Until the marriage of the soul and the senses has been accomplished, Man cannot manifest himself in any _new_ type. What has been the history of humanity during the last two thousand years? The history of humanity, that is, as distinct from the history of communities? A record of antithetic tyrannies, the spiritual alternating with the sensual; an uncertain tussle between God and animal, now one uppermost, now the other; not a tragedy--for in Tragedy there is significance--but a gloomy farce. And this farce must continue so long as the spirit contems sense as evil in itself--for neither of them can be abolished! Whether we like it or not, the senses, so long as they are oppressed and defamed, will continue to break out in terrible insurrections of sensuality and excess, until, tired and satiated, they return again under the tyranny of the spirit--at the appointed time, however, to revolt once more. From this double _cul de sac_ Man can be freed only by a reconciliation between the two. When this happens, however, it will be the beginning of a higher era in the history of humanity; Man will then become spiritual in a new sense. Spirit will then affirm Life, instead of, as now, slandering it; existence will become joyful and tragic; for to live in accordance with Life itself--voluntarily to approve struggle, suffering and change--is the most difficult and heroic of lives. The softening of the rigour of existence, its reduction and weakening by asceticism, humility, "sin," is the _easier_ path; _narrow_ is the way that leads to Nihilism! The error of Heine was that he prophesied a _happier_ future from the reconciliation of the body and the soul: his belief in the efficacy of happiness was excessive. But this reconciliation is, nevertheless, of importance for _nothing else_ than its _spiritual_ significance: by means of it Man is freed from his labyrinth, and can at last _move forward_--he becomes more tragic. 84 _Ultimate Pessimism_ To the most modern man must have come at some time the thought, What if this thing spirit be _essentially_ the enemy of the senses? What if, like the vampire, it _can_ live only by drinking blood? What if the conflict between spirit and "life" is and must forever be an implacable and destructive one? He is then for a moment a Christian, but with an added bitterness which few Christians have known. For if his thought be true, then the weakening and final nullification of Life must be our object. To prove that the spirit and the senses are not eternally irreconcilable enemies is still a task. Those who believe they are, do so as an act of faith: their opponents are in the same case. We should never cease to read spirit into Life-affirming things, such as pride, heroism and love, and to magnify and exalt these aspects of the spirit. 85 _Leisure and Productiveness_