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THE EGO AND HIS OWN

consciousness of sin was our Mongolian torment that
lasted thousands of years.

But who, then, will dissolve the spirit into its noth-

ing? He who by means of the spirit set forth nature
as the null, finite, transitory, he alone can bring down
the spirit too to like nullity. I can ; each one among
you can, who does his will as an absolute I ; in a
word, the egoist can.

Before the sacred, people lose all sense of power and

all confidence ; they occupy a powerless and humble
attitude toward it. And yet no thing is sacred of it-
self, but by my declaring it sacred, by my declaration,
my judgment, my bending the knee; in short, by my
--conscience.

Sacred is everything which for the egoist is to be

unapproachable, not to be touched, outside his power,
--i. e. above Mm ; sacred, in a word, is every matter
of conscience, for " this is a matter of conscience to
me " means simply " I hold this sacred."

For little children, just as for animals, nothing

sacred exists, because, in order to make room for this
conception, one must already have progressed so far in
understanding that he can make distinctions like
" good and bad," " warranted and unwarranted,"
etc. ; only at such a level of reflection or intelligence--
the proper standpoint of religion--can unnatural
(i. e. brought into existence by thinking) reverence,
" sacred dread," step into the place of natural fear.
To this sacred dread belongs holding something out-
side oneself for mightier, greater, better warranted,
better, etc.; i. e. the attitude in which one acknowl-

MEN OF THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW 93

edges the might of something alien--not merely feels
it, then, but expressly acknowledges it, i. e. admits it,
yields, surrenders, lets himself be tied (devotion,
humility, servility, submission, etc.) Here walks the
whole ghostly troop of the " Christian virtues."

Everything toward which you cherish any respect

or reverence deserves the name of sacred; you your-
selves, too, say that you would feel a " sacred dread "
of laying hands on it. And you give this tinge even
to the unholy (gallows, crime, etc.) You have a hor-
ror of touching it. There lies in it something un-
canny, i. e. unfamiliar or not your own.

" If something or other did not rank as sacred in a

man's mind, why, then all bars would be let down to
self-will, to unlimited subjectivity ! " Fear makes the
beginning, and one can make himself fearful to the
coarsest man; already, therefore, a barrier against his
insolence. But in fear there always remains the at-
tempt to liberate oneself from what is feared, by guile,
deception, tricks, etc. In reverence,* on the contrary,
it is quite otherwise. Here something is not only
feared, but also honored : what is feared has become
an inward power which I can no longer get clear of; I
honor it, am captivated by it and devoted to it, be-
long to it; by the honor which I pay it I am com-
pletely in its power, and do not even attempt libera-
tion any longer. Now I am attached to it with all
the strength of faith; I believe. I and what I fear
are one; " not I live, but the respected lives in me ! "
Because the spirit, the infinite, does not allow of com-

*[Ehrfurcht]

[gefuerchtet]

[

geehrt]