But his desire is drowned and
dizzied in the sea of shams, as if it were possible to
sum up in a few years the highest and notablest
experiences of ancient times, and the greatest times
too. It is the same mad method that carries our
young artists off to picture-galleries, instead of the
studio of a master, and above all the one studio
of the only master, Nature. As if one could dis-
cover by a hasty rush through history the ideas and
technique of past times, and their individual outlook
on life! For life itself is a kind of handicraft that
must be learned thoroughly and industriously, and
## p. 93 (#125) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 93
diligently practised, if we are not to have mere
botchers and babblers as the issue of it all!
Plato thought it necessary for the first generation
of his new society (in the perfect state) to be brought
up with the help of a "mighty lie. " The children
were to be taught to believe that they had all lain
dreaming for a long time under the earth, where
they had been moulded and formed by the master-
hand of Nature. It was impossible to go against
the past, and work against the work of gods! And
so it had to be an unbreakable law of nature, that
he who is born to be a philosopher has gold in his
body, the fighter has only silver, and the workman
iron and bronze. As it is not possible to blend
these metals, according to Plato, so there could
never be any confusion between the classes: the
belief in the (sterna Veritas of this arrangement was
the basis of the new education and the new state.
So the modern German believes also in the ceterna
Veritas of his education, of his kind of culture:
and yet this belief will fail—as the Platonic state
would have failed—if the mighty German lie be
ever opposed by the truth, that the German has no
culture because he cannot build one on the basis of
his education. He wishes for the flower without
the root or the stalk; and so he wishes in vain.
That is the simple truth, a rude and unpleasant
truth, but yet a mighty one.
But our first generation must be brought up in
this " mighty truth," and must suffer from it too;
for it must educate itself through it, even against
its own nature, to attain a new nature and manner
of life, which shall yet proceed from the old. So
## p. 94 (#126) #############################################
94 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
"Defienda me Dios de my," God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time:—" We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no "animal," but at most a
"cogital. " "Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it"—will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it—only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#127) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison; it is
not yet withered or dead—ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons:—the antidotes to history are the "un-
historical" and the "super-historical. " With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word "unhistorical" I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power "super-
historical" which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science—for it is science that makes us speak of
"poisons "—sees in these powers contrary powers:
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#128) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my,” God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time :-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it"-will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#129) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY.
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical" and the “super-historical. " With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power “super-
historical” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science—for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons"-sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#130) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my," God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time :-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it "-will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#131) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY.
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison ; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves !
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :-the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical” and the “super-historical. ” With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power “super-
historical” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science-for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons”-sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#132) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my," God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time:-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. " We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it ”—will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#133) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY,
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :—the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical ” and the "super-historical. " With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power,
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power "super-
historical ” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science—for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons”_sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 95 (#134) #############################################
94
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
it might say to itself, in the old Spanish phrase,
“Defienda me Dios de my,” God keep me from
myself, from the character, that is, which has been
put into me. It must taste that truth drop by drop,
like a bitter, powerful medicine. And every man
in this generation must subdue himself to pass the
judgment on his own nature, which he might pass
more easily on his whole time :-“We are without
instruction, nay, we are too corrupt to live, to see
and hear truly and simply, to understand what is
near and natural to us. We have not yet laid even
the foundations of culture, for we are not ourselves
convinced that we have a sincere life in us. ” We
crumble and fall asunder, our whole being is divided,
half mechanically, into an inner and outer side ;
we are sown with ideas as with dragon's teeth, and
bring forth a new dragon-brood of them; we suffer
from the malady of words, and have no trust in any
feeling that is not stamped with its special word.
And being such a dead fabric of words and ideas,
that yet has an uncanny movement in it, I have
still perhaps the right to say cogito ergo sum,
though not vivo ergo cogito. I am permitted the
empty esse, not the full green vivere. A primary
feeling tells me that I am a thinking being but not
a living one, that I am no “animal,” but at most a
“cogital. ” “Give me life, and I will soon make
you a culture out of it”—will be the cry of every
man in this new generation, and they will all know
each other by this cry. But who will give them
this life?
No god and no man will give it-only their own
youth. Set this free, and you will set life free as
## p. 95 (#135) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY,
95
well. For it only lay concealed, in a prison ; it is
not yet withered or dead-ask your own selves!
