Toward the world, especially toward men, I am to _assume a particular feeling_, and "meet them with love," with the feeling of love, from the beginning. Certainly, in this there is revealed far more free-will and self-determination than when I let myself be stormed, by way of the world, by all possible feelings, and remain exposed to the most checkered, most accidental impressions. I go to the world rather with a preconceived feeling, as if it were a prejudice and a preconceived opinion: I have prescribed to myself in advance my behavior toward it, and, despite all its temptations, feel and think about it only as I have once determined to. Against the dominion of the world I secure myself by the principle of love; for, whatever may come, I--love. The ugly--_e. g._--makes a repulsive impression on me; but, determined to love, I master this impression as I do every antipathy. But the feeling to which I have determined and--condemned myself from the start is a _narrow_ feeling, because it is a predestined one, of which I myself am not able to get clear or to declare myself clear. Because preconceived, it is a _prejudice_. _I_ no longer show myself in face of the world, but my love shows itself. The _world_ indeed does not rule me, but so much the more inevitably does the spirit of _love_ rule me. I have overcome the world to become a slave of this spirit. If I first said, I love the world, I now add likewise: I do not love it, for I _annihilate_ it as I annihilate myself; _I dissolve it_. I do not limit myself to one feeling for men, but give free play to all that I am capable of. Why should I not dare speak it out in all its glaringness? Yes, _I utilize_ the world and men! With this I can keep myself open to every impression without being torn away from myself by one of them. I can love, love with a full heart, and let the most consuming glow of passion burn in my heart, without taking the beloved one for anything else than the _nourishment_ of my passion, on which it ever refreshes itself anew. All my care for him applies only to the _object of my love_, only to him whom my love _requires_, only to him, the "warmly loved." How indifferent would he be to me without this--my love! I feed only my love with him, I _utilize_ him for this only: I _enjoy_ him.