One line of Nietzsche’s in this week’s reading really stood out to me: “I expressly want to place on record that at the time when mankind felt no shame towards its cruelty, life on earth was more cheerful than it is today, with its pessimists” (Genealogy, 43). I imagine that Nietzsche is right. Our society is so full of contradictions, and I feel like it is these contradictions which make the human condition today so unhappy. If we have this innate will to power as Nietzsche suggests, then the fulfillment of this will to power is what provides us with happiness. This happiness is not a constant end goal like it is sometimes envisioned, not a state of contentment which relieves the mind of distress. But rather, a more ecstatic state of mind which is realized in the overcoming of some obstacle or the attainment of power. It is a fleeting state that we continuously try to realize again and again.
I think this conception of happiness was likely lived out during times of corporal punishment when celebratory displays of violence were the norm. There is a clear correlation between happiness, celebration, violence, and the will to power. This type of society seems so simplistic compared to ours today. It suggests a type of utilitarian ethics for the individual, who is to maximize their power and control over others to be as happy as possible. Here, happiness would be a clearly and simply obtainable goal.
Nietzsche discusses how the process of ressentiment has changed society so that it no longer fits the natural will to power; rather, it suppresses it and hides it. Today, it’s bad for the individual to not have power just like it was bad for the individual in a game of thrones type society to not have power. But today, it is also morally reprehensible in many contexts to have power. While wielding power at the expense of others used to be a moral good, it is now seen as morally wrong. So, if you don’t have power, you are probably morally good, but you probably don’t have a good life because you are being exploited. But, if you do have power, you have the resources to have a good life, but this power makes you morally wrong. It seems there is a conflict between being a good person and having a good life. There is this constant tension between the internal will to power and the external pressures of ressentiment. I think it would be a lot simpler to live in a society of the past.