But it is sick, this life that is set free, and must
be healed. It suffers from many diseases, and not
only from the memory of its chains. It suffers
from the malady which I have spoken of, the
malady of history. Excess of history has attacked
the plastic power of life, that no more understands
how to use the past as a means of strength and
nourishment. It is a fearful disease, and yet, if
youth had not a natural gift for clear vision, no
one would see that it is a disease, and that a
paradise of health has been lost. But the same
youth, with that same natural instinct of health,
has guessed how the paradise can be regained.
It knows the magic herbs and simples for the
malady of history, and the excess of it. And
what are they called ?
It is no marvel that they bear the names of
poisons :—the antidotes to history are the “un-
historical ” and the “super-historical. ” With these
names we return to the beginning of our inquiry
and draw near to its final close.
By the word “unhistorical” I mean the power, !
the art of forgetting, and of drawing a limited
horizon round one's self. I call the power "super-
historical ” which turns the eyes from the process
of becoming to that which gives existence an
eternal and stable character, to art and religion.
Science-for it is science that makes us speak of
“poisons”_sees in these powers contrary powers :
for it considers only that view of things to be true
and right, and therefore scientific, which regards
## p. 96 (#136) #############################################
96 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
something as finished and historical, not as con-
tinuing and eternal. Thus it lives in a deep
antagonism towards the powers that make for
eternity—art and religion,—for it hates the forget-
fulness that is the death of knowledge, and tries
to remove all limitation of horizon and cast men
into an infinite boundless sea, whose waves are
bright with the clear knowledge—of becoming!
If they could only live therein! Just as towns
are shaken by an avalanche and become desolate,
and man builds his house there in fear and for a
season only; so life is broken in sunder and
becomes weak and spiritless, if the avalanche of
ideas started by science take from man the founda-
tion of his rest and security, the belief in what is
stable and eternal. Must life dominate knowledge,
or knowledge life? Which of the two is the
higher, and decisive power? There is no room
for doubt: life is the higher, and the dominating
power, for the knowledge that annihilated life
would be itself annihilated too. Knowledge pre-
supposes life, and has the same interest in main-
taining it that every creature has in its own pre-
servation. Science needs very careful watching:
there is a hygiene of life near the volumes of
science, and one of its sentences runs thus:—The
unhistorical and the super-historical are the natural
antidotes against the overpowering of life by
history; they are the cures for the historical
disease. We who are sick of the disease may
suffer a little from the antidote. But this is no
proof that the treatment we have chosen is wrong.
And here I see the mission of the youth that
## p. 97 (#137) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. 97
forms the first generation of fighters and dragon-
slayers: it will bring a more beautiful and blessed
humanity and culture, but will have itself no more
than a glimpse of the promised land of happiness
and wondrous beauty. This youth will suffer both
from the malady and its antidotes: and yet it
believes in strength and health and boasts a nature
closer to the great Nature than its forebears, the
cultured men and graybeards of the present. But
its mission is to shake to their foundations the
present conceptions of " health" and " culture," and
erect hatred and scorn in the place of this rococo
mass of ideas. And the clearest sign of its own
strength and health is just the fact that it can
use no idea, no party-cry from the present-day
mint of words and ideas to symbolise its own
existence: but only claims conviction from the
power in it that acts and fights, breaks up and
destroys; and from an ever heightened feeling of
life when the hour strikes. You may deny this
youth any culture—but how would youth count
that a reproach? You may speak of its rawness
and intemperateness—but it is not yet old and wise
enough to be acquiescent. It need not pretend to
a ready-made culture at all; but enjoys all the
rights—and the consolations—of youth, especially
the right of brave unthinking honesty and the con-
solation of arrinspiring hope.
I know that such hopeful beings understand all
these truisms from within, and can translate them
into a doctrine for their own use, through their
personal experience. To the others there will
appear, in the meantime, nothing but a row of
VOL. II. G
## p. 98 (#138) #############################################
98 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
covered dishes, that may perhaps seem empty:
until they see one day with astonished eyes that
the dishes are full, and that all ideas and impulses
and passions are massed together in these truisms
that cannot lie covered for long. I leave those
doubting ones to time, that brings all things «to
light; and turn at last to that great company of
hope, to tell them the way and the course of their
salvation, their rescue from the disease of history,
and their own history as well, in a parable; where-
by they may again become healthy enough to study
history anew, and under the guidance of life make
use of the past in that threefold way—monumental,
antiquarian, or critical. At first they will be more
ignorant than the "educated men" of the present:
for they will have unlearnt much and have lost any
desire even to discover what those educated men
especially wish to know: in fact, their chief mark
from the educated point of view will be just their
want of science; their indifference and inaccessi-
bility to all the good and famous things. But at
the end of the cure, they are men again and have
ceased to be mere shadows of humanity. That
is something; there is yet hope, and do not ye
who hope laugh in your hearts?
