The future : they see that they are heavily paid
for Theirs the muddiest kind of spirit
?
for Theirs the muddiest kind of spirit
?
Nietzsche - Works - v14 - Will to Power - a
But that
precisely is the essential feature of Christi
The reality which Christianity was able
build up its power consisted the small dispersed Jewish families, with their warmth, tenderness, and peculiar readiness help, which, the whole
the Roman Empire, was perhaps the most incom
being "chosen people," concealed beneath
cloak humility, and by their secret denial all that was uppermost and that possessed power
and splendour, although there was no shade envy their denial. To have recognised this
power, have regarded this blessed state com
pagans
genius: use up the treasure latent energy and cautious happiness for the purposes "a Jewish Church free confession," and avail himself all the Jewish experience, their propa ganda, and their expertness the preservation
community under foreign power--this what
he conceived be his duty. He was who
discovered that absolutely unpolitical and isolated body paltry people, and their art asserting
themselves and pushing themselves the front,
by means host acquired virtues which are VOL. K
prehensible
? and least familiar their character istics; they were also united by their pride
municable, seductive,
and infectious even where were concerned--this constituted Paul's
? ? I.
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? 146
THE WILL TO POWER.
made to represent the only forms of virtue ("the self-preservative measure and weapon of success
of a certain class of man").
The principle of love comes from the small community of Jewish people: a very passionate
soul glows here, beneath the ashes of humility and
wretchedness: it is neither Greek, Indian, nor
German. The song in praise of love which Paul
wrote is not Christian; it is the Jewish flare of that
eternal flame which is Semitic. If Christianity has done anything essentially new in a psychological
sense, it is this, that it has increased the temperature of the soul among those cooler and more noble
races who were at that time at the head of affairs; it discovered that the most wretched life could be
made rich and invaluable, by means of an eleva tion of the temperature of the soul. . . .
It is easily understood that a transfer of this sort
could not take place among the ruling classes: the
Jews and Christians were at a disadvantage owing
to their bad manners--spiritual strength and
passion, when accompanied by bad manners, only
? provoke loathing
(I become aware of these bad
manners while reading the New Testament). It
was necessary to be related both in baseness and
sorrow with this type of lower manhood in order
to feel anything attractive in him. . . . The atti
tude a man maintains towards the New Testament
is a test of the amount of classical taste he may have in him (see Tacitus); he who is not revolted by who does not feel honestly and deeply that the presence sort faeda superstitio when reading and who does not draw
? ? it,
he he is
in
of a
of
it,
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I47
his hand back so as not to soil his fingers--such a man does not know what is classical. A man
must feel about "the cross" as Goethe did. "
176.
The reaction of paltry people --Love provides
the feeling of highest power. It should be under stood to what extent, not man in general, but only a certain kind of man is speaking here.
"We are godly in love, we shall be "the children of God"; God loves us and wants nothing from us save love"; that is to say: all morality, obedi ence, and action, do not produce the same feeling
of power and freedom as love does;--a man does
nothing wicked from sheer love, but he does much
more than if he were prompted by obedience and virtue alone.
Here is the happiness of the herd, the communal feeling in big things as in small, the living senti
ment of unity felt as the sum of the feeling of life. Helping, caring for, and being useful, constantly
kindle the feeling of power; visible success, the
* Vieles kann ich ertragen. Die meisten beschwerlichen , Dinge
? Duld' ich mit ruhigem Mut, wie es ein Gott mir gebeut. Wenige sind mir jedoch wie Gift und Schlange zuwider;
Viere: Rauch des Tabaks, Wanzen, und Knoblauch und *. Goethe's Venetian Epigrams, No. 67.
Much can I bear. Things the most irksome
I endure with such patience as comes from a god. Four things, however, repulse me like venom --
Tobacco smoke, garlic, bugs, and the cross. --(TRANSLATOR's NoTE. )
? ? ? 148
THE WILL TO POWER.
expression of pleasure, emphasise the feeling of power; pride is not lacking either, it is felt in the
form of the community, the House of God, and the "chosen people. "
As a matter of fact, man has once more experi enced an "alte? ration" of his personality: this time he called his feeling of love--God. The awaken
ing of such a feeling must be pictured; it is a sort of ecstasy, a strange language, a "Gospel"--it was this newness which did not allow man to attribute
love to himself--he thought it was God leading
him on and taking shape in his heart. "God
descends among men," one's neighbour is trans
figured and becomes a God (in so far as he provokes
the sentiment of love). Jesus is the neighbour, the moment He is transfigured in thought into a God,
and into a cause provoking the feeling of power.
177.
Believers are aware that they owe an infinite
amount to Christianity, and therefore conclude that its Founder must have been a man of the
first rank. . . . This conclusion is false, but it is typical of the reverents. Regarded objectively, it the first place, just possible that they are
mistaken concerning the extent their debt Christianity: man's convictions prove nothing concerning the thing he convinced about, and
religions they are more likely give rise
suspicions. debt owing Founder
? Secondly, possible Christianity not due its
that the all, but the whole structure, the
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I49
whole thing--to the Church, etc. The notion
"Founder" is so very equivocal, that it may stand even for the accidental cause of a movement:
the person of the Founder has been inflated in proportion as the Church has grown: but even this process of veneration allows of the conclusion that, at one time or other, this Founder was some thing exceedingly
insecure and doubtful--in the
beginning. . . . Let any one think of the free and
easy way in which Paul treats the problem of the personality of Jesus, how he almost juggles with
it: some one who died, who was seen after His
death, -some one whom the Jews delivered up to
death--all this was only the theme--Paul wrote the music to it.
178.
The founder of a religion may be quite insignifi cant--a wax vesta and no more !
I 79.
Concerning the psychological problem of Christi
anity. -- The driving forces are : resentment,
popular insurrection, the revolt of the bungled and
the botched. (In Buddhism it is different: it #) not born of resentment. It rather combats resent
ment because the latter leads to action. )
This party, which stands for freedom, under stands that the abandonment of antagonism in thought and deed is a condition of distinction and
preservation. Here lies the psychological difficulty which has stood in the way of Christianity being
? ? ? ? I5o
THE WILL TO POWER.
understood: the force which created struggle against itself.
urges
Only party standing for peace and innocence
can this insurrectionary movement hope be
successful: must conquer by means excessive mildness, sweetness, softness, and its instincts are
aware this. The feat was deny and con demn the force, which man the expression, and press the reverse that force continually
the fore, by word and deed.
8O.
