Human, All Too Human 165in itself. We can feel pressured in a "ghasdy and mysterious way to sur-
render our intellect" (2,37; HHI § 16) and to identify with the unknow-
able essence. We attempt to live out what cannot be known, "to arrive at
an essence by becoming imbued with essence" (2,37). Clearly, Nietzsche
had his Dionysian passion in mind.
Another option would be to indict the essence of the world "rather
than accusing intellect," because the essence of the world is concealed
and leads intellect astray. We want to get away from it all; we yearn for
"deliverance from being" (2,37; HH I § 16), which is how Nietzsche
characterized the Schopenhauerian method.
Then he noted a third option, the one he was currendy exploring: to
leave aside the difference between the world as we experience it and the
essence of the world and to turn to an empirical "ontogeny of thought"
(2,37; HHI § 16). In the long course of history, humans have looked out
onto the world through coundess eyes and acted with passion, imagina-
tion, morality, and knowledge. This is the way we have appropriated the
world, "marvelously vivid, frightful, profound, soulful. It has taken on col-
ors," and obviously we ourselves are the colorists. 'That which we now
call the world is the result of a number of errors and fantasies that arose
gradually along with the development of organic beings as a whole. They
have coalesced and are now handed down to us as a collected treasure of
our entire past—as a treasure, because the value of our humanity rests on
it" (2,37). We can consider this history of experience a "treasure" only if
we are prepared to relinquish the absolute point of reference. We should
stop brooding about the "First and Last Things" and move beyond a ver-
tical orientation in order to achieve a horizontal perspective. Of course,
horizontal science will not be able to liberate us altogether from the
"power of ancient habits" of feeling, which would not even be desirable.
It would be sufficient if feelings were ennobled and knowledge enhanced
within the framework of their basic limitations. What matters is distance
rather than transcendence. Using a scientific approach, we can "elucidate"
our own history, customs, knowledge, and feelings, and "lift ourselves
above the whole process, at least for a moment or two" (2,37f.; HH I