How can we reach that end? you will ask. The
Delphian god cries his oracle to you at the begin-
ning of your wanderings, "Know thyself. " It is a
hard saying: for that god "tells nothing and con-
ceals nothing but merely points the way," as
Heraclitus said. But whither does he point?
In certain epochs the Greeks were in a similar
danger of being overwhelmed by what was past
## p. 99 (#139) #############################################
THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY. QQ
and foreign, and perishing on the rock of " history. "
They never lived proud and untouched. Their
"culture" was for a long time a chaos of foreign
forms and ideas,—Semitic, Babylonian, Lydian and
Egyptian,—and their religion a battle of all the
gods of the East; just as German culture and
religion is at present a death-struggle of all foreign
nations and bygone times. And yet, Hellenic
culture was no mere mechanical unity, thanks to
that Delphic oracle. The Greeks gradually learned
to organise the chaos, by taking Apollo's advice
and thinking back to themselves, to their own true
necessities, and letting all the sham necessities
go. Thus they again came into possession of
themselves, and did not remain long the Epigoni
of the whole East, burdened with their inheritance.
After that hard fight, they increased and enriched
the treasure they had inherited by their obedience
to the oracle, and they became the ancestors and
models for all the cultured nations of the future. /
This is a parable for each one of us: he must
organise the chaos in himself by " thinking himself
back" to his true needs. He will want all his
honesty, all the sturdiness and sincerity in his
character to help him to revolt against second-
hand thought, second-hand learning, second-hand
action. And he will begin then to understand
that culture can be something more than a
"decoration of life "—a concealment and disfigur-
ing of it, in other words; for all adornment hides
what is adorned. And thus the Greek idea, as
against the Roman, will be discovered to him, the
idea of culture as a new and finer nature, without
## p. 100 (#140) ############################################
IOO THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
distinction of inner and outer, without convention
or disguise, as a unity of thought and will, life
and appearance. He will learn too, from his own
experience, that it was by a greater force of moral
character that the Greeks were victorious, and that
everything which makes for sincerity is a further
step towards true culture, however this sincerity
may harm the ideals of education that are rever-
enced at the time, or even have power to shatter
a whole system of merely decorative culture.
## p. 101 (#141) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS
EDUCATOR.
## p. 102 (#142) ############################################
## p. 103 (#143) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS
EDUCATOR.
i.
When the traveller, who had seen many countries
and nations and continents, was asked what common
attribute he had found everywhere existing among
men, he answered, " They have a tendency to sloth. "
Many may think that the fuller truth would have
been, " They are all timid. " They hide themselves
behind "manners" and "opinions. " At bottom
every man knows well enough that he is a unique
being, only once on this earth; and by no extra-
ordinary chance will such a marvellously picturesque
piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put to-
gether a second time. He knows this, but hides
it like an evil conscience;—and why? From fear
of his neighbour, who looks for the latest conven-
tionalities in him, and is wrapped up in them
himself. But what is it that forces the man to
fear his neighbour, to think and act with his herd,
and not seek his own joy? Shyness perhaps, in
a few rare cases, but in the majority it is idleness,
/*
## p. 104 (#144) ############################################
104 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
the " taking things easily," in a word the "tendency
to sloth," of which the traveller spoke. He was
right; men are more slothful than timid, and their
greatest fear is of the burdens that an uncom-
promising honesty and nakedness of speech and
action would lay on them. It is only the artists
who hate this lazy wandering in borrowed manners
and ill-fitting opinions, and discover the secret of
the evil conscience, the truth that each human
being is a unique marvel. They show us, how in
every little movement of his muscles the man is
an individual self, and further—as an analytical
deduction from his individuality—a beautiful and
interesting object, a new and incredible phenomenon
(as is every work of nature), that can never become
tedious. If the great thinker despise mankind, it
is for their laziness; they seem mere indifferent
bits of pottery, not worth any commerce or im-
provement. The man who will not belong to the
general mass, has only to stop "taking himself
easily"; to follow his conscience, which cries out
to him, "Be thyself! all that thou doest and
thinkest and desirest, is not—thyself! "
Every youthful soul hears this cry day and night,
and quivers to hear it; for she divines the sum
of happiness that has been from eternity destined
for her, if she think of her true deliverance; and
towards this happiness she can in no wise be
helped, so long as she lies in the chains of Opinion
and of Fear. And how comfortless and unmeaning
may life become without this deliverance! There
is no more desolate or Ishmaelitish creature in nature
than the man who has broken away from his true
## p. 105 (#145) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR. I05
genius, and does nothing but peer aimlessly about
him. There is no reason to attack such a man at
all, for he is a mere husk without a kernel, a
painted , cloth, tattered and sagging, a scarecrow
ghost, that can rouse no fear, and certainly no pity.
