Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future - EILFE

Beyond Good and Evil
own who this questionable spirit and god is, who wants to be praised in
this way
Like everyone who, from childhood, has constantly been underway
and abroad, I have had many strange and not unthreatening spirits run
across my path, but especially the one I have just been talking about, who
has crossed my path again and again – in other words, nobody less than
the god Dionysus, that great ambiguity and tempter god, to whom, as
you know, I once offered my firstborn 20 in all secrecy and reverence. I
seem to be the last one to have offered him a sacrifice: because I have not
found anyone who understood what I was doing then. In the meantime,
I have learned much, all too much more about the philosophy of this
god, passed on, as I said, from mouth to mouth – I, the last disciple
and initiate of the god Dionysus: and can I, at last, start to give you,
my friends, a small taste of this philosophy, as far as I am permitted In
undertones, which would be best, since it concerns many things that are
secret, new, foreign, strange, uncanny. Even the fact that Dionysus is a
philosopher and that, consequently, even gods philosophize, seems to me
like something new and not without its dangers, something that might
arouse mistrust precisely among philosophers, – among you, my friends,
it has less opposition, unless it comes too late and at the wrong time: I have
been told that you do not like believing in God and gods these days. And
perhaps in recounting my story, I will have to take frankness further than
will always be agreeable to the strict habits of your ears Certainly, the
god in question went further in dialogues like this, much, much further,
and was always many steps ahead of me ...In fact, if it were permissible
to follow human custom in ascribing beautiful, solemn names of splendor
and virtue to him, I would have to offer many praises for his explorer’s,
discoverer’s heart, for his daring and genuine honesty, his truthfulness
and his love of wisdom. But a god like this will have no use at all for this
honorable rubbish and splendor. “Keep this for yourself,” he would say,
“and for those like you and anyone else who needs it! I – have no reason
for covering my nakedness!” – You can guess: this type of divinity and
philosopher is, perhaps, lacking in shame – He once said: “I love humans
under certain circumstances” – meaning Ariadne, who was present –:
“I think humans are pleasant, brave, inventive animals that have no equal
on earth, they find their way around any labyrinth. I am very fond of
20 AreferencetoNietzsche’sfirstpublished book,DieGeburt derTragödie(TheBirthof Tragedy)(1872).
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