On the Genealogy of Morals (Penguin Classics) by Friedrich Nietzsche

Author:Friedrich Nietzsche [Nietzsche, Friedrich]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780141195384
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

23

Let this suffice once and for all concerning the origin of the ‘holy God’.

In itself the conception of gods must not lead to a debasement of the fantasy which we could not help but call to mind for a moment; there exist nobler methods of utilizing the invention of the gods than this self-crucifixion and self-deprecation of men, which has reigned in Europe for the last millennia. These truths can fortunately still be gleaned from even the briefest glance at the Greek gods (these reflections of noble and grandiose men), in whom the animal in Man felt itself deified, and did not tear itself apart or consume itself in fury! These Greeks long employed their gods precisely to ward off ‘bad conscience’ – so that they could continue to enjoy their psychological freedom; this, of course, is the very opposite of the way Christianity employed its God. They went very far on this principle, these children, splendid and lion-hearted; and no less an authority than Homer’s Zeus gives them to understand that they are taking life too easy: ‘Strange!’ he says. It is about the case of Aegistheus, which is a tragic one,

Strange how they grumble, the mortals against the gods!

Only from us, they presume, comes evil, but in their folly,

They fashion, in spite of fate, the doom of their own disaster.50

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