And though one be right in saying of a sluggard
that he is " killing time," yet in respect of an age
that rests its salvation on public opinion,—that is,
on private laziness,—one must be quite determined
that such a time shall be " killed," once and for all:
I mean that it shall be blotted from life's true
History of Liberty. Later generations will be
greatly disgusted, when they come to treat the move-
ments of a period in which no living men ruled,
but shadow-men on the screen of public opinion;
and to some far posterity our age may well be
the darkest chapter of history, the most unknown
because the least human. I have walked through
the new streets of our cities, and thought how of
all the dreadful houses that these gentlemen with
their public opinion have built for themselves, not
a stone will remain in a hundred years, and that
the opinions of these busy masons may well have
fallen with them. But how full of hope should
they all be who feel that they are no citizens of
this age! If they were, they would have to help
on the work of " killing their time," and of perish-
ing with it,—when they wish rather to quicken the
time to life, and in that life themselves to live.
But even if the future leave us nothing to hope
for, the wonderful fact of our existing at this
present moment of time gives us the greatest en-
couragement to live after our own rule and measure;
## p. 106 (#146) ############################################
106 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
so inexplicable is it, that we should be living just
to-day, though there have been an infinity of time
wherein we might have arisen; that we own
nothing but a span's length of it, this "to-day,"
and must show in it wherefore and whereunto we
have arisen. We have to answer for our existence
to ourselves; and will therefore be our own true
pilots, and not admit that our being resembles a
blind fortuity. One must take a rather impudent
and reckless way with the riddle; especially as the
key is apt to be lost, however things turn out. Why
cling to your bit of earth, or your little business,
or listen to what your neighbour says? It is so
provincial to bind oneself to views which are no
longer binding a couple of hundred miles away.
East and West are signs that somebody chalks up
in front of us to fool such cowards as we are. "I
will make the attempt to gain freedom," says the
youthful soul; and will be hindered, just because
two nations happen to hate each other and go to
war, or because there is a sea between two parts
of the earth, or a religion is taught in the vicinity,
which did not exist two thousand years ago. "And
this is not—thyself," the soul says. "No one can
build thee the bridge, over which thou must cross
the river of life, save thyself alone. There are paths
and bridges and demi-gods without number, that
will gladly carry thee over, but only at the price
of thine own self: thy self wouldst thou have to
give in pawn, and then lose it. There is in the
world one road whereon none may go, except thou:
ask not whither it lead, but go forward. Who was
it that spake that true word—' A man has never
## p. 107 (#147) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR. 107
risen higher than when he knoweth not whither his
road may yet lead him'? "
But how can we " find ourselves" again, and how
can man "know himself"? He is a thing obscure
and veiled: if the hare have seven skins, man can
cast from him seventy times seven, and yet will
not be able to say " Here art thou in very truth;
this is outer shell no more. " Also this digging
into one's self, this straight, violent descent into the
pit of one's being, is a troublesome and dangerous
business to start. A man may easily take such
hurt, that no physician can heal him. And again,
what were the use, since everything bears witness
to our essence,—our friendships and enmities, our
looks and greetings, our memories and forgetful-
nesses, our books and our writing! This is the
most effective way:—to let the youthful soul look
back on life with the question, " What hast thou
up to now truly loved, what has drawn thy soul
upward, mastered it and blessed it too? " Set up
these things that thou hast honoured before thee,
and, maybe, they will show thee, in their being
and their order, a law which is the fundamental
law of thine own self. Compare these objects,
consider how one completes and broadens and
transcends and explains another, how they form
a ladder on which thou hast all the time been
climbing to thy self: for thy true being lies not
deeply hidden in thee, but an infinite height above
thee, or at least above that which thou dost
commonly take to be thyself. The true educators
and moulders reveal to thee the real groundwork
and import of thy being, something that in itself
## p. 108 (#148) ############################################
108 THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
cannot be moulded or educated, but is anyhow
difficult of approach, bound and crippled: thy
educators can be nothing but thy deliverers. And
that is the secret of all culture: it does not give
artificial limbs, wax noses, or spectacles for the
eyes—a thing that could buy such gifts is but
the base coin of education. But it is rather a libera-
tion, a removal of all the weeds and rubbish and
vermin that attack the delicate shoots, the stream-
ing forth of light and warmth, the tender dropping
of the night rain; it is the following and the
adoring of Nature when she is pitifully-minded as
a mother;—her completion, when it bends before
her fierce and ruthless blasts and turns them to
good, and draws a veil over all expression of her
tragic unreason—for she is a step-mother too,
sometimes.
