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THE EGO AND HIS OWN

and you instruct us that God's cause is indeed the
cause of truth and love, but that this cause cannot be
called alien to him, because God is himself truth and
love; you are shocked by the assumption that God
could be like us poor worms in furthering an alien
cause as his own. " Should God take up the cause of
truth if he were not himself truth?" He cares only
for his cause, but, because he is all in all, therefore all
is his cause! But we, we are not all in all, and our
cause is altogether little and contemptible; therefore
we must " serve a higher cause."--Now it is clear,
God cares only for what is his, busies himself only
with himself, thinks only of himself, and has only
himself before his eyes; woe to all that is not well-
pleasing to him! He serves no higher person, and
satisfies only himself. His cause is--a purely egoistic
cause.

How is it with mankind, whose cause we are to

make our own ? Is its cause that of another, and does
mankind serve a higher cause ? No, mankind looks
only at itself, mankind will promote the interests of
mankind only, mankind is its own cause. That it
may develop, it causes nations and individuals to wear
themselves out in its service, and, when they have ac-
complished what mankind needs, it throws them on the
dung-heap of history in gratitude. Is not mankind's
cause--a purely egoistic cause ?

I have no need to take up each thing that wants to

throw its cause on us and show that it is occupied only
with itself, not with us, only with its good, not with
ours. Look at the rest for yourselves. Do truth,
freedom, humanity, justice, desire anything else than

ALL THINGS ARE NOTHING TO ME 5

that you grow enthusiastic and serve them ?

They all have an admirable time of it when they

receive zealous homage. Just observe the nation that
is defended by devoted patriots. The patriots fall in
bloody battle or in the fight with hunger and want;
what does the nation care for that ? By the manure of
their corpses the nation comes to " its bloom! " The
individuals have died " for the great cause of the na-
tion," and the nation sends some words of thanks after
them and--has the profit of it. I call that a paying
kind of egoism.

But only look at that Sultan who cares so lovingly

for his people. Is he not pure unselfishness itself, and
does he not hourly sacrifice himself for his people ?
Oh, yes, for " his people." Just try it; show yourself
not as his, but as your own; for breaking away from
his egoism you will take a trip to jail. The Sultan
has set his cause on nothing but himself; he is to
himself all in all, he is to himself the only one, and
tolerates nobody who would dare not to be one of " his
people."

And will you not learn by these brilliant examples

that the egoist gets on best ? I for my part take
a lesson from them, and propose, instead of further
unselfishly serving those great egoists, rather to be the
egoist myself.

God and mankind have concerned themselves for

nothing, for nothing but themselves. Let me then
likewise concern myself for myself, who am equally
with God the nothing of all others, who am my all,
who am the only one.*

* [der Einzige]