Nietzsche is considered to be one of the most influential philosophers and thinkers in history. His thoughts and views regarding a variety of issues created a new and, somewhat, independent school of thought.
In many of his works, Nietzsche tries to find a new foundation for western civilization, creating a new set of thoughts that replaces the already-existing basis. His philosophy states that morals which, in great part, depend on the heritage of religions that are mostly based on the Judeo-Christian concepts and that define good and evil and identifies the relation of man with his reality, should be re-evaluated.
His criticism of religion was one of the most evident aspects of his philosophy. Collier regards Nietzsche as one of those who made the most effective arguments against religion in the last one hundred and fifty years. The author states that religion for Nietzsche is “part of a slave rebellion in morals - a substitute for the unsuccessful slave rebellion in reality” (Popora et al.).
Even the basic concepts such as the definition of good and evil have been presented differently, as, according to Nietzsche, the definition is related to weakness and strength: Nietzsche defines the Christian religion, saying that it represents “everything weak, low, and botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism towards all the self-preservative instincts of strong life.” On the other hand, Nietzsche’s concept of good is described as: “All that enhances the feeling of power, the Will to Power, and power itself in man. What is bad?--All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness?--The feeling that power is increasing,--that resistance has been overcome.” He also explained his ideas about Christianity with the following: “I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race” (Nietzsche and Hollingdale 127).
THE ASCETIC PRIEST
According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, an ascetic person is one who is “practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline,” which means that he/she is an individual who leads a life of reflection and a painstaking process of self-denial for reasons that are strictly related to religion.
The ascetic ideal “valorizes self-denial and stigmatizes satisfaction of the rapacious and sensual desires” (Leiter 261).
Nola gives us a more thorough definition when he states that the word “ascetic comes into English from the Greek ‘asketes,’ monk or hermit. In classical Greek, the word ‘asketo’ meant training in general, such as in athletics or gymnastics, or for the arena, etc. And the word ‘askesis’ meant a way of life involving training. It can easily be seen how the word was adapted to refer to those who indulged in a training of the self in denial and sever abstinence” (505).
The ascetic priest lives in self-denial, refuting the natural world in its entirety. According to this view, this priest’s initial view of life is one of disgust because it brings nothing more than suffering and hurt. According to the religious view, life as we know it began with a mistake and is going on in its path as a punishment for that mistake, and the main purpose of living it is to reach the starting point; the point where it all commenced.
Nietzsche, in the passage in question, explains his view regarding the ascetic priest by explaining the contradiction which is evident in the fact that this figure has been present in almost all historic periods, which signifies that it logically should represent some kind of an element facilitating the lives of man throughout his existence on this earth, but, in the same time, it has always been a figure that rejects life in all its aspects, as it awaits impatiently its end. The ascetic priest regards life as an evil that brings nothing but suffering and unnecessary pains to those who make part of it.
Nola explains Nietzsche’s view regarding the resentment which is able to support the priest's denial of himself and of life, by stating that “it grows and becomes triumphant; but it does so at the expense of other instinctual capacities for life. There are diminished and ultimately stunted or crushed.” The author highlights the way in which resentment works: “resentment plays a leading role in causing the periods to lead an ascetic life;” and it “is an instinctual drive in priests, and is a particular manifestation of the will to power enabling them to master life itself, that is to resist all the impulses to life and to be hostile to it while continuing to live” (505).
Nietzsche states that ascetic priests attempted, in all possible ways, to dominate humans in every matter related to their being; their most important objective is to dominate the most essential element: The ascetic priests’ “will to power which seeks not to master some isolated aspect of life but rather life itself, over its deepest, strongest, most basic conditions” is the most evident element in their school of thought (On the Genealogy of Morals III,11). And this, according to Nietzsche, can be seen in the way that religious figures always tend to force their ideas concerning the meaning of life and its purpose and the way it should be conducted, and they tend to reject all opposing opinions, in some cases even violently.
According to Nietzsche, philosophers, throughout history, relied on the ascetic ideals in their views. Clark explains the views of Nietzsche by stating that philosophers “have accepted... an ‘other-worldly’ account that reflects the ascetic priest’s devaluation of human existence.” According to the author, philosophers established their concept of morality through the rejection of sensual pleasures that are “necessary for the development of a higher spirituality.” As a matter of fact, Clark affirms that Nietzsche believed that “the philosopher’s understanding of higher spirituality (as excluding sensuality) derives from the priest's ascetic ideal.” This leads us to the most important factor in Nietzsche’s argument which is that philosophers, according to his point of view, should “discard the ‘repulsive and gloomy caterpillar form’ they borrowed from the ascetic priest” (170).