The pretence youthfulness. --It mistake imagine that, with Christianity, an ingenuous and youthful people rose against old culture;
the story goes that was out the lowest levels
society, where Christianity flourished and shot
its roots, that the more profound source life
gushed forth afresh: but nothing can under stood the psychology Christianity, be
? supposed that youth among strength race.
was the expression revived
the diseases another
absence
the nerves seem give one rendezvous in this crowd -- the
known duty, the feeling that every
people,
the resuscitated
rather typical form moral-softening and hysteria,
decadence,
amid general hotch-potch races and people that had lost all aims and had grown weary and sick. The wonderful company which gathered round this master-seducer the populace, would not be all out place Russian novel: all
? ? of at a a
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I5I
thing is nearing its end, that nothing is any longer
worth while, and that contentment lies in dolce far niente.
The power and certainty of the future in the
Jew's instinct, its monstrous will for life and for power, lies in its ruling classes; the people who
are best dis this exhausted condition of their instincts. On the one hand, they are sick of every thing; on the other, they are content with each
upheld primitive Christianity
tinguished by
other, with themselves and for themselves.
\
Christianity regarded as emancipated Judaism (just as a nobility which is both racial and in
? digenous ultimately emancipates
I 81.
itself from these conditions, and goes in search of kindred
elements. . .
(1) As Church (community) on the territory
the State, an unpolitical institution.
(2) As life, breeding, practice, art living.
(3) As religion of sin (sin committed against God, being the only recognised kind, and the only
cause all suffering), with universal cure for There no sin save against God; what done against men, man shall not sit judgment upon,
nor call account, except the name God. At the same time, all commandments (love): everything associated with God, and all acts are performed according
God's will. Beneath this arrangement there lies exceptional intelligence
very narrow life, such that led the
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? 152
THE WILL TO POWER.
Esquimaux, can only be endured by most peaceful
and indulgent people: the Judaeo-Christian dogma turns against sin in favour of the "sinner").
I 82.
The Jewish priesthood understood how to present everything it claimed to be right as a
divine precept, as an act of obedience to God, and also to introduce all those things which conduced to preserve Israel and were the conditions of its existence (for instance: the large number of "works": circumcision and the cult of sacrifices, as the very pivot of the national conscience), not as Nature, but as God.
This process continued, within the very heart of
Judaism, where the need of these "works" was not felt (that is to say, as a means of keeping a race distinct), a priestly sort of man was pictured, whose
bearing towards the aristocracy was like that of "noble nature"; a spontaneous and non-caste
sacerdotalism of the soul, which now, in order to throw opposite into strong relief, attaches value, not the "dutiful acts" themselves, but the sentiment.
At bottom, the problem was once again, how
make certain kind soul prevail: was also
popular insurrection the midst priestly people--a pietistic movement coming from below
(sinners, publicans, women, and children). Jesus
Nazareth was the symbol their sect. And again, order believe themselves, they were
? theological transfiguration: they require nothing less than "the Son God"
need
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I53
order to create a belief for themselves. And just .
as the priesthood had falsified the whole history of Israel, another attempt was made, here, to alter
and falsify the whole history of mankind in such a way as to make Christianity seem like the most
important event it contained. This movement could have originated only upon the soil of Judaism,
the main feature of which was the confounding of
guilt with sorrow and the reduction of all sin to sin against God. Of all this, Christianity is the
second degree of power.
I83.
The symbolism of Christianity is based upon
that of Judaism, which had already transfigured
all reality (history, Nature) into a holy and artificial unreality--which refused to recognise
real history, and which showed no more interest in a natural course of things.
I84.
The Jews made the attempt to prevail, after two of their castes--the warrior and the agri cultural castes, had disappeared from their midst.
In this sense they are the "castrated people": they have their priests and then--their Chandala. .
How easily a disturbance occurs among them-- an insurrection of their Chandala. This was the
origin of Christianity.
Owing to the fact that they had no knowledge of
warriors except as their masters, they introduced
\
? ? ? ? I54
THE WILL TO POWER.
enmity towards the nobles, the men of honour, pride, and power, and the ruling classes, into their religion: they are pessimists from indignation. . . .
Thus they created a very important and novel position: the priests in the van of the Chandala --against the noble classes. . . .
Christianity was the logical conclusion of this movement: even in the Jewish priesthood, it still scented the existence of the caste, of the privileged
and noble minority--it therefore did away with priests.
Christ is the unit of the Chandala who removes
the priest . . . the Chandala who redeems himself. . . .
That is why the French Revolution is the lineal descendant and the continuator of Christianity-- it is characterised by an instinct of hate towards castes, nobles, and the last privileges.
185.
The "Christian Ideal" put on the stage with Jewish astuteness -- these are the fundamental
psychological forces of "nature":--
Revolt against the ruling spiritual powers;
? make those virtues which facili the lowly, standard all call God that which no more than the self-preservative instinct that
The attempt tate the happiness values--in fact,
class man possessed least vitality;
Obedience and absolute abstention from war
and resistance, justified by this ideal;
? ? of
of
a
to
to of
its
of is of
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I55
The love of one another as a result of the love of God.
The trick : The denial of all natural mobilia, and their transference to the spiritual world beyond . . . the exploitation of virtue and its veneration for wholly interested motives, gradual denial of virtue in everything that is not Christian.
I 86.
The profound contempt with which the Christian
was treated by the noble people of antiquity, is of
the same order as the present instinctive aversion
to Jews: it is the hatred which free and self
? respecting
classes feel towards those who wish to
creep in secretly, and who combine an awkward bearing with foolish self-sufficiency.
The New Testament is the gospel of a com pletely ignoble species of man; its pretensions to
highest values--yea, to all values, fact, revolting--even nowadays.
187.
How little the subject matters!
which gives the thing life What
matter
the spirit quantity
stuffy and sick-room air there all that chattet about "redemption," "love," "blessedness," "faith,"
"truth," "eternal life"! Let any one look into really pagan book and compare the two; for in
stance, Petronius, nothing all done, said, desired, and valued, which, according bigoted Christian estimate, not sin, even deadly sin. And yet how happy one feels with the purer air, the
? ? is
or
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is in
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? 156
THE WILL TO POWER.
superiorintellectuality, the quicker pace, and the free
overflowing strength which is certain of the future I In the whole of the New Testament there is not
one bouffonnerie: but that fact alone would suffice to refute any book. . . .
I 88.
The profound lack of dignity with which all life,
which is not Christian, is condemned: it does not
suffice them to think meanly of their actual oppon
ents, they cannot do with less than a general
slander of everything that is not themselves. . . .
An abject and crafty soul is in the most perfect harmony with the arrogance of piety, as witness
the early Christians.
The future : they see that they are heavily paid
for Theirs the muddiest kind of spirit
? arranged confirm the prophecies the Scriptures:
that exists. The whole Christ's life
He behaves suchwise order that they may be right.
189.
The deceptive interpretation the words, the doings, and the condition dying people; the natural fear death, for instance, systematically confounded with the supposed fear what happen "after death. "
I90.
