Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Untimely Meditationsanything of that kind; the man of Goethe here turns away from theman of Rousseau; for he hates all violence, all sudden transitionbut that means: all action; and thus the world-liberator becomes as itwere only a world-traveller. All the realms of life and nature, all thepast, all the arts, mythologies and sciences, see the insatiable spectatorfly past them, the deepest desires are aroused and satisfied,even Helen does not detain him fo r very long- and then there mustcome the moment for which his mocking companion is lying in wait.At some suitable spot on earth his flight comes to an end, his wingsfall off, Mephistopheles is at hand. When the German ceases to beFaust there is no greater danger than that he will become a philistineand go to the Devil - heavenly powers alone can save him from it.The man of Goethe is, as I have said, the contemplative man in thegrand style, who can avoid languishing away on earth only by bringingtogether fo r his nourishment everything great and memorable thathas ever existed or still exists and thus lives, even though his life maybe a living from one desire to the next; he is not the man of action: onthe contrary, if he does ever become i member of any part of theexisting order established by the men of action one can be sure thatno good will come of it - Goethe's own enthusiastic participation inthe world of the theatre is a case in point - and, above all, that no'order' will be overthrown. The Goethean man is a preservative andconciliatory power - but with the danger, already mentioned, that hemay degenerate to a philistine, just as the man of Rousseau can easilybecome a Catilinist. If the former had a little more muscle-powerand natural wildness, all his virtues would be greater. Goethe seemsto have realized where the danger and weakness of his type of manlay, and he indicates it in the words of Jarno to Wilhelm Meister:'You are vexed and bitter, that is very good; if only you would getreally angry for once it would be even better.'*Thus, to speak frankly: it is necessary for us to get really angry fo ronce in order that things shall get better. And to encourage us to thatwe have the Schopenhauerean image of man. The Schopenhauereanman voluntarily takes upon himself the suffering involved in being truthful, andthis suffering serves to destroy his own wilfulness and to prepare thatcomplete overturning and conversion of his being, which it is thereal meaning of life to lead up to. This utterance of truth seems toother men a discharge of malice, for they regard the conservation oftheir inadequacies and humbug as a human duty and think that any-*In Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-6), Book 8.152