Another author who attempts to go through the ideas of Nietzsche regarding the issue of the ascetic priest is Strong when she states that
The ascetic priest alleviates temporarily the disasters of moral life. Nietzsche lists the “innocent” means as (a) reducing the feeling of life to its lowest point (e.g. yogic trance), (b) mechanical activity, (c) “petty pleasures,” and (d) the formation of a herd. Such means are referred to as “innocent,” because they are all generally approved by the society that they are keeping together. In using these diverse means, the ascetic priest is not curing men of an increasingly “dominating sense of pleasure” - he is no physician. Rather he is merely alleviating the discontents by providing temporary palliatives (255).
Strong describes the method in which the ascetic priest, according to Nietzsche, preserves his ideals, and that is through the protection of a specific kind of life and through keeping it from “crashing through nihilism into nothingness.” Most probably, the will to remain in power over the rest of the people came out as a result of this protective instinct that ascetic priests have to protect their realm: “The ascetic priest can tolerate no power... on earth... which does not first... receive a meaning, a right to exist, a value as a tool to the ascetic ideal, as a way and means to its goal. Such an ideal triumphs so completely that there is simply no opposition” (255-256).
Contrary to what the reader may be expecting, we find that Nietzsche does not argue against the principal ascetic ideal; instead, he finds it somewhat positive, as it gives man the possibility to observe the various matters of life from a different point of view. After having explained the contradictions in the ascetic ideals and basic thoughts, we must keep in mind that, as Nietzsche suggests, we cannot consider the ascetic ideal as a wrong one because no point in life is objective in an absolute manner. Nietzsche states that only through achieving the possibility of observing the angles of life from different perspectives can we achieve knowledge. Bishop suggests that Nietzsche has a certain fondness for ascetic priests and for their ideals, as “the resolute will of the ascetic priest to transform life in something Nietzsche genuinely appreciates. For asceticism has provided the most significant means for humans to overcome their animal-level existence - ascetics do not shrink from their psychological endowment, but flourish in it” (313).
CONCLUSION
The main point in Nietzsche’s criticism of the ascetic priests (and the ascetic ideal) is the attempt of enforcing their thoughts regarding morality (thoughts which originate from the Christian teachings) over society and individuals. The most significant factor is that the ascetic priest always tries to put what is important in his view above what is needed for the advancement of human life and society. The continuous attempt to undermine what is necessary for human life and to label many of its requirements as immoral is of crucial importance when it comes to the opinions of Nietzsche, this includes the general view of life itself and the creation of a moral aspect from the suffering of humans. By doing that, the ascetic priest exercises the ultimate power over humans because he represents himself as the source of true knowledge and the path to the divine, which leads him to dominate everyone and lead them as herds.
Ackermann gives us a better explanation of how philosophy and ascetic ideals can be of benefit to humans, by suggesting that
The three great slogans of the ascetic idea - poverty, humility, and chastity - are always encountered in the lives of great, fruitful, inventive spirits. These ideals are not virtues, as claimed by the apologetics of philosophers, but the painful natural conditions of their most creative existence. The asceticism of poverty, humility, and chastity does not ultimately mark the deepest link between philosophy and the ascetic ideal. Values change over time, for example, suffering, which was once a virtue but is now a vice. (102)
The ascetic priest spreads his views in an attempt to exert power over the people. Explaining the suffering and pain, which are a misfortune, as the source that allows us to live; while any attempt to reach any acts of will, such as health, strength, or happiness, is presented as something beyond reach. Not only that, but the ascetic ideal affirmed the fact that accepting such views is a precondition to the correct aspect of living.
The ascetic priests, by rejecting all the things that this life offers and determining that humans have no choice in any of the factors formulating any aspect of their lives – calling on them to accept whatever suffering and pain as, by doing so, they go on the path towards another life – are in total contradiction with their desire to dominate every aspect of people’s lives. And this, according to Nietzsche, is the greatest contradiction of all.
In many of his works, Nietzsche tries to find a new foundation for western civilization, creating a new set of thoughts that replaces the already-existing basis. His philosophy states that morals which, in great part, depend on the heritage of religions that are mostly based on the Judeo-Christian concepts and that define good and evil and identifies the relation of man with his reality, should be re-evaluated.
His criticism of religion was one of the most evident aspects of his philosophy. Collier regards Nietzsche as one of those who made the most effective arguments against religion in the last one hundred and fifty years. The author states that religion for Nietzsche is “part of a slave rebellion in morals - a substitute for the unsuccessful slave rebellion in reality” (Popora et al.).
