here repeat that when genius aspires at producing something approximately perfect, it must keep the keenest eye on the laws of reality, the laws which govern things as they truly exist, and not indulge in empty, capricious, fantastic notions. Healthy realism, a disinterested perception penetrating to the very depths, into the essential nature of things, leads to true idealism, to an understanding of the great ideas which rule all that exists and which all culminate in the one idea of the highest, most perfect, eternal state of being. This is clearly stated by Goethe when he says, "The idea is one and eternal; nor is it proper that we should use the word in the plural. All the things of which we become cognisant and are able to speak, are but manifestations of the Idea."1 Hence nothing is further removed from genius than a conscious and intentional opposition to truth and reality, than an indulging in fancies wholly detached from all the laws of actuality, than a self-mirroring which deals purely in the most ridiculous illusions. As all existence is based on laws, so also there is no man in whom production is more the expression of laws, and less of mere caprice than in a man of genius who represents the fullest existence, the most perfect development of human nature at least from one side, whether it be the artistic, philosophic, practical, or religious side. The following passage gives us a clear idea of how in a man of genius, like Goethe, so marvellously developed in various directions and showing a very high degree of existence or perfection of human nature, the sense of the real, a deepened interest, love of the object before him, that is, objectivity, prevailed and enabled him to recognise the eternal idea in each single phenomenon, however insignificant: "I now 1 Criticisms, Reflections, and Maxims by Goethe. Translated by W. B. Rönnfeldt, pp. 187, 188. turn with my narrative once more to the sea. I there saw yesterday the haunts of the sea-snails, the limpets, and the crabs, and was highly delighted with the sight. What a precious, glorious object is a living thing! - how wonderfully adapted to its state of existence, how true, how real (seyend). What great advantages do I not derive now from my former studies of nature, and how delighted am I with the opportunity of continuing them." 1 Whoever is a stranger to this disinterested absorption in the nature of things and only delights in egotistical self-delusion, is incapable of creative work, because he does not know how to seize true hold of things. How can a blind man from within himself find the right way that is to lead him to his goal? He can only wander at random, for there are always innumerable wrong ways, but only one right one. A selfish man is at the same time a stupid man incapable of creating anything; he can only destroy. That is why Stirner says, "We egoists only feel at ease when we destroy;"2 and in quite the same spirit Nietzsche praises "the awful joy and intense delight in all destruction, in all the ecstasies of victory and cruelty.' "3 Woe to him who follows these modern antisophers, the deliberate antagonists of all truth. He will not produce or build up, but ruin himself and others, whereas the creative genius points out to humanity the way to an everlasting goal. 1 Goethe's Travels in Italy. Translated by A. J. W. Morrison & Ch. Nisbet, 1911, p. 81. 2 Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum. 2. Auflage, 1882, p. 147. The Complete Works, ed. Levy, vol. XIII, p. 41. INDEX Abdera, Anaxarchus born in, 297, Absorption of Hamlet in outward appearance, 89 sq. of Newton in his scientific pur- Active and practical love of God, love of God, sacrifice the negative Activity, Faust's genius manifested of genius has the nature of play, Actual, Bismarck's observation on the Napoleon's recognition of the, 456sq. Advocates of a criminal, according to Esthetic impression, Hamlet's acces- object, 78-81 perceptions of Manfred, 182 sq. sense in Alexander the Great, 284 sq. sensation, Jacob Böhme's conscious- Esthetical and Philosophical Essays by Schiller, cited, 16, 21, 46, 50, Agnes, in Ibsen's Brand, 391 sq. apostate to his own inspired nature, intemperance of, 297, 299 Plutarch on, in Lives, 254, 282, practical conduct of, 286 Schmidt on, in Spamer's Welt- superstition of, 297 temporal superhumanity of, 273 Alexander des Großen Geschichte von All-conquering power of genius, 83 Animals, advantages of man over, sympathy of, for their fellows, 308 extol tyranny and anarchy, 327 polemics of, against idealism, 65 Antisophy of egoism, 325 sq. of Nietzsche and Stirner, 49, 325 sq. of Napoleon, 295, 301 sq. all men of genius suffered from melancholy, according to, 183 Poems of Wordsworth, chosen and genius, conception of, 5, 14, 52 freedom from the, 427 ideal in Nietzsche's antisophy, 352, Asceticism in the life of Buddha, 231, in the life of Christ, 231 sq., 240sq. according to Nietzsche the highest according to Schopenhauer, 202 sq. the abstinence from an ideal, ac- Babylon, Alexander on his way to, 295 his influence on Goethe, according ridicules Copernicus and Gilbert, Bad conscience, Nietzsche on the origin Baptism, Christ's attitude towards, 257 Beautiful, Stendhal's definition of the, Beauty, definition of, 14, 23, 29, 79 harmony in outside appearance, 215 Beloved object, attitude towards the, Beyond Good and Evil, by Nietzsche, cited, 66, 243, 332, 335, 340, 348, Bismarck, his observation on the power on the refutation of foolish thoughts, Bleibtreu on Napoleon, in Der Im- perator, 274 sq., 279 sq., 291 sq. Born of woman, John the Baptist is, of the Spirit, the least in the King- Brand by Ibsen, cited, 390 sq. |