Genealogy of Morals by Fredrick Nietzsche - A Book Review

Nietzsche speaks a painful truth to me which shows an uncanny look at the chains our modern culture has bound itself with. Nietzsche’s criticism and thought provoking insights of modern thinking and philosophy have proven to be intriguing. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Genealogy of Morals by Fredrick Nietzsche is his unsympathetic disparagement of society, religion and philosophy.
His theory is based upon our current morality system which has risen out of the defeat of older systems because of wars and other means. He viewed the results of this distortion of history as false and misleading. Knowing this, I have called much of my own beliefs of what is “good” and “bad” and where these ideals came from, into the center of attention.
Perhaps no other idea shakes the cores of society as a whole, like the idea of guilt and how it is dispensed in order to control the masses. Even the most casual of observers in today’s world should be able to recognize the vices dispensed by many authority figures including politicians, clergymen and philosophers.
When people follow the beliefs of an ascetic ideal, they risk becoming something that is against life and against the values they claim to hold. This ascetic ideal holds the believer to untruths that control every aspect of their lives. In order for a leader to attain a moral stance that would use the kind of shame that Nietzsche describes, one would have to meet an “ascetic ideal”.
The ascetic ideal is best modeled by the priest in Nietzsche’s eyes. From what I can gather, this priest is the epitome of the Roman Catholic priest. He is impoverished, humble and most importantly to Nietzsche’s argument, chaste. The last point of being chaste is significant because the fact that Nietzsche believes that withholding the urge to reproduce is in itself anti-life. Being “anti-life” goes against everything else that the priest is attempting to profess to their respective congregations.
Perhaps the most compelling reason Nietzsche has for the existence of the “slave morality” is the idea of original sin. This binding form of guilt is driven by resentful feelings for the master. It can be deeply disturbing to see the effects of the debtor/creditor relationship. Perhaps it is most saddening to see the repression of society as a whole by events that impose guilt on humanity. This is a direct result of what Nietzsche called “slave morality”. Slave morality is the morality born out of the slave revolt. It is fueled by resentment and hostility toward the noble or ruling class and in Nietzsche’s mind, is a bad thing.
If what Nietzsche says is true about hostile and destructive human instincts being turned inward, the ensuing “bad-conscience” would be the result of “man’s suffering of man, of himself”. To a casual reader, this seems to be inhumane. After all, why would the general public compose itself of people that are riddled with self loathing, bad-consciences and self contempt? It seems simple if one understands the controlling power of debtor/creditor relationship. If one believes that the only way to alleviate their feelings of shame is through repayment of their guilt’s, then societal leaders will always remain in control of the sheepish masses.
Perhaps the “will to power” will manifest itself in ways that lean more towards absolute truth in these people. This struggle that takes place among humans who are competing with one another, seems to be a futile attempt at satisfying their own need to feel superior. It is this misguidance that in the end is the root cause to so many of the issues that seem to revolve around the weak ascetics.