The Christians have done exactly what the Jews did before them. They introduced what they
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I57
thing necessary to self-preservation into their Master's
teaching, and wove His life into They likewise credited Him with all the wisdom of maker of
proverbs--in short, they represented their every day life and activity act obedience, and
thus sanctified their propaganda.
What all depends upon, may gathered
from Paul: not much. What remains the development type saint, out the values which these people regarded saintly.
The whole the "doctrine miracles," in cluding the resurrection, the result self
conceived to be an innovation and a
? glorification
ascribed itself, but
the part the community, which
its Master those qualities ascribed higher degree (or, better still,
derived strength from Him.
The Christians have never led the life which
Jesus commanded them lead, and the impudent fable the "justification by faith," and its unique
and transcendental significance, only the result the Church's lack courage and will acknow
ledging those "works" which Jesus commanded. The Buddhist behaves differently from the non
Buddhist;
the world does, and possesses Christianity
but the Christian behaves all the rest
ceremonies and states of the soul.
The profound and contemptible falsehood
Christianity Europe makes deserve the con tempt the Arabs, Hindoos, and Chinese.
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? 158
THE WILL TO POWER.
Let any one listen to the words of the first German statesman, concerning that which has preoccupied Europe for the last forty years.
I 92.
"Faith" or "works"? --But that the "works," the habit of particular works may engender a certain set of values or thoughts, is just as natural as it would be unnatural for "works" to proceed from mere valuations. Man must practise, not how to strengthen feelings of value, but how to strengthen action: first of all, one must be able to do some thing. . . . Luther's Christian Dilettantism. Faith is an asses' bridge. The background consists of a profound conviction on the part of Luther and his peers, that they are unable to accomplish Christian "works," a personal fact, disguised under an extreme doubt as to whether all action
is not sin and devil's work, so that the worth of life depends upon isolated and highly-strained conditions of inactivity (prayer, effusion, etc. ). -- Ultimately, Luther would be right: the instincts which are expressed by the whole bearing of the
? Only in turning absolutely away from themselves, and in becoming absorbed in the opposite of themselves,
reformers are the most brutal that exist.
only by
existence endurable to them.
means of an illusion ("faith") was
I93.
"What was to be done in order to believe? "--
an absurd question. That which is wrong with
? ? ? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I59
Christianity that does none the things that Christ commanded.
contempt.
mean life, but seen through the eye
I94.
The entrance into the real life--a man saves his own life living the life the multitude.
95.
Christianity has become something fundament
ally different from what its Founder wished
be. the great anti-pagan movement anti
quity, formulated with the use the life, teaching,
and "words" the Founder Christianity, but
? interpreted quite arbitrarily, according
scheme
embodying profoundly different needs: translated
into the language all the subterranean religions then existing.
the rise Pessimism (whereas Jesus wished bring the peace and the happiness
the lambs): and moreover the Pessimism the weak, the inferior, the suffering, and the
oppressed.
Its mortal enemies are (1) Power, whether the form character, intellect, taste, and
"worldliness"; (2) the "good cheer" classical times, the noble levity and scepticism, hard pride,
eccentric dissipation, and cold frugality the sage,
Greek refinement manners, words, and form.
Its mortal enemy much the Roman the Greek.
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? 16O THE WILL TO POWER.
The attempt on the part of anti-paganism to
establish itself on a philosophical basis, and to
make tenets possible: shows taste for the ambiguous figures antique culture, and above
all for Plato, who was, more than any other, an
anti-Hellene and Semite instinct. shows taste for Stoicism, which
also essentially
("dignity"
severity, law; virtue held be greatness, self
the work Semites
regarded
responsibility, authority, greatest sovereignty oneself--this Semitic. The Stoic an Arabian
over sheik wrapped Greek togas and notions.
? 196.
Christianity only resumes the fight which had
already been begun against the classical ideal and noble religion.
As matter fact, the whole process
transformation only an adaptation
needs and
masses then
believed
"great mother," and which demanded the follow
ing things religion: (1) hopes beyond,
(2) the bloody phantasmagoria animal sacrifice (the mystery), (3) holy legend and the redeeming
the
community.
increasing anti-pagan tendency--those
Epicurus combated,-- more exactly, those
intelligence
the religious
the level
existing:--those masses
which Isis, Mithras, Dionysos, and the
the world, super hierarchy part
short, Christianity everywhere fitted the already prevailing and
deed, (4) asceticism, denial stitious "purification," (5)
cults which
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION. * I6I
religions proper to the lower herd, women, slaves,
and ignoble classes.
The misunderstandings are therefore the
following:--
(1) The immortality of the individual;
(2) The assumed existence of another world;
(3) The absurd notion of punishment and expiation in the heart of the interpretation of existence;
(4) The profanation of the divine nature of
man, instead of its accentuation, and the con
struction of a very profound chasm, which can
only be crossed by the help of a miracle or by means of the most thorough self-contempt;
(5) The whole world of corrupted imagination
and morbid passion, instead of a simple and
loving life of action, instead of Buddhistic happiness attainable on earth;
? priesthood, theology, cults, and sacraments; in short, every
(6) An ecclesiastical order with a
thing that Jesus of Nazareth combated;
(7) The miraculous in everything and every body, superstition too: while precisely the trait
which distinguished Judaism and primitive Christianity was their repugnance to miracles and their relative rationalism.
I97.
The psychological pre-requisites:--Ignorance and lack of culture,--the sort of ignorance which has un
learned every kind of shame: let any one imagine
those impudent saints in the heart of Athens; VOL. I. L
? ? ? I62 THE WILL TO POWER.
The Jewish instinct of a chosen people: they appropriate all the virtues, without further ado,
as their own, and regard the rest of the world as their opposite; this is a profound sign of spiritual depravity;
The total lack of real aims and real duties, for which other virtues are required than those of the
State undertook this work for them: and the impudent people still behaved as though they had no need of the State. "Except ye become as little children"--oh, how far we are from this psychological ingenuousness!
I98.
The Founder of Christianity had to pay dearly
for having directed His teaching at the lowest classes of Jewish society and intelligence. They
understood Him only according to the limitations of their own spirit. . . . It was a disgrace to concoct a history of salvation, a personal God, a personal Saviour, a personal immortality, and to have
retained all the meanness of the "person," and of the "history" of a doctrine which denies the reality of all that is personal and historical.
The legend of salvation takes the place of the symbolic "now" and "all time," of the symbolic
"here" and "everywhere"; and miracles appear instead of the psychological symbol.
I 99.
Nothing is less innocent than the New Testa ment. The soil from which it sprang is known.
bigot--the
? ? ? ? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
163
These people, possessed of an inflexible will to assert themselves, and who, once they had lost
natural hold on life, and had long existed without any right existence, still knew how
prevail by means hypotheses which were unnatural they were imaginary (calling them
selves the chosen people, the community saints, the people the promised land, and the
"Church"): these people made use their pia fraus with such skill, and with such "clean
consciences,"
when they preach morality. When Jews step forward the personification innocence, the danger must great. While reading the New Testament man should have his small fund of intelligence, mistrust, and wickedness constantly at hand.
