The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV
Nietzsche · en
In a state of this sort, it is precisely _goodness_ which requires
to be justified--that is to say, it must either have an evil and a
dangerous basis, or else it must contain a vast amount of stupidity:
_in which case it still pleases._ Animality no longer awakens terror
now; a very intellectual and happy wanton spirit in favour of the
animal in man, is, in such periods, the most triumphant form of
spirituality. Man is now strong enough to be able to feel ashamed of
_a belief in God:_ he may now play the part of the devil's advocate
afresh. If in practice he pretends to uphold virtue, it will be for
those reasons which lead virtue to be associated with subtlety,
cunning, lust of gain, and a form of the lust of power.
_This pessimism of strength_ also ends in a _theodicy, i.e._ in an
absolute saying of yea to the world--but the same arguments will
be raised in favour of life which formerly were raised against it:
and in this way, in a conception of this world _as the highest ideal
possible,_ which has been effectively attained.
1020.
_The principal kinds of pessimism:--_
The pessimism of _sensitiveness_ (excessive irritability with a
preponderance of the feelings of pain).
The pessimism of the _will that is not free_ (otherwise expressed: the
lack of resisting power against stimuli).
The pessimism of _doubt_ (shyness in regard to everything fixed, in
regard to all grasping and touching).
The psychological conditions which belong to these different kinds of
pessimism, may all be observed in a lunatic asylum, even though they
are there found in a slightly exaggerated form. The same applies to
"Nihilism" (the penetrating feeling of nonentity).
What, however, is the nature of Pascal's moral pessimism, and the
_metaphysical pessimism_ of the Vedânta-Philosophy? What is the nature
of the _social pessimism_ of anarchists (as of Shelley), and of the
pessimism of compassion (like that of Leo Tolstoy and of Alfred de
Vigny)?
Are all these things not also the phenomena of decay and sickness?...
And is not excessive seriousness in regard to moral values, or in
regard to "other-world" fictions, or social calamities, or _suffering_
in general, of the same order? All such _exaggeration_ of a single and
narrow standpoint is in itself a sign of sickness. The same applies to
the preponderance of a negative over an affirmative attitude!
_In this respect we must not confound with the above:_ the joy of
saying and doing _no,_ which is the result of the enormous power and
tenseness of an affirmative attitude--peculiar to all rich and mighty
men and ages. It is, as it were, a luxury, a form of courage too,
which opposes the terrible, which has sympathy with the frightful and
the questionable, because, among other things, one is terrible and
questionable: the _Dionysian_ in will, intellect, and taste.
1021.
_My Five "Noes."_