The Joyful Wisdom ("La Gaya Scienza"): Complete Works, Volume TenNietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
PhilosophyPhilosophy
The Joyful Wisdom ("La Gaya Scienza"): Complete Works, Volume Ten
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Philosophy
_Colour of the Passions.--_Natures such as the apostle Paul, have
an evil eye for the passions; they learn to know only the filthy,
the distorting, and the heart-breaking in them,--their ideal aim,
therefore, is the annihilation of the passions; in the divine they see
complete purification from passion. The Greeks, quite otherwise than
Paul and the Jews, directed their ideal aim precisely to the passions,
and loved, elevated, embellished and deified them: in passion they
evidently not only felt themselves happier, but also purer and diviner
than otherwise.--And now the Christians? Have they wished to become
Jews in this respect? Have they perhaps become Jews?
140.
_Too Jewish.--_If God had wanted to become an object of love, he would
first of all have had to forgo judging and justice:-a judge, and even
a gracious judge, is no object of love. The founder of Christianity
showed too little of the finer feelings in this respect--being a Jew.
141.
_Too Oriental._--What? A God who loves men provided that they believe
in him, and who hurls frightful glances and threatenings at him who
does not believe in this love! What? A conditioned love as the feeling
of an almighty God! A love which has not even become master of the
sentiment of honour and of the irritable desire for vengeance! How
Oriental is all that! "If I love thee, what does it concern thee?"[1]
is already a sufficient criticism of the whole of Christianity.
142.
_Frankincense.--Buddha_ says: "Do not flatter thy benefactor!" Let one
repeat this saying in a Christian church:--it immediately purifies the
air.
143.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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