PARTISAN
REVIEW
the basis of this prognosis, to legislate to the future. The man of culture
is supposed to beget a lion, and the lion later to beget a child-"Become
lions as soon as possible, be daring, tear others to pieces." But it seems
that after the terrible war of 1914-1918 it is difficult to speak of the
birth of lions. This war showed that in the civilized, educated man of our
time there was maturing a predatory and bloodthirsty beast-true, but
this beast is not a lion at all, and that is why I have very little hope
that he will ever beget a child. No, it does not behoove us to write laws
for the future.
It
will be enough if we succeed in realizing that we are
sick and need a cure; this is the beginning of a possible recovery. And
Nietzsche is strong only in his cries of pain.
It seems to me that throughout your reasonings there sounds one
basic note: filial respect for history. You are averse to condemning it;
you reverently accept everything it has created, and you are horrified
by my bold rebellion against it. But in one of your preceding letters you
spoke with conviction about man's original sin, referring evidently to
the sin of schism and of disintegration into closed, self-asserting in–
dividualities. Consequently, you admit that man's will is to a certain ex–
tent free to determine his existence in one way or another. Then why
are you offended by my assertion that contemporary culture is the
result of an error, that modern man has followed a false path and
wandered into a jungle from which he cannot find his way out. To be
sure, history has been rational throughout, that is, everything that took
place can be explained; but an explanation is not an evaluation. The
deer developed antlers by virtue of an inherent law, as a means of
self-defense and intimidation of his enemies; but in some species of
deer the antlers reached such a size that they impeded the animal in
his flight through the woods, and the species died out.
Is not the situation of culture the same? Are not our "values"
something like these antlers-at first the result of individual adaptation,
then the general possession of the race, and finally a burden and im–
pediment that has grown enormously, and become tormenting, even
fatal for the individual?
Yes, you are right: Your logic is not law for me. The truth of
history is not consecrated at any point; it is a truth in process of creation,
tested and verified by each separate individual. My own individuality,
having tested it by its feeling, says to it: you are a lie, I cannot wor–
ship you. I say to Perun:
·*
you are a wooden idol, not God; I feel God
*An idol of pre-Christian Russia-Trans.
1040
