Chapter 27 The Second Famous Wise Men

You serve the people and its superstitions, O all eminent wise men,—and not the truth!It is for this that the people respect you. Likewise, your disbelief is tolerated by the people because it is only a laughing stock and a trick of the people.As the master sets his slaves free and delights in their excesses. What the people hate as a dog hates a wolf is the freethinker, the enemy of imprisonment, the man who refuses to worship and lives in the forest. Drive him out of his hermitage,--this is what the people call "the meaning of justice"!They often provoke the most vicious dogs to bite him.

So, "Where the people are, there is the truth! Alas, accursed are he who seeks the truth!" is often heard. O famous wise men, you have legitimized the reverence of the people: you call this the will to truth! Often your heart says to itself, "From the people I come, and from there comes the voice of God." Patiently as cunning as donkeys you are often the advocates of the people. In order to make friends with the people, many powerful people often drive a little donkey, a famous wise man, in front of their horses. O famous wise men, I now want you to completely shed your lion skins! ——

Speckled hides of beasts, and unruly hair of researchers explorers conquerors! Alas, if I try to believe that you are truth-seekers, I must first see you crush your will to reverence. The seeker of truth is he who shatters the will to reverence and goes to the desert without God. In the yellow sand scorched by the sun, he naturally yearns for an island that is rich in spring water and shaded by dense green life. But his thirst does not convince him that he is one of the comfortable: for where the oasis is, so is the idol. The hungry, the ferocious, the lonely, the godless: the will of the lion willingly so.

Abandoning the joy of slavery, extricating oneself from God and all worship, great, lonely, fearless without knowing fear, this is the will of the seeker of truth. The seeker of truth, the free thinker, often lives in the desert like the master of the desert.In the city lived the famous sage and carnivore, the beast of burden. Because they push and pull like donkeys—the people's cart! By no means do I blame them for this: though their chariots shine with gold, they are still servants and beasts that drive before them. Often they are good unashamed servants.For thus says morality: "If you must be a servant, seek out the one whom your service can best help!

The spirit and morals of your master grow by your service: you grow by his! " Verily, you famous wise men, you servants of the people!You grow with the spirit and morals of the people—and the people grow with you!I consider it your honor! But in spite of your morality, you are still a people, a short-sighted people--a people who do not understand what is spiritual! The spirit is the self-cutting of life: life grows knowledge through suffering. —Do you already know this? The bliss of the spirit is in making a sacrifice that is daubed with tears and sanctified as a fire offering. —Do you already know this?

The blindness of the blind and his hesitation and groping testify to the power of the sun he sees. —Do you already know this? Those who seek knowledge should learn architecture with the mountains!Moving mountains with the spirit is just a small thing. —Do you already know this? You see only the spark of the spirit, but do not know what an anvil the spirit is and the cruelty of its hammer! Verily, ye do not know the pride of the spirit!But if the spirit of humility wants to speak, you will not tolerate it! You have not yet been able to throw your spirits into the snowy valleys, because you are not hot enough!Likewise, you do not know how to take pleasure in its coolness.

But it seems to me that in either case you have made yourselves too intimate with the spirit; you have often made the intellect a hospital and a refuge for bad poets. You are not eagles, so you have not experienced the joy of panic, and you who are not birds should not nest in deep ravines. I think you are half-warm: but all deep knowledge flows coldly.The inner fountain of the spirit is cold: yet pleasant to the warm hand and laborer. O famous wise men, you stand upright before me with admiration and solemnity! —You will not be moved by strong winds or strong wills. Have you never seen a sail rounded by a fierce wind trembling across the sea?

Sailed by the spirit, my wisdom sails through the sea, - my savage wisdom! But you famous wise men, you servants of the people, - how can you go with me! —— Thus spake Zarathustra.