Even the basic concepts such as the definition of good and evil have been presented differently, as, according to Nietzsche, the definition is related to weakness and strength: Nietzsche defines the Christian religion, saying that it represents “everything weak, low, and botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism towards all the self-preservative instincts of strong life.” On the other hand, Nietzsche’s concept of good is described as: “All that enhances the feeling of power, the Will to Power, and power itself in man. What is bad?--All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness?--The feeling that power is increasing,--that resistance has been overcome.” He also explained his ideas about Christianity with the following: “I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race” (Nietzsche and Hollingdale 127).
THE ASCETIC PRIEST
According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, an ascetic person is one who is “practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline,” which means that he/she is an individual who leads a life of reflection and a painstaking process of self-denial for reasons that are strictly related to religion.
The ascetic ideal “valorizes self-denial and stigmatizes satisfaction of the rapacious and sensual desires” (Leiter 261).
Nola gives us a more thorough definition when he states that the word “ascetic comes into English from the Greek ‘asketes,’ monk or hermit. In classical Greek, the word ‘asketo’ meant training in general, such as in athletics or gymnastics, or for the arena, etc. And the word ‘askesis’ meant a way of life involving training. It can easily be seen how the word was adapted to refer to those who indulged in a training of the self in denial and sever abstinence” (505).
The ascetic priest lives in self-denial, refuting the natural world in its entirety. According to this view, this priest’s initial view of life is one of disgust because it brings nothing more than suffering and hurt. According to the religious view, life as we know it began with a mistake and is going on in its path as a punishment for that mistake, and the main purpose of living it is to reach the starting point; the point where it all commenced.
Nietzsche, in the passage in question, explains his view regarding the ascetic priest by explaining the contradiction which is evident in the fact that this figure has been present in almost all historic periods, which signifies that it logically should represent some kind of an element facilitating the lives of man throughout his existence on this earth, but, in the same time, it has always been a figure that rejects life in all its aspects, as it awaits impatiently its end. The ascetic priest regards life as an evil that brings nothing but suffering and unnecessary pains to those who make part of it.
Nola explains Nietzsche’s view regarding the resentment which is able to support the priest's denial of himself and of life, by stating that “it grows and becomes triumphant; but it does so at the expense of other instinctual capacities for life. There are diminished and ultimately stunted or crushed.” The author highlights the way in which resentment works: “resentment plays a leading role in causing the periods to lead an ascetic life;” and it “is an instinctual drive in priests, and is a particular manifestation of the will to power enabling them to master life itself, that is to resist all the impulses to life and to be hostile to it while continuing to live” (505).
Nietzsche states that ascetic priests attempted, in all possible ways, to dominate humans in every matter related to their being; their most important objective is to dominate the most essential element: The ascetic priests’ “will to power which seeks not to master some isolated aspect of life but rather life itself, over its deepest, strongest, most basic conditions” is the most evident element in their school of thought (On the Genealogy of Morals III,11). And this, according to Nietzsche, can be seen in the way that religious figures always tend to force their ideas concerning the meaning of life and its purpose and the way it should be conducted, and they tend to reject all opposing opinions, in some cases even violently.
According to Nietzsche, philosophers, throughout history, relied on the ascetic ideals in their views. Clark explains the views of Nietzsche by stating that philosophers “have accepted... an ‘other-worldly’ account that reflects the ascetic priest’s devaluation of human existence.” According to the author, philosophers established their concept of morality through the rejection of sensual pleasures that are “necessary for the development of a higher spirituality.” As a matter of fact, Clark affirms that Nietzsche believed that “the philosopher’s understanding of higher spirituality (as excluding sensuality) derives from the priest's ascetic ideal.” This leads us to the most important factor in Nietzsche’s argument which is that philosophers, according to his point of view, should “discard the ‘repulsive and gloomy caterpillar form’ they borrowed from the ascetic priest” (170).
Another author who attempts to go through the ideas of Nietzsche regarding the issue of the ascetic priest is Strong when she states that
The ascetic priest alleviates temporarily the disasters of moral life. Nietzsche lists the “innocent” means as (a) reducing the feeling of life to its lowest point (e.g. yogic trance), (b) mechanical activity, (c) “petty pleasures,” and (d) the formation of a herd. Such means are referred to as “innocent,” because they are all generally approved by the society that they are keeping together. In using these diverse means, the ascetic priest is not curing men of an increasingly “dominating sense of pleasure” - he is no physician. Rather he is merely alleviating the discontents by providing temporary palliatives (255).
