Penguin Classics Ecce Homo [Paperback]

the titles of the chapters are slightly amusing--"why i am so clever", "why i write such good books", "why i am a beginning". this isn't a question of not worrying about modesty, but one of impending insanity. its almost as though on some level nietzsche was aware that the end was near and that he needed to write something that expressed his heart and soul before he fell apart completely. one of the most stunning parts in the book are nietzsche's wholly accurate predictions for the twentieth century:"there will be wars such as mankind has never seen before." he said it with a certain delight, no doubt, but nonetheless, this man possessed the intuition and foresight of an almost mystical kind, although he would punch me in the mouth for saying that. he also admits some curious things about himself that contradict his professed philosophy more than slightly:"i know nothing of the 'heroic', i know nothing of 'will'. my being would rather say 'no' than 'yes'; in fact, it would rather say nothing at all." this, from the eternal yea sayer? "ecce homo" offers some curious insights into the actual psyche of the man who preached life affirmation with his more formal works.

"Saying 'Yes' to life," says Nietzsche, "is its strangest and hardest problem; the will to life rejoicing over its inexhaustibility even in the sacrifice of its highest types--that is what I call Dionysian, that is what I understood as the bridge to the psychology of the tragic poet." This Dionysian status, he goes on to say, is not gained through "thumbing through books," but by suffering through experience and rejoicing in the vitality of living.

Nietzsche also writes, "In questions of decadence I am experienced." In this he intimates his own experience of life denial through words and his imagery compares intellectual endeavors with physical conditions, e.g. digestion.

"The German spirit," he says, "is an indigestion: it does not finish with anything." Nietzsche uses the human stomach as a metaphor of the reification of the linguistic world. The stomach digests food by breaking it down into its component parts, readily recognizable to physiology but having little to do with the original product.

An orange, after all is not just vitamin C. Furthermore, says Nietzsche, what the body cannot use is rejected as waste product. When disorders of the stomach occur, the body cannot distinguish between waste and nutrient and consequently it churns endlessly, causing distress to the entire organism. Nietzsche, himself, is not embarrassed by his experience of decadence but sees it as something which has given him a special sensitivity to the "signs of ascent and decline."

For Nietzsche, the world is a chaotic place, given order only by the imposition of human will. Humans, in this way, says Nietzsche, create something out of nothing. However, in the face of the "abyss," man creates and acts as if his creation is real, in such a manner as to allow himself the vital and joyous activity of affirming the very importance of his creation. The heroic figure then moves on towards greater acts of creation using each personal, willful creation as a stepping stone, not towards an ultimate goal, but towards other projects. Nietzsche tells us to beware of the organizing "idea" which "...leads back from side roads and wrong roads...as a means towards a whole." The endless road of "becoming" is traveled by a will which is excited and invigorated by its trip, enjoying its stops along the way, but which ultimately has no other purpose but to go further and further as the journey becomes more and more exhausting.

For Nietzsche, the battle is always emphasized over the goal. It is a simple matter, he tells us, to conquer that which is already beneath you. To move beyond that which is your equal is the real test of the will. This is the essential process of "overcoming" which leads one higher and higher, eventually reaching the experience of the "tragic." As the linguistic world becomes more and more complex, its position in relation to nothingness becomes more and more precarious. This situation threatens a fall of apocalyptic proportions, for it is necessary for the tragic aesthetic that there be a certain height to the descent. For Nietzsche, rejoicing in the sacrifice of the highest types is a key element in experiencing tragedy.

"...and whoever wants to be a creator in good and evil, must first be an annihilator and break values." Creation, according to Nietzsche presupposes the willingness to destroy. The order we impose upon the world is a constraint upon us when the time to overcome occurs, and at such times, the spirit of the Ubermensch is needed in order to decimate the linguistic constructs that we have come to depend upon. For original, creative activity to be allowed, there must be nothing available to plagiarize or react against. Nietzsche refers to this resignation in the face of the void as "Russian fatalism" which occurs when the individual no longer attempts to "...accept anything at all--to cease reacting altogether."

In the end, for Nietzsche, nobility of spirit is akin to a meniscus, relying on the tension created by contrasting nothingness with creation. It can tolerate very little unequal pressure; too much and it ruptures. And aesthetically pleasing life is to be sought in that in between area inaccessible to words or to action alone. Ironically, Nietzsche's severe philosophy seems to advocate a kind of moderation. For the truly heroic figure is valued for his ability to live a life in which he moderates the need for order with the desire for creative action. Standing between empowerment and dissolution, as he must, the hero, says Nietzsche, is as deserving of "songs of praise" as is any god.