286 NietzscheAntichrist; It is therefore reasonable to infer that shortly before his break-
down, he recognized that he was actually finished with his project 'The
Will to Power." He had said everything of importance.
When Nietzsche wrote in 1883: "Wherever 1 found living beings, I
found will to power" (4,147; ZSecond Part, "On Self-Transcendence"),
he was recapitulating an entire past history that had set him on the path
of this will to power. If we track this past history, we find that it com-
menced with the power of art and artists. When Nietzsche was analyz-
ing the interaction of the Dionysian and Apollonian forces in Greek
culture, he was referring to precisely these artistic life forces. What is the
power of art? Art creates a magic circle of images, visions, tones, and
ideas that hold us spellbound and transform anyone who enters the cir-
cle. The power of art is a life force to the extent that it provides insight
into the dark tragic web of life, but creates a clearing of livability. Since
human life is challenged by consciousness and cardes within it the
potential for creating hostility with itself, artistic power is also a coun-
terforce that protects life from any possible self-destruction.
In addition, the power of art involves opening the door to represen-
tations, thereby sublimating the cruel batde of forces into a contest and
a game. Nietzsche had broached the idea of the basic agonistic struc-
ture of life as early as The Birth of Tragedy, and he developed it in his
essay "Homer's Contest." He sought to make sense of the basic model
of archaic Greek culture, hoping to form an ontological principle in the
process. The study of Darwin and his disciples acquainted him with the
concept of the "struggle for existence." But these doctrines were not
sufficiendy dynamic for him. For Nietzsche, as we have seen, it was a
question not of defensive self-preservation but of offensive self-
enhancement. Life is a process of expansion. Safeguarding one's exis-
tence might be of import to the anxious petty bourgeois, but life as a
whole cannot be envisioned as a wodd of philistines. Zarathustra pro-
vides a pithy formulation of life's proclivity for self-enhancement:
"Only where there is life is there also will, but not will to life... rather
will to power" (4,149; ZSecond Part, "On Self-Transcendence"). What