160 Nietzschegreedy, the insatiable, the murderous, in the indifference of his igno-
rance" (1,877). A radical, uninhibited will to truth confronts us with
something intolerable. How can this intolerable truth be grasped if it
paradoxically reveals itself only to a consciousness that has left its
"chamber of consciousness"? How is consciousness supposed to go
beyond itself and grasp unvarnished, nonperspectivist reality?
Nietzsche recognized that the concept of consciousness confronting
transcendence would have to be described in more precise detail than he
had achieved in The Birth of Tragedy or in his essay "On Truth and
Falsehood in the Extramoral Sense." As we saw in chapter 3, Nietzsche
had called transcending consciousness 'Dionysian wisdom," but had
not yet delved into the complex logical and theoretical questions of epis-
temology. It is the old problem of the Kantian "thing in itself": no
reflection on the boundaries of knowledge can take place without a
crossing of these boundaries. Transcendental analysis must work with
the implicit assumption of an absolute reality, a reality that exists even if
it is only grasped as that uncertain something to which the processes of
consciousness and perception refer. The concept of absolute reality can
be introduced sobedy as an additional theoretical remnant and a resid-
ual category. When Nietzsche was writing The Birth of Tragedy; this was
not his intended goal. At that time, he was concerned with establishing
the presence of the absolute in ecstasy, in feelings of horror and rapture,
in presentiment and vision. This presence was held to be stronger than
a mere concept—it would not only penetrate into consciousness but
find its way into being. The desirable outcome should be not merely
mimetic but participatory. We should bear in mind that Nietzsche's
Dionysian philosophy centered on participation in an all-encompassing
colossal reality, which featured ecstatic union and an "orgiastic celebra-
tion of music." His theme was an ontology of a vast domain that was
not just theoretical but experienced, as both agony and ecstasy.
For the moment, however, Nietzsche wished to ensure the necessary
distance. He put himself on a spartan diet. No more overindulgence in
aesthetics or metaphysics! Thus, in Human, AU Too Human, absolute real-