People the lowest origin, partly mob, out casts not only from good society, but also from
that one cannot be too cautious
? respectable society; grown away
atmosphere culture, and free from discipline; ignorant, without even suspicion the fact that
spiritual matters; word--the Jews: an instinctively crafty people,
able create an advantage, means seduction out every conceivable hypothesis superstition,
even out ignorance itself.
2OO.
conscience can also rule
regard Christianity
seductive lie that has ever yet existed--as the greatest and most impious lie: can discern the
the most fatal and
from the
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? 164
THE WILL TO POWER.
last sprouts and branches of its ideal beneath every form of disguise, I decline to enter into any compromise or false position in reference to it-- I urge people to declare open war with
The morality paltry people the measure all things: this the most repugnant kind
degeneracy that civilisation has ever yet brought
However modest one's demands may be concerning intellectual cleanliness, when one
into existence. And this kind ideal
still, under the name "God," over men's heads
2O I.
help experiencing sort inexpressible feeling dis
touches the New Testament one cannot
comfort;
the least qualified people will have their say
its pages, regard the greatest problems
existence, and claim sit judgment on
such matters, exceeds limits. The impudent levity with which the most unwieldy problems
are spoken here (life, the world, God, the purpose life), they were not problems
all, but the most simple things which these little bigots know all about ! ! !
2O2.
This was the most fatal form insanity that has ever yet existed on earth:--when these little lying abortions bigotry begin laying claim
the words "God," "last judgment," "truth,"
for the unbounded cheek with which
hanging
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
"love,33 go wisdom," "Holy Spirit," and thereby
the salt, the standard, and the measure of all
persecute them was an egregious act of antique folly: this was taking them too seriously; it was
making them serious.
The whole fatality was made possible by the
fact that a similar form of megalomania was
already in existence, the Jewish form (once the
gulf separating the Jews from the Christian-Jews
was bridged, the Christian-Jews were compelled to employ those self-preservative measures afresh
which were discovered by the Jewish instinct, for their own self-preservation, after having accent
uated them); and again through the fact that Greek moral philosophy had done everything
that could be done to prepare the way for moral-fanaticism, even among Greeks and Romans,
and to render it palatable. . . . Plato, the great importer of corruption, who was the first
who refused to see Nature in morality, and who had already deprived the Greek gods of all their worth by his notion "good," was already tainted with Jewish bigotry (in Egypt? ).
2O3.
These small virtues of gregarious animals do not by any means lead to "eternal life": to put
distinguishing
themselves from the rest of the world; when such men begin to transvalue values to suit themselves, as though they were the sense,
things;
then all that one should do is this: build lunatic asylums for their incarceration. To
165
? ? ? ? I66 THE WILL TO POWER.
them on the stage in such a way, and oneself
with them is perhaps very smart; but to him who keeps his eyes open, even here, it remains, in spite
of all, the most ludicrous performance. A man by no means deserves privileges, either on earth or
in heaven, because he happens to have attained to perfection in the art of behaving like a good
natured little sheep; at best, he only remains a dear, absurd little ram with horns--provided, of
course, he does not burst with vanity or excite indignation by assuming the airs of a supreme
judge.
What a terrible glow of false colouring here
floods the meanest virtues--as though they were
the reflection of divine qualities !
The natural purpose and utility of every
virtue is systematically hushed up; it can only be valuable in the light of a divine command or model, or in the light of the good which belongs
to a beyond-or a spiritual world. (This is
magnificent! question
As if it were a of
the salvation of the soul: but it was a means of making things bearable here with as many beautiful sentiments as possible. )
2O4.
? The law, which is the fundamentally realistic formula of certain self-preservative measures of a community, forbids certain actions that have a definite tendency to jeopardise the welfare of that community: it does not forbid the attitude of mind
which gives rise to these actions--for in the pur
? ? ? CRITICISM OF RELIGION,
167
suit of other ends the community requires these forbidden actions, namely, when it is a matter of
opposing
its enemies. The moral idealist now
steps forward and says: "God sees into men's
hearts: the action itself counts for nothing; the
reprehensible attitude of mind from which it pro
ceeds must be extirpated. . . . " In normal
conditions men laugh at such things; it is only
in exceptional cases, when a community lives quite beyond the need of waging war in order to main
tain itself, that an ear is lent to such things. Any
attitude of mind is abandoned, the utility of which cannot be conceived.
This was the case, for example, when Buddha appeared among a people that was both peaceable
and afflicted with great intellectual weariness. This was also the case in regard to the first Christian community (as also the Jewish), the
primary condition of which was the absolutely unpolitical Jewish society. Christianity could grow
only upon the soil of Judaism--that is to say,
among a people that had already renounced the political life, and which led a sort of parasitic
existence within the Roman sphere of government, Christianity goes a step farther: it allows men to "emasculate" themselves even more ; the circum stances actually favour their doing so. --Nature is expelled from morality when it is said, "Love ye
your enemies": for Nature's injunction, "Ye shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy," has
now become senseless in the law (in instinct); now, even the love a man feels for his neighbour must first be based upon something (a sort of love
? ? ? ? I68 THE WILL TO POWER.
of God). God is introduced everywhere, and utility is withdrawn; the natural origin of morality
is denied everywhere: the veneration of Nature, which lies in acknowledging a natural morality, is
destroyed to the roots. . . .
Whence comes the seductive charm of this
emasculate ideal of man? Why are we not disgusted by just we are disgusted the thought eunuch The answer obvious: not the
voice the eunuch that revolts us, despite the cruel mutilation which the result; for, matter fact, has grown sweeter. And owing the very fact that the "male organ" has
been amputated from virtue, voice now has feminine ring, which, formerly, was not be
discerned.
On the other hand, we have only think the terrible hardness, dangers, and accidents
which life manly virtues leads--the life Corsican, even the present day, that
heathen Arab (which resembles the Corsican's life
even the smallest detail: the Arab's songs might
have been written by Corsicans)--in order
perceive how the most robust type man was
fascinated and moved by the voluptuous ring this "goodness" and "purity. " pastoral
melody an idyll the "good man": such
things have most effect ages when tragedy abroad.