There are other means of "finding ourselves," of
coming to ourselves out of the confusion wherein
we all wander as in a dreary cloud; but I know
none better than to think on our educators. So
I will to-day take as my theme the hard teacher
Arthur Schopenhauer, and speak of others later.
II.
In order to describe properly what an event my
first look into Schopenhauer's writings was for me, I
must dwell for a minute on an idea, that recurred
more constantly in my youth, and touched me more
nearly, than any other. I wandered then as I
pleased in a world of wishes, and thought that
## p. 109 (#149) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR. 109
destiny would relieve me of the dreadful and
wearisome duty of educating myself: some philo-
sopher would come at the right moment to do it
for me,—some true philosopher, who could be
obeyed without further question, as he would be
trusted more than one's self. Then I said within
me: "What would be the principles, on which he
might teach thee? " And I pondered in my mind
what he would say to the two maxims of education
that hold the field in our time. The first demands
that the teacher should find out at once the strong
point in his pupil, and then direct all his skill and
will, all the moisture and all the sunshine, to bring
the fruit of that single virtue to maturity. The
second requires him to raise to a higher power all
the qualities that already exist, cherish them and
bring them into a harmonious relation. But, we
may ask, should one who has a decided talent for
working in gold be made for that reason to learn
music? And can we admit that Benvenuto
Cellini's father was right in continually forcing
him back to the "dear little horn "—the "cursed
piping," as his son called it? We cannot think so
in the case of such a strong and clearly marked
talent as his, and it may well be that this maxim
of harmonious development applies only to weaker
natures, in which there is a whole swarm of desires
and inclinations, though they may not amount to
very much, singly or together. On the other hand,
where do we find such a blending of harmoni-
ous voices—nay, the soul of harmony itself—as we
see in natures like Cellini's, where everything—
knowledge, desire, love and hate—tends towards a
## p. 109 (#150) ############################################
108
THOUGHTS OUT OF SEASON.
cannot be moulded or educated, but is anyhow
difficult of approach, bound and crippled: thy
educators can be nothing but thy deliverers. And
that is the secret of all culture: it does not give
artificial limbs, wax noses, or spectacles for the
eyes—a thing that could buy such gifts is but
the base coin of education. But it is rather a libera-
tion, a removal of all the weeds and rubbish and
vermin that attack the delicate shoots, the stream-
ing forth of light and warmth, the tender dropping
of the night rain; it is the following and the
adoring of Nature when she is pitifully-minded as
a mother ;-her completion, when it bends before
her fierce and ruthless blasts and turns them to
good, and draws a veil over all expression of her
tragic unreason—for she is a step-mother too,
sometimes.
There are other means of “finding ourselves,” of
coming to ourselves out of the confusion wherein
we all wander as in a dreary cloud; but I know
none better than to think on our educators. So
I will to-day take as my theme the hard teacher
Arthur Schopenhauer, and speak of others later.
II.
In order to describe properly what an event my
first look into Schopenhauer's writings was for me, I
must dwell for a minute on an idea, that recurred
more constantly in my youth, and touched me more
nearly, than any other. I wandered then as I
pleased in a world of wishes, and thought that
## p. 109 (#151) ############################################
SCHOPENHAUER AS EDUCATOR.
destiny would relieve me of the dreadful and
wearisome duty of educating myself: some philo-
sopher would come at the right moment to do it
for me,-some true philosopher, who could be
obeyed without further question, as he would be
trusted more than one's self. Then I said within
me: “What would be the principles, on which he
might teach thee?
