Will
This in today’s Age, in an excellent article by Guy Rundle on sexual morality:
there has been a decisive shift in ethics in everyday life, from the centrality of the “good” to that of the will. What has become most sinful, as evidenced across the cultural field, from the art avant-garde to reality TV, is to not do as thou wilt, to abnegate, to pull back from the pursuit of satisfaction. To us, meekness – put at the centre of Christian belief by the sermon on the mount, as a riposte to the Roman Empire’s will-to-power – is genuinely repulsive, a strangling of one’s selfhood by a renunciation of what one wants.
Nietzsche would have been proud if this were so. I wonder, though, if this has indeed become the ethics of ordinary people. It takes enormous strength not to pull back from the pursuit of satisfaction, not to strangle oneself, not to renounce what one wants. It is easier to be consume than to produce, easier to follow than to lead, easier to be passive than active, easier to be slave than to be master. To stand on the strong side of these binaries is still something extraordinary, a position that belongs to Nietzsche’s übermensch (overman), the one who endeavours always to overcome his own weaknesses.
Wow! Thanks for posting this. I found the article very interesting and engrossing. One thing though regarding your comment.
I think you might have transposed two words in there – I would say it is much easier to be passive than active. Being active requires a conscious act of will, making decisions and taking responsibility for them. Passivity on the other hand can be simple apathy – lack of will to do absolutely anything.
Luke
10 Dec 06 at 15:21
Thanks for pointing out the error, Luke. I’ve corrected it. Glad you enjoyed the article.
Ben H
10 Dec 06 at 21:49