With this, we have realised what extent the "idealist" (the ideal eunuch) also proceeds from
? ? ? sk
in .
it is
to . . .
precisely is the essential feature of Christi
The reality which Christianity was able
build up its power consisted the small dispersed Jewish families, with their warmth, tenderness, and peculiar readiness help, which, the whole
the Roman Empire, was perhaps the most incom
being "chosen people," concealed beneath
cloak humility, and by their secret denial all that was uppermost and that possessed power
and splendour, although there was no shade envy their denial. To have recognised this
power, have regarded this blessed state com
pagans
genius: use up the treasure latent energy and cautious happiness for the purposes "a Jewish Church free confession," and avail himself all the Jewish experience, their propa ganda, and their expertness the preservation
community under foreign power--this what
he conceived be his duty. He was who
discovered that absolutely unpolitical and isolated body paltry people, and their art asserting
themselves and pushing themselves the front,
by means host acquired virtues which are VOL. K
prehensible
? and least familiar their character istics; they were also united by their pride
municable, seductive,
and infectious even where were concerned--this constituted Paul's
? ? I.
of
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? 146
THE WILL TO POWER.
made to represent the only forms of virtue ("the self-preservative measure and weapon of success
of a certain class of man").
The principle of love comes from the small community of Jewish people: a very passionate
soul glows here, beneath the ashes of humility and
wretchedness: it is neither Greek, Indian, nor
German. The song in praise of love which Paul
wrote is not Christian; it is the Jewish flare of that
eternal flame which is Semitic. If Christianity has done anything essentially new in a psychological
sense, it is this, that it has increased the temperature of the soul among those cooler and more noble
races who were at that time at the head of affairs; it discovered that the most wretched life could be
made rich and invaluable, by means of an eleva tion of the temperature of the soul. . . .
It is easily understood that a transfer of this sort
could not take place among the ruling classes: the
Jews and Christians were at a disadvantage owing
to their bad manners--spiritual strength and
passion, when accompanied by bad manners, only
? provoke loathing
(I become aware of these bad
manners while reading the New Testament). It
was necessary to be related both in baseness and
sorrow with this type of lower manhood in order
to feel anything attractive in him. . . . The atti
tude a man maintains towards the New Testament
is a test of the amount of classical taste he may have in him (see Tacitus); he who is not revolted by who does not feel honestly and deeply that the presence sort faeda superstitio when reading and who does not draw
? ? it,
he he is
in
of a
of
it,
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I47
his hand back so as not to soil his fingers--such a man does not know what is classical. A man
must feel about "the cross" as Goethe did. "
176.
The reaction of paltry people --Love provides
the feeling of highest power. It should be under stood to what extent, not man in general, but only a certain kind of man is speaking here.
"We are godly in love, we shall be "the children of God"; God loves us and wants nothing from us save love"; that is to say: all morality, obedi ence, and action, do not produce the same feeling
of power and freedom as love does;--a man does
nothing wicked from sheer love, but he does much
more than if he were prompted by obedience and virtue alone.
Here is the happiness of the herd, the communal feeling in big things as in small, the living senti
ment of unity felt as the sum of the feeling of life. Helping, caring for, and being useful, constantly
kindle the feeling of power; visible success, the
* Vieles kann ich ertragen. Die meisten beschwerlichen , Dinge
? Duld' ich mit ruhigem Mut, wie es ein Gott mir gebeut. Wenige sind mir jedoch wie Gift und Schlange zuwider;
Viere: Rauch des Tabaks, Wanzen, und Knoblauch und *. Goethe's Venetian Epigrams, No. 67.
Much can I bear. Things the most irksome
I endure with such patience as comes from a god. Four things, however, repulse me like venom --
Tobacco smoke, garlic, bugs, and the cross. --(TRANSLATOR's NoTE. )
? ? ? 148
THE WILL TO POWER.
expression of pleasure, emphasise the feeling of power; pride is not lacking either, it is felt in the
form of the community, the House of God, and the "chosen people. "
As a matter of fact, man has once more experi enced an "alte? ration" of his personality: this time he called his feeling of love--God. The awaken
ing of such a feeling must be pictured; it is a sort of ecstasy, a strange language, a "Gospel"--it was this newness which did not allow man to attribute
love to himself--he thought it was God leading
him on and taking shape in his heart. "God
descends among men," one's neighbour is trans
figured and becomes a God (in so far as he provokes
the sentiment of love). Jesus is the neighbour, the moment He is transfigured in thought into a God,
and into a cause provoking the feeling of power.
177.
Believers are aware that they owe an infinite
amount to Christianity, and therefore conclude that its Founder must have been a man of the
first rank. . . . This conclusion is false, but it is typical of the reverents. Regarded objectively, it the first place, just possible that they are
mistaken concerning the extent their debt Christianity: man's convictions prove nothing concerning the thing he convinced about, and
religions they are more likely give rise
suspicions. debt owing Founder
? Secondly, possible Christianity not due its
that the all, but the whole structure, the
? ? at
to .
in a
it is is
to
.
to
is
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to
to
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I49
whole thing--to the Church, etc. The notion
"Founder" is so very equivocal, that it may stand even for the accidental cause of a movement:
the person of the Founder has been inflated in proportion as the Church has grown: but even this process of veneration allows of the conclusion that, at one time or other, this Founder was some thing exceedingly
insecure and doubtful--in the
beginning. . . . Let any one think of the free and
easy way in which Paul treats the problem of the personality of Jesus, how he almost juggles with
it: some one who died, who was seen after His
death, -some one whom the Jews delivered up to
death--all this was only the theme--Paul wrote the music to it.
178.
The founder of a religion may be quite insignifi cant--a wax vesta and no more !
I 79.
Concerning the psychological problem of Christi
anity. -- The driving forces are : resentment,
popular insurrection, the revolt of the bungled and
the botched. (In Buddhism it is different: it #) not born of resentment. It rather combats resent
ment because the latter leads to action. )
This party, which stands for freedom, under stands that the abandonment of antagonism in thought and deed is a condition of distinction and
preservation. Here lies the psychological difficulty which has stood in the way of Christianity being
? ? ? ? I5o
THE WILL TO POWER.
understood: the force which created struggle against itself.
urges
Only party standing for peace and innocence
can this insurrectionary movement hope be
successful: must conquer by means excessive mildness, sweetness, softness, and its instincts are
aware this. The feat was deny and con demn the force, which man the expression, and press the reverse that force continually
the fore, by word and deed.
8O.
The pretence youthfulness. --It mistake imagine that, with Christianity, an ingenuous and youthful people rose against old culture;
the story goes that was out the lowest levels
society, where Christianity flourished and shot
its roots, that the more profound source life
gushed forth afresh: but nothing can under stood the psychology Christianity, be
? supposed that youth among strength race.
was the expression revived
the diseases another
absence
the nerves seem give one rendezvous in this crowd -- the
known duty, the feeling that every
people,
the resuscitated
rather typical form moral-softening and hysteria,
decadence,
amid general hotch-potch races and people that had lost all aims and had grown weary and sick. The wonderful company which gathered round this master-seducer the populace, would not be all out place Russian novel: all
? ? of at a a
aof to
of as it a
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in of
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I5I
thing is nearing its end, that nothing is any longer
worth while, and that contentment lies in dolce far niente.
