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In the Will to Power Nietzsche writes:
“Against remorse. I do not like this form of cowardice in regard to one’s own actions, one must not leave one’s self in the lurch under the pressure of sudden shame or distress. Extreme pride is much more fitting here. What is the good of it all in the end! No deed gets undone because it is regretted, no more than because it is ‘forgiven’ or ‘atoned for’. A man must be a theologian in order to believe in a power that erases faults: we immoralists prefer not to believe in ‘guilt’. We believe that all deeds of whatever kind are identically of the same value at root; just as deeds which turn against us may be useful from an economical point of view and even generally desirable.”
Throughout his work, Nietzsche repeatedly tells us that all morality is false, that the precepts that we have grown up with, that have richly died our nature with their colours are mere illusions not present in the grand scheme of things. All such standards, whether of high or low value are merely the creation of the Will to Power, the fundamental drive found in all living things.
If plants could talk, they would declare sunlight to be valuable and the most moral thing to do would be to bend towards it and to grow ever closer to the light. That would be the will to power of plants. With human beings none of these concerns exist, they are not a necessary part of our human nature, so we ascribe to ourselves values that benefit us or detract from us as both good and evil respectively. They are not present in reality but are merely illusions of consciousness caused by the judgements of the Will to Power. Should ‘the will,’ determine something to be desirable then it is deemed to be good. In the world outside of our minds, beyond our skin, no such distinction exists.
Consider for instance ‘truth,’ as an absolute standard, we deem truth to be better than falsehoods even though truth is not a part of the world around us. At best a materialist might define truth as the sum total of all material interactions from the big bang to the present moment, this declaration of science, however, is once again nothing but a value judgement of the Will to Power. Neither truth, nor falsehood exists in the world beyond our skins, the world simply is what it is, a collection of atoms and void a product of physical law and exists independently of our judgements. The world is real, but our judgements are not. ’ This understanding of the world separates it for Nietzsche into two realms, one of reality and the other of illusion. The world as it is and the world as we understand it are not the same, because the world as we understand it is a product of our senses that even when fully combined cannot show us a complete reality, at best they can only filter it and even that is unreliable. The senses model for us the world in our minds and we exist within that model, the realm of illusion. Reality is free of our judgements, the World of illusion is almost fully comprised of our judgements, themselves the creation of our share of the Will to Power. This is a false reality that is nonetheless so convincing that we believe it to be true, and so it is with moral or ethical standards. The Will to Power perceiving only the world of illusion declares something to be important to us and in doing so imbues it with something that was never really there and that is value!
The world is just atoms and void, we only agree that gold is valuable by mutual consent for example, in the world beyond our thoughts and perceptions, gold is not valuable at all, and so it is with regret which Nietzsche considers to be a form of cowardice, indeed extreme pride is better because at least when you are proud of your acts you own them, you are not shrinking away from them, you are making them an authentic part of your being. He correctly points out that the act of regret, sorrow or the pursuit of forgiveness doesn’t change anything! That which has been done, remains done and will always be done. Hence ‘What is the good of it all in the end!’ Pride, sorrow, pleasure, regret, and shame, are identically of the same value at root, which is no value at all beyond the confines of our mind, and the judgements of our Will to Power, judgements that we are free to change at a moment’s notice, so Nietzsche asks us to change our minds and live not with regret but instead asks us to choose something else to do with our minds, something life affirming instead.
