Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Schopenhauer as educatortianity excelled the moral systems of antiquity and the naturalismthat resided in them to such a degree that this naturalism came toexcite apathy and disgust; but later on, when these better and higherideals, though now known, proved unattaina,ble, it was no longerpossible to return to what was good and high in antique virtue,however much one might want to. It is in this oscillation betweenChristianity and antiquity, between an imitated or hypocriticalChristianity of morals and an equally despondent and timid revivalof antiquity, that modern man lives, and does not live very happily;the fear of what is natural he has inherited and the renewed attractionof this naturalness, the desire for a firm footing somewhere,the impotence of his knowledge that reels back and forth betweenthe good and the better, all this engenders a restlessness, a disorderin the modern soul which condemns it to a joyless unfruitfulness.Never have moral educators been more needed, and never has itseemed less likely they would be found; in the times when physiciansare required the most, in times of great plagues, they are also most inperil. For where are the physicians for modern mankind who themselvesstand so firmly and soundly on their feet that they are able tosupport others and lead them by the hand? A certain gloominessand torpor lies upon even the finest personalities of our time, a feelingof ill-humour at the everlasting struggle between dissimulation andhonesty which is being fought out within them, a lack of steady confidencein themselves - whereby they become quite incapable ofbeing signposts and at the same time taskmasters for others.It was thus truly roving through wishes to imagine I might discovera true philosopher as ,an educator who could raise me abovemy insufficiencies insofar as these originated in the age and teach meagain to be simple and honest in thought and life, that is to say to beuntimely, that word understood in the profoundest sense; for menhave now become so complex and many-sided they are bound tobecome dishonest whenever they speak at all, make assertions andtry to act in accordance with them.It was in this condition of need, distress and desire that I came toknow Schopenhauer.I am one of those readers of Schopenhauer who when they haveread one page of him know for certain they will go on to read all thepages and will pay heed to every word he ever said. I trusted him atonce and my trust is the same now as it was nine years ago. Thoughthis is a foolish and immodest way of putting it, I understand him asthough it were for me he had written. Thus it is that I have never dis-133