Its opposite would be _weary_ Nihilism, which no longer attacks: its most renowned form being Buddhism: as _passive_ Nihilism, a sign of weakness: spiritual strength may be fatigued, _exhausted,_ so that the goals and values which have prevailed _hitherto_ are no longer suited to it and are no longer believed in--so that the synthesis of values and goals (upon which every strong culture stands) decomposes, and the different values contend with one another: _Disintegration,_ then everything which is relieving, which heals, becalms, or stupefies, steps into the foreground under the cover of various _disguises,_ either religious, moral, political or æsthetic, etc. 24. Nihilism is not only a meditating over the "in vain!"--not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one's shoulder to the plough; _one destroys._ This, if you will, is illogical; but the Nihilist does not believe in the necessity of being logical.... It is the condition of strong minds and wills; and to these it is impossible to be satisfied with the negation of judgment: the _negation by deeds_ proceeds from their nature. Annihilation by the reasoning faculty seconds annihilation by the hand. 25. _Concerning the genesis of the Nihilist._ The courage of all one really _knows_ comes but late in life. It is only quite recently that I have acknowledged to myself that heretofore I have been a Nihilist from top to toe. The energy and thoroughness with which I marched forward as a Nihilist deceived me concerning this fundamental principle. When one is progressing towards a goal it seems impossible that "aimlessness _per se_" should be one's fundamental article of faith. 26. _The Pessimism of strong natures._ The "wherefore" after a terrible struggle, even after victory. That something may exist which is a hundred times _more important_ than the question, whether we feel well or unwell, is the fundamental instinct of all strong natures--and consequently too, whether the _others_ feel well or unwell. In short, that we have a purpose, for which we would not even hesitate to _sacrifice men,_ run all risks, and bend our backs to the worst: _this is the great passion_. 2. FURTHER CAUSES OF NIHILISM. 27. _The causes of Nihilism_: (1) _The higher species is lacking, i.e.,_ the species whose inexhaustible fruitfulness and power would uphold our belief in Man (think only of what is owed to Napoleon--almost all the higher hopes of this century). (2) _The inferior species_ ("herd," "ass," "society") is forgetting modesty, and inflates its needs into _cosmic_ and _metaphysical_ values. In this way all life is _vulgarised_: for inasmuch as the _mass_ of mankind rules, it tyrannises over the _exceptions,_ so that these lose their belief in themselves and become _Nihilists._ All attempts to _conceive of a new species_ come to nothing ("romanticism," the artist, the philosopher; against Carlyle's attempt to lend them the highest moral values).