Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Sclwpenhauer as educatorcapable of fu lfilling any duties at all; stronger natures can bedestroyed by it, the weaker, more numerous natures decline into areflective laziness and in the end forfeit through laziness eventheir ability to reflect.N ow, in face of such objections I am willing to concede that in preciselythis respect our ork has hardly begun and that from my ownexperience I am sure of only one thing: that from that ideal image itis possible to fasten upon ourselves a chain of fulfillable duties, andthat some of us already feel the weight of this chain. But before I canconscientiously reduce this new circle of duties to a formula I mustoffer the following preliminary observations.More profoundly feeling people have at all times felt sympathy forthe animals because they suffer from life and yet do not possess thepower to turn the thorn of suffering against itself and to understandtheir existence metaphysically; one is, indeed, profoundlyindignant at the sight of senseless suffering. That is why there hasarisen in more than one part of the earth the supposition that thebodies of animals contain the guilt-laden souls of men, so that thissuffering which at first sight arouses indignation on account of itssenselessness acquires meaning and significance as punishment andatonement before the seat of eternal justice. And it is, truly, a harshpunishment thus to live as an animal, beset by hunger and desire yetincapable of any kind of reflection on the nature of this life; and noharder fate can be thought of than that of the beast of prey pursuedthrough the wilderness by the most gnawing torment" rarely satisfiedand even then in such a way that satisfaction is purchased only withthe pain of lascerating combat with other animals or through inordinategreed and nauseating satiety. To hang on to life madly andblindly, with no higher aim than to hang on to it; not to know that orwhy one is being so heavily punished but, with the stupidity of a fearfuldesire, to thirst after precisely this punishment as though afterhappiness - that is what it means to be an animal; and if all naturepresses towards man, it thereby intimates that man is necessary forthe redemption of nature from the curse of the life of the animal, andthat in him existence at last holds up before itself a mirror in whichlife appears no longer senseless but in its metaphysical significance.Yet let us reflect: where does the animal cease, where does manbegin? - man, who is nature's sole concern! As long as anyonedesires life as he desires happiness he has not yet raised his eyesabove the horizon of the animal, for he only desires more consciouslywhat the animal seeks through blind impulse. But that is157