The power and certainty of the future in the
Jew's instinct, its monstrous will for life and for power, lies in its ruling classes; the people who
are best dis this exhausted condition of their instincts. On the one hand, they are sick of every thing; on the other, they are content with each
upheld primitive Christianity
tinguished by
other, with themselves and for themselves.
\
Christianity regarded as emancipated Judaism (just as a nobility which is both racial and in
? digenous ultimately emancipates
I 81.
itself from these conditions, and goes in search of kindred
elements. . .
(1) As Church (community) on the territory
the State, an unpolitical institution.
(2) As life, breeding, practice, art living.
(3) As religion of sin (sin committed against God, being the only recognised kind, and the only
cause all suffering), with universal cure for There no sin save against God; what done against men, man shall not sit judgment upon,
nor call account, except the name God. At the same time, all commandments (love): everything associated with God, and all acts are performed according
God's will. Beneath this arrangement there lies exceptional intelligence
very narrow life, such that led the
? ? (a
of
as
in
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by
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it.
to
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. ).
? 152
THE WILL TO POWER.
Esquimaux, can only be endured by most peaceful
and indulgent people: the Judaeo-Christian dogma turns against sin in favour of the "sinner").
I 82.
The Jewish priesthood understood how to present everything it claimed to be right as a
divine precept, as an act of obedience to God, and also to introduce all those things which conduced to preserve Israel and were the conditions of its existence (for instance: the large number of "works": circumcision and the cult of sacrifices, as the very pivot of the national conscience), not as Nature, but as God.
This process continued, within the very heart of
Judaism, where the need of these "works" was not felt (that is to say, as a means of keeping a race distinct), a priestly sort of man was pictured, whose
bearing towards the aristocracy was like that of "noble nature"; a spontaneous and non-caste
sacerdotalism of the soul, which now, in order to throw opposite into strong relief, attaches value, not the "dutiful acts" themselves, but the sentiment.
At bottom, the problem was once again, how
make certain kind soul prevail: was also
popular insurrection the midst priestly people--a pietistic movement coming from below
(sinners, publicans, women, and children). Jesus
Nazareth was the symbol their sect. And again, order believe themselves, they were
? theological transfiguration: they require nothing less than "the Son God"
need
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of ato
to
of of
of it a
in
in
its
of a.
a
to
. .
in of in
to
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I53
order to create a belief for themselves. And just .
as the priesthood had falsified the whole history of Israel, another attempt was made, here, to alter
and falsify the whole history of mankind in such a way as to make Christianity seem like the most
important event it contained. This movement could have originated only upon the soil of Judaism,
the main feature of which was the confounding of
guilt with sorrow and the reduction of all sin to sin against God. Of all this, Christianity is the
second degree of power.
I83.
The symbolism of Christianity is based upon
that of Judaism, which had already transfigured
all reality (history, Nature) into a holy and artificial unreality--which refused to recognise
real history, and which showed no more interest in a natural course of things.
I84.
The Jews made the attempt to prevail, after two of their castes--the warrior and the agri cultural castes, had disappeared from their midst.
In this sense they are the "castrated people": they have their priests and then--their Chandala. .
How easily a disturbance occurs among them-- an insurrection of their Chandala. This was the
origin of Christianity.
Owing to the fact that they had no knowledge of
warriors except as their masters, they introduced
\
? ? ? ? I54
THE WILL TO POWER.
enmity towards the nobles, the men of honour, pride, and power, and the ruling classes, into their religion: they are pessimists from indignation. . . .
Thus they created a very important and novel position: the priests in the van of the Chandala --against the noble classes. . . .
Christianity was the logical conclusion of this movement: even in the Jewish priesthood, it still scented the existence of the caste, of the privileged
and noble minority--it therefore did away with priests.
Christ is the unit of the Chandala who removes
the priest . . . the Chandala who redeems himself. . . .
That is why the French Revolution is the lineal descendant and the continuator of Christianity-- it is characterised by an instinct of hate towards castes, nobles, and the last privileges.
185.
The "Christian Ideal" put on the stage with Jewish astuteness -- these are the fundamental
psychological forces of "nature":--
Revolt against the ruling spiritual powers;
? make those virtues which facili the lowly, standard all call God that which no more than the self-preservative instinct that
The attempt tate the happiness values--in fact,
class man possessed least vitality;
Obedience and absolute abstention from war
and resistance, justified by this ideal;
? ? of
of
a
to
to of
its
of is of
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I55
The love of one another as a result of the love of God.
The trick : The denial of all natural mobilia, and their transference to the spiritual world beyond . . . the exploitation of virtue and its veneration for wholly interested motives, gradual denial of virtue in everything that is not Christian.
I 86.
The profound contempt with which the Christian
was treated by the noble people of antiquity, is of
the same order as the present instinctive aversion
to Jews: it is the hatred which free and self
? respecting
classes feel towards those who wish to
creep in secretly, and who combine an awkward bearing with foolish self-sufficiency.
The New Testament is the gospel of a com pletely ignoble species of man; its pretensions to
highest values--yea, to all values, fact, revolting--even nowadays.
187.
How little the subject matters!
which gives the thing life What
matter
the spirit quantity
stuffy and sick-room air there all that chattet about "redemption," "love," "blessedness," "faith,"
"truth," "eternal life"! Let any one look into really pagan book and compare the two; for in
stance, Petronius, nothing all done, said, desired, and valued, which, according bigoted Christian estimate, not sin, even deadly sin. And yet how happy one feels with the purer air, the
? ? is
or
at
is in
in
|
a It
to is as
is aa
a
of
of
is,
? 156
THE WILL TO POWER.
superiorintellectuality, the quicker pace, and the free
overflowing strength which is certain of the future I In the whole of the New Testament there is not
one bouffonnerie: but that fact alone would suffice to refute any book. . . .
I 88.
The profound lack of dignity with which all life,
which is not Christian, is condemned: it does not
suffice them to think meanly of their actual oppon
ents, they cannot do with less than a general
slander of everything that is not themselves. . . .
An abject and crafty soul is in the most perfect harmony with the arrogance of piety, as witness
the early Christians.
The future : they see that they are heavily paid
for Theirs the muddiest kind of spirit
? arranged confirm the prophecies the Scriptures:
that exists. The whole Christ's life
He behaves suchwise order that they may be right.
189.
The deceptive interpretation the words, the doings, and the condition dying people; the natural fear death, for instance, systematically confounded with the supposed fear what happen "after death. "
I90.
The Christians have done exactly what the Jews did before them. They introduced what they
? ? of
. is
.
in of of
of
is so
is to
is
of
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it. .
.
.
. .
in
as
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I57
thing necessary to self-preservation into their Master's
teaching, and wove His life into They likewise credited Him with all the wisdom of maker of
proverbs--in short, they represented their every day life and activity act obedience, and
thus sanctified their propaganda.
