The Will to Power · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
617.
_Recapitulation_:-- To _stamp_ Becoming with the character of Being--this is the highest _Will to Power._ _The twofold falsification,_ by the senses on the one hand, by the intellect on the other, with the view of maintaining a world of being, of rest, of equivalent cases, etc. That _everything recurs,_ is the very nearest _approach of a world of Becoming to a world of Being, the height of contemplation._ It is out of the values which have been attributed to Being, that the condemnation of, and dissatisfaction with, Becoming, have sprung: once such a world of Being had been invented. The metamorphoses of Being (body, God, ideas, natural laws, formulæ, etc.). "Being" as appearance the twisting round of values: appearance was that which _conferred the values._ Knowledge in itself in a world of Becoming is impossible; how can knowledge be possible at all, then? Only as a mistaking of one's self, as will to power, as will to deception. Becoming is inventing, willing, self-denying, self-overcoming; no subject but an action, it places things, it is creative, no "causes and effects." Art is the will to overcome Becoming, it is a process of eternalising, but short-sighted, always according to the perspective, repeating, as it were in a small way, the tendency of the whole. That which _all life_ shows, is to be regarded as a reduced formula for the collective tendency: hence the new definition of the concept "Life" as "will to power."
Instead of "cause and effect," the struggle of evolving factors with one another, frequently with the result that the opponent is absorbed; no constant number for Becoming. The uselessness of old ideals for the interpretation of all that takes place, once their bestial origin and utility have been recognised, they are, moreover, all hostile to life. The uselessness of the mechanical theory--it gives the impression that there _can be no purpose._ All the _idealism_ of mankind, hitherto, is on the point of turning into _Nihilism_--may be shown to be a belief in absolute _worth_lessness, _i.e. purpose_lessness. The annihilation of ideals, the new desert waste the new arts which will help us to endure it--_amphibia_ that we are! _First principles,_ bravery, patience, no "stepping-back," not too much ardour to get to the fore. (_N.B._--Zarathustra constantly maintaining an attitude of parody towards all former values, as the result of his overflowing energy.) 1. The Mechanical Interpretation of the World.
Ideas discussed in this chapter
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.