Human, All Too Human 167chant for sympathy, called this linking of individual destinies a universal
bond of guilt that comprises all of human life.
This compassionate disposition caused Nietzsche to suffer. The
philosopher who later assailed the morality of compassion displayed an
almost osmotic sympathy. Nietzsche himself could not be nearly as
cruel, callous, and ruthless as he later demanded from the Übermensch.
His exquisite sensitivity to changes in people as well as fluctuations in
the climate had unfortunate consequences. Although his mother and sis-
ter often humiliated and belitded him, simply because they could not
understand him, he was compelled to feel compassion for them and suf-
fered from an excess of forgiveness. It was quite difficult for him to stick
to his resolve. Just when he had sworn not to write any more letters to
his mother, packages of socks and sausages would arrive from
Naumburg, and "Fritz" proceeded to write a polite note of thanks and
obey his mother's demand to make up with his sister. Although he
sought a very different oudook, he was a genius of the heart, and a need
to sympathize was obviously an integral part of his "first nature" and his
instincts. Compassion was not, as he tried to convince both himself and
others, just a dogma adopted from Schopenhauer. In July 1883, he wrote
to Malwida von Meysenbug: "Schopenhauer's 'pit/ has always been the
major source of problems in my life This is not only a soft spot that
would have made any magnanimous Greek burst into laughter but also
a serious practical hazard. We should persevere in realizing our idea of
man; we ought to be adamant about enforcing it on others as well as on
ourselves, and thus exert a creative impacd However, this also entails
holding one's own pity in check and treating everything that goes against
our ideal... as enemies. You notice how I am 'reading a moral lesson' to
myself, but attaining this Svisdom' has almost cost me my life" (B 6,404).
Clearly his "first nature" lacked a penchant for making enemies. He
had to invent and instill his "second nature" in himself. At that point,
however, he would expand the concept of the enemy into grand dimen-
sions. At times, Nietzsche was still too fully attuned to his "first nature"
and remained enough of a Schopenhauerian not only to see the mon-