Chapter 9 There is no eternal good and evil in the world
You great minds, do you think that it is the "will to truth" that drives you and keeps you ablaze? Nietzsche thinks what you call will: the will to know the knowable that wants to know all that is! You want to make everything comprehensible to humans, because you have every reason to doubt that all existence has long been known. However, everything has to be surrendered or accommodated to you!Your will insists on this.It should obey the spirit, like the mirror and reflection of the spirit. That, you great sages, is the whole will of you great sages—the "will to power" a will to power; even when you speak of good and evil and of establishing judgments.You are still willing to create a world worthy of your knees, which is your greatest hope and wildest fantasy. Yes, the unwise, that is, the people--they are like a river that pushes a boat, and the assessment of value sits in that boat solemnly and reservedly. You place your will and your values at the mouth of the fickle estuary, and what people believe to be good and evil, in Nietzsche's view, this is nothing but the will of an ancient power. It is you wise ones who have placed such guests in this little boat; and have adorned them with splendor, and bestowed upon them haughty titles—you and your ruling will! Now the river carries your boat forward, and it cannot but carry it forward, and even if the tide beats against the boat, it is nothing. You wise ones, the end of your good and evil and the danger of your will is not in this river, but in your will, which is the will to power—the inexhaustible will to create life. In order to make you understand what Nietzsche thought about good and evil, he is going to tell you about his views about life and the nature of all living things. Nietzsche tiptoed after living things, followed them around on the road or by the path in order to understand their nature. Nietzsche catches its glimpse from the polygonal mirror, and when its mouth is sealed its eyes can speak to Nietzsche—and indeed speak to Nietzsche. Wherever living things exist, Nietzsche hears the language of obedience.All existence is a kind of obedience. Secondly, Nietzsche also heard: the commanded cannot obey himself, this is the nature of creatures. In the end, what Nietzsche heard was this: commanding is more difficult than obeying.Not only because the commander has to bear the burden of all who obey, but also because this burden threatens to crush him at any moment. For Nietzsche, all orders are a trial or risk, but living things are different. Whenever a living thing gives orders, it is risking its own life. Yes, even when it orders itself, it pays a price for that order.It must be judge, avenger, and sacrifice of its own laws. How could this be?Nietzsche asked Nietzsche himself: What is it that persuades living things to obey orders, even when ordered? Nietzsche discovered it through observational research. Wherever living beings exist, there is a will to power; even in the will of a slave there is a will to be a master. The weak should obey the strong—so the will of the weak declares itself to be the master of the weaker.This is the only joy he clings to. Just as the weak submit to the strong, so that they may take pleasure in the opportunity to dominate the weaker, so even the strongest submit to themselves and risk their lives for power. The submission of the strongest is a desperate gamble of death at the risk of life. Wherever there is sacrifice, and loving contemplation, there is the will to be the master.The weak stole his powers by sneaking into the center of the fortress through the path. Life will tell you the secret. "Attention," it said, "I am the thing that goes beyond itself." Verily, you call that will to live: "My impulse towards higher, farther, more complex ends: but all this is but a thing, a secret." Nietzsche said that if he had to give up all these things, he would rather give up his life. Eternal good and evil do not exist!They must, by nature, constantly surpass themselves. You evaluators of value use your own values and beliefs of good and evil to exercise your power, and that is your hidden love, and your heart's flickering, trembling and overflowing. However, a greater power and a renewed transcendence spring from your evaluation - like chickens out of their eggs. Indeed, if anyone wants to create good and evil, he must first destroy value. Therefore the greatest evil belongs to the greatest good: this is creation.