13.
Let us not under-estimate this fact: that we ourselves, we
free spirits, are already a “transvaluation of all values,” a
visualized declaration of war and victory against all the
old concepts of “true” and “not true.” The most
valuable intuitions are the last to be attained; the most valuable of all
are those which determine methods. All the methods, all the principles
of the scientific spirit of today, were the targets for thousands of years of
the most profound contempt; if a man inclined to them he was excluded from the
society of “decent” people—he passed as “an enemy of
God,” as a scoffer at the truth, as one “possessed.”
As a man of science, he belonged to the Chandala[1]...
We have had the whole pathetic stupidity of mankind against us—their
every notion of what the truth ought to be, of what the service of
the truth ought to be—their every “thou shalt” was
launched against us. . . . Our objectives, our methods, our quiet,
cautious, distrustful manner—all appeared to them as absolutely
discreditable and contemptible.—Looking back, one may almost ask one's
self with reason if it was not actually an aesthetic sense that
kept men blind so long: what they demanded of the truth was picturesque
effectiveness, and of the learned a strong appeal to their senses. It was
our modesty that stood out longest against their taste...How well
they guessed that, these turkey-cocks of God!
Footnotes
[1]
. The lowest of the Hindu castes.