Strong describes the method in which the ascetic priest, according to Nietzsche, preserves his ideals, and that is through the protection of a specific kind of life and through keeping it from “crashing through nihilism into nothingness.” Most probably, the will to remain in power over the rest of the people came out as a result of this protective instinct that ascetic priests have to protect their realm: “The ascetic priest can tolerate no power... on earth... which does not first... receive a meaning, a right to exist, a value as a tool to the ascetic ideal, as a way and means to its goal. Such an ideal triumphs so completely that there is simply no opposition” (255-256).
Contrary to what the reader may be expecting, we find that Nietzsche does not argue against the principal ascetic ideal; instead, he finds it somewhat positive, as it gives man the possibility to observe the various matters of life from a different point of view. After having explained the contradictions in the ascetic ideals and basic thoughts, we must keep in mind that, as Nietzsche suggests, we cannot consider the ascetic ideal as a wrong one because no point in life is objective in an absolute manner. Nietzsche states that only through achieving the possibility of observing the angles of life from different perspectives can we achieve knowledge. Bishop suggests that Nietzsche has a certain fondness for ascetic priests and for their ideals, as “the resolute will of the ascetic priest to transform life in something Nietzsche genuinely appreciates. For asceticism has provided the most significant means for humans to overcome their animal-level existence - ascetics do not shrink from their psychological endowment, but flourish in it” (313).
CONCLUSION
The main point in Nietzsche’s criticism of the ascetic priests (and the ascetic ideal) is the attempt of enforcing their thoughts regarding morality (thoughts which originate from the Christian teachings) over society and individuals. The most significant factor is that the ascetic priest always tries to put what is important in his view above what is needed for the advancement of human life and society. The continuous attempt to undermine what is necessary for human life and to label many of its requirements as immoral is of crucial importance when it comes to the opinions of Nietzsche, this includes the general view of life itself and the creation of a moral aspect from the suffering of humans. By doing that, the ascetic priest exercises the ultimate power over humans because he represents himself as the source of true knowledge and the path to the divine, which leads him to dominate everyone and lead them as herds.
Ackermann gives us a better explanation of how philosophy and ascetic ideals can be of benefit to humans, by suggesting that
The three great slogans of the ascetic idea - poverty, humility, and chastity - are always encountered in the lives of great, fruitful, inventive spirits. These ideals are not virtues, as claimed by the apologetics of philosophers, but the painful natural conditions of their most creative existence. The asceticism of poverty, humility, and chastity does not ultimately mark the deepest link between philosophy and the ascetic ideal. Values change over time, for example, suffering, which was once a virtue but is now a vice. (102)
The ascetic priest spreads his views in an attempt to exert power over the people. Explaining the suffering and pain, which are a misfortune, as the source that allows us to live; while any attempt to reach any acts of will, such as health, strength, or happiness, is presented as something beyond reach. Not only that, but the ascetic ideal affirmed the fact that accepting such views is a precondition to the correct aspect of living.
The ascetic priests, by rejecting all the things that this life offers and determining that humans have no choice in any of the factors formulating any aspect of their lives – calling on them to accept whatever suffering and pain as, by doing so, they go on the path towards another life – are in total contradiction with their desire to dominate every aspect of people’s lives. And this, according to Nietzsche, is the greatest contradiction of all.
Works Cited
Ackermann,
Robert John. Nietzsche: A Frenzied Look. Amherst , MA university of
Maccachusetts
Press
‘Ascentic.’ Merriam
Webster Online Dictionary. 2006. 7 December 2006
<http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/ascetic>
Bishop, Paul. Nietzsche
and Antiquity: his reaction and response to the classical tradition. Rochester , NY
Clark,
Maudemarie. Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy. New York , NY Cambridge University
Leiter, Brian. Routledge
Philosophy Guidebook to Nietzsche on Morality. London , England
Nietzsche,
Friedrich, and R. J. Hollingdale. The Twilight of the Idols and the
Anti-Christ. London , England
Nietzsche,
Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals - A Polemical Tract. 1887.
Malaspina University-College. 2001. 7 December 2006
<http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/Nietzsche/genealogy3.htm>.
Nola, Robert. Rescuing
Reason: A Critique of Anti-Rationalist Views of Science and Knowledge. Dordrecht ,
The Netherlands : Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 2003.
Porpora, Douglas
V, et al. Transcendence: Critial Realism and God. London , England
Strong, Tracy B.
Friedrich Nietzsche and the Politics of Transfiguration. Champaign , IL University of Illinois
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