What all depends upon, may gathered
from Paul: not much. What remains the development type saint, out the values which these people regarded saintly.
The whole the "doctrine miracles," in cluding the resurrection, the result self
conceived to be an innovation and a
? glorification
ascribed itself, but
the part the community, which
its Master those qualities ascribed higher degree (or, better still,
derived strength from Him.
The Christians have never led the life which
Jesus commanded them lead, and the impudent fable the "justification by faith," and its unique
and transcendental significance, only the result the Church's lack courage and will acknow
ledging those "works" which Jesus commanded. The Buddhist behaves differently from the non
Buddhist;
the world does, and possesses Christianity
but the Christian behaves all the rest
ceremonies and states of the soul.
The profound and contemptible falsehood
Christianity Europe makes deserve the con tempt the Arabs, Hindoos, and Chinese.
? ? of
of of
of
to its
in
in on a
it
us
as
is
. of
it. a
.
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is of
? 158
THE WILL TO POWER.
Let any one listen to the words of the first German statesman, concerning that which has preoccupied Europe for the last forty years.
I 92.
"Faith" or "works"? --But that the "works," the habit of particular works may engender a certain set of values or thoughts, is just as natural as it would be unnatural for "works" to proceed from mere valuations. Man must practise, not how to strengthen feelings of value, but how to strengthen action: first of all, one must be able to do some thing. . . . Luther's Christian Dilettantism. Faith is an asses' bridge. The background consists of a profound conviction on the part of Luther and his peers, that they are unable to accomplish Christian "works," a personal fact, disguised under an extreme doubt as to whether all action
is not sin and devil's work, so that the worth of life depends upon isolated and highly-strained conditions of inactivity (prayer, effusion, etc. ). -- Ultimately, Luther would be right: the instincts which are expressed by the whole bearing of the
? Only in turning absolutely away from themselves, and in becoming absorbed in the opposite of themselves,
reformers are the most brutal that exist.
only by
existence endurable to them.
means of an illusion ("faith") was
I93.
"What was to be done in order to believe? "--
an absurd question. That which is wrong with
? ? ? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
I59
Christianity that does none the things that Christ commanded.
contempt.
mean life, but seen through the eye
I94.
The entrance into the real life--a man saves his own life living the life the multitude.
95.
Christianity has become something fundament
ally different from what its Founder wished
be. the great anti-pagan movement anti
quity, formulated with the use the life, teaching,
and "words" the Founder Christianity, but
? interpreted quite arbitrarily, according
scheme
embodying profoundly different needs: translated
into the language all the subterranean religions then existing.
the rise Pessimism (whereas Jesus wished bring the peace and the happiness
the lambs): and moreover the Pessimism the weak, the inferior, the suffering, and the
oppressed.
Its mortal enemies are (1) Power, whether the form character, intellect, taste, and
"worldliness"; (2) the "good cheer" classical times, the noble levity and scepticism, hard pride,
eccentric dissipation, and cold frugality the sage,
Greek refinement manners, words, and form.
Its mortal enemy much the Roman the Greek.
? ? as
of of
of
it
or of of
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? 16O THE WILL TO POWER.
The attempt on the part of anti-paganism to
establish itself on a philosophical basis, and to
make tenets possible: shows taste for the ambiguous figures antique culture, and above
all for Plato, who was, more than any other, an
anti-Hellene and Semite instinct. shows taste for Stoicism, which
also essentially
("dignity"
severity, law; virtue held be greatness, self
the work Semites
regarded
responsibility, authority, greatest sovereignty oneself--this Semitic. The Stoic an Arabian
over sheik wrapped Greek togas and notions.
? 196.
Christianity only resumes the fight which had
already been begun against the classical ideal and noble religion.
As matter fact, the whole process
transformation only an adaptation
needs and
masses then
believed
"great mother," and which demanded the follow
ing things religion: (1) hopes beyond,
(2) the bloody phantasmagoria animal sacrifice (the mystery), (3) holy legend and the redeeming
the
community.
increasing anti-pagan tendency--those
Epicurus combated,-- more exactly, those
intelligence
the religious
the level
existing:--those masses
which Isis, Mithras, Dionysos, and the
the world, super hierarchy part
short, Christianity everywhere fitted the already prevailing and
deed, (4) asceticism, denial stitious "purification," (5)
cults which
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? CRITICISM OF RELIGION. * I6I
religions proper to the lower herd, women, slaves,
and ignoble classes.
The misunderstandings are therefore the
following:--
(1) The immortality of the individual;
(2) The assumed existence of another world;
(3) The absurd notion of punishment and expiation in the heart of the interpretation of existence;
(4) The profanation of the divine nature of
man, instead of its accentuation, and the con
struction of a very profound chasm, which can
only be crossed by the help of a miracle or by means of the most thorough self-contempt;
(5) The whole world of corrupted imagination
and morbid passion, instead of a simple and
loving life of action, instead of Buddhistic happiness attainable on earth;
? priesthood, theology, cults, and sacraments; in short, every
(6) An ecclesiastical order with a
thing that Jesus of Nazareth combated;
(7) The miraculous in everything and every body, superstition too: while precisely the trait
which distinguished Judaism and primitive Christianity was their repugnance to miracles and their relative rationalism.
I97.
The psychological pre-requisites:--Ignorance and lack of culture,--the sort of ignorance which has un
learned every kind of shame: let any one imagine
those impudent saints in the heart of Athens; VOL. I. L
? ? ? I62 THE WILL TO POWER.
The Jewish instinct of a chosen people: they appropriate all the virtues, without further ado,
as their own, and regard the rest of the world as their opposite; this is a profound sign of spiritual depravity;
The total lack of real aims and real duties, for which other virtues are required than those of the
State undertook this work for them: and the impudent people still behaved as though they had no need of the State. "Except ye become as little children"--oh, how far we are from this psychological ingenuousness!
I98.
The Founder of Christianity had to pay dearly
for having directed His teaching at the lowest classes of Jewish society and intelligence. They
understood Him only according to the limitations of their own spirit. . . . It was a disgrace to concoct a history of salvation, a personal God, a personal Saviour, a personal immortality, and to have
retained all the meanness of the "person," and of the "history" of a doctrine which denies the reality of all that is personal and historical.
The legend of salvation takes the place of the symbolic "now" and "all time," of the symbolic
"here" and "everywhere"; and miracles appear instead of the psychological symbol.
I 99.
Nothing is less innocent than the New Testa ment. The soil from which it sprang is known.
bigot--the
? ? ? ? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
163
These people, possessed of an inflexible will to assert themselves, and who, once they had lost
natural hold on life, and had long existed without any right existence, still knew how
prevail by means hypotheses which were unnatural they were imaginary (calling them
selves the chosen people, the community saints, the people the promised land, and the
"Church"): these people made use their pia fraus with such skill, and with such "clean
consciences,"
when they preach morality. When Jews step forward the personification innocence, the danger must great. While reading the New Testament man should have his small fund of intelligence, mistrust, and wickedness constantly at hand.
People the lowest origin, partly mob, out casts not only from good society, but also from
that one cannot be too cautious
? respectable society; grown away
atmosphere culture, and free from discipline; ignorant, without even suspicion the fact that
spiritual matters; word--the Jews: an instinctively crafty people,
able create an advantage, means seduction out every conceivable hypothesis superstition,
even out ignorance itself.
2OO.
conscience can also rule
regard Christianity
seductive lie that has ever yet existed--as the greatest and most impious lie: can discern the
the most fatal and
from the
? ? as I
a in
I
of to
all
of
of
of
aas as be
of
of of
of
of
a
in a
of asto
of
of to
? 164
THE WILL TO POWER.
last sprouts and branches of its ideal beneath every form of disguise, I decline to enter into any compromise or false position in reference to it-- I urge people to declare open war with
The morality paltry people the measure all things: this the most repugnant kind
degeneracy that civilisation has ever yet brought
However modest one's demands may be concerning intellectual cleanliness, when one
into existence. And this kind ideal
still, under the name "God," over men's heads
2O I.
help experiencing sort inexpressible feeling dis
touches the New Testament one cannot
comfort;
the least qualified people will have their say
its pages, regard the greatest problems
existence, and claim sit judgment on
such matters, exceeds limits. The impudent levity with which the most unwieldy problems
are spoken here (life, the world, God, the purpose life), they were not problems
all, but the most simple things which these little bigots know all about ! ! !
2O2.
This was the most fatal form insanity that has ever yet existed on earth:--when these little lying abortions bigotry begin laying claim
the words "God," "last judgment," "truth,"
for the unbounded cheek with which
hanging
? ? ? to of of ! !
of
as if
of to
is of of
of
in
of is
as
of
in of
a
all
to
it. atin of
of
? CRITICISM OF RELIGION.
"love,33 go wisdom," "Holy Spirit," and thereby
the salt, the standard, and the measure of all
persecute them was an egregious act of antique folly: this was taking them too seriously; it was
making them serious.
The whole fatality was made possible by the
fact that a similar form of megalomania was
already in existence, the Jewish form (once the
gulf separating the Jews from the Christian-Jews
was bridged, the Christian-Jews were compelled to employ those self-preservative measures afresh
which were discovered by the Jewish instinct, for their own self-preservation, after having accent
uated them); and again through the fact that Greek moral philosophy had done everything
that could be done to prepare the way for moral-fanaticism, even among Greeks and Romans,
and to render it palatable. . . . Plato, the great importer of corruption, who was the first
who refused to see Nature in morality, and who had already deprived the Greek gods of all their worth by his notion "good," was already tainted with Jewish bigotry (in Egypt? ).
2O3.
These small virtues of gregarious animals do not by any means lead to "eternal life": to put
distinguishing
themselves from the rest of the world; when such men begin to transvalue values to suit themselves, as though they were the sense,
things;
then all that one should do is this: build lunatic asylums for their incarceration. To
165
? ? ? ? I66 THE WILL TO POWER.
them on the stage in such a way, and oneself
with them is perhaps very smart; but to him who keeps his eyes open, even here, it remains, in spite
of all, the most ludicrous performance. A man by no means deserves privileges, either on earth or
in heaven, because he happens to have attained to perfection in the art of behaving like a good
natured little sheep; at best, he only remains a dear, absurd little ram with horns--provided, of
course, he does not burst with vanity or excite indignation by assuming the airs of a supreme
judge.
What a terrible glow of false colouring here
floods the meanest virtues--as though they were
the reflection of divine qualities !
The natural purpose and utility of every
virtue is systematically hushed up; it can only be valuable in the light of a divine command or model, or in the light of the good which belongs
to a beyond-or a spiritual world. (This is
magnificent! question
As if it were a of
the salvation of the soul: but it was a means of making things bearable here with as many beautiful sentiments as possible. )
2O4.
? The law, which is the fundamentally realistic formula of certain self-preservative measures of a community, forbids certain actions that have a definite tendency to jeopardise the welfare of that community: it does not forbid the attitude of mind
which gives rise to these actions--for in the pur
? ? ? CRITICISM OF RELIGION,
167
suit of other ends the community requires these forbidden actions, namely, when it is a matter of
opposing
its enemies. The moral idealist now
steps forward and says: "God sees into men's
hearts: the action itself counts for nothing; the
reprehensible attitude of mind from which it pro
ceeds must be extirpated. . . . " In normal
conditions men laugh at such things; it is only
in exceptional cases, when a community lives quite beyond the need of waging war in order to main
tain itself, that an ear is lent to such things. Any
attitude of mind is abandoned, the utility of which cannot be conceived.
This was the case, for example, when Buddha appeared among a people that was both peaceable
and afflicted with great intellectual weariness. This was also the case in regard to the first Christian community (as also the Jewish), the
primary condition of which was the absolutely unpolitical Jewish society. Christianity could grow
only upon the soil of Judaism--that is to say,
among a people that had already renounced the political life, and which led a sort of parasitic
existence within the Roman sphere of government, Christianity goes a step farther: it allows men to "emasculate" themselves even more ; the circum stances actually favour their doing so. --Nature is expelled from morality when it is said, "Love ye
your enemies": for Nature's injunction, "Ye shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy," has
now become senseless in the law (in instinct); now, even the love a man feels for his neighbour must first be based upon something (a sort of love
? ? ? ? I68 THE WILL TO POWER.
of God). God is introduced everywhere, and utility is withdrawn; the natural origin of morality
is denied everywhere: the veneration of Nature, which lies in acknowledging a natural morality, is
destroyed to the roots. . . .
Whence comes the seductive charm of this
emasculate ideal of man? Why are we not disgusted by just we are disgusted the thought eunuch The answer obvious: not the
voice the eunuch that revolts us, despite the cruel mutilation which the result; for, matter fact, has grown sweeter. And owing the very fact that the "male organ" has
been amputated from virtue, voice now has feminine ring, which, formerly, was not be
discerned.
On the other hand, we have only think the terrible hardness, dangers, and accidents
which life manly virtues leads--the life Corsican, even the present day, that
heathen Arab (which resembles the Corsican's life
even the smallest detail: the Arab's songs might
have been written by Corsicans)--in order
perceive how the most robust type man was
fascinated and moved by the voluptuous ring this "goodness" and "purity. " pastoral
melody an idyll the "good man": such
things have most effect ages when tragedy abroad.
With this, we have realised what extent the "idealist" (the ideal eunuch) also proceeds from
? ? ? sk
in